Caren Johnson Literary Agency

Stephanie has some fun stuff happening. She’s doing some early publicity (take a page out of her book because that’s a smart idea, especially since she’s concentrating on readings!) for I Want to be Your Joey Ramone. She’s doing a reading series that she put together an invitation for. Feel free to show up and cheer her on:

Hey everyone,
I wanted you to have the chance to mark your calendars, take the night (or morning after) off work, and prepare to be at Sheffield’s on Friday, October 26th at 7 pm….

Why? Irvine Welsh (yeah that Irvine Welsh who wrote Trainspotting, Ecstasy, Porno, The Bedroom Secrets of Master Chefs, etc) is going to be in Chicago and he’ll be reading for the Sexy Bald Men Reading Series and I’ll be one of the readers opening up for him!!! (No, I’m not bald, but I can be pretty damn sexy when I wanna be!) Hopefully you understand how freakin’ cool this, but if not, I’ll clarify, if I were a band, this would be like opening for the Rolling Stones, or perhaps, more appropriately, Iggy Pop.

So here’s the details, feel free to repost, forward, and invite your friends.

7pm Friday October 26th @ Sheffield’s Bar, 3258 N Sheffield Ave in Chicago
The Sexy Bald Men Reading Series Presents:
An Evening at the Pub with Irvine Welsh
Also featuring Stephanie Kuehnert and Other Sexy Bald All Stars TBA
Sponsored by Kate The Great’s Book Emporium

Irvine will be reading some brand spankin’ new material, I believe, and I’ll be reading from my novel I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE forthcoming from MTV Books in July 2008. I think I’ll go with a Halloween-themed section in honor of the holiday.

I’ll be coming from a day-long, planned-for-months exhausting work event and entering the final stretch of the revisions on my book, so I’ll need plenty of friends to drink with and boost my spirits. Since I’ve been secluding myself to write, it’s likely the only time you’ll see me socially until mid-November, so I hope you’ll come and for those of you who are outside of Chicago, well considering celebrating Halloween weekend here, I’m sure there will be plenty of other good parties going on as well and c’mon Irvine Welsh reading at a pub, how often do you get to experience that?

This is another blog post about Stephanie Kuehnert and it hasn’t even been a full week since she left. But I’ve been corresponding with her a lot since she visited and she’s been coming up with some wonderful promo ideas. I thought I’d mention a basic one: having an amazing website. Stephanie’s web designer is Jenny Hassler and her design company is called Sugarcoated Webs. She designed Stephanie’s website for I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone and it really captures the spirit of the book. Not only does it have a great, edgy look, but the sections have a music theme that really make it shine: backstage pass is an excerpt of the book’s first chapter, gigs shows where Stephanie is doing readings and signings, media blitz has links to some of Steph’s published writing and fan mail shows how you can get in touch with her.

Why am I gushing so much about Steph’s website? Because it ties into the larger issue of web presence. In today’s marketplace, it is important to have a web presence. This is what ties you to the world. It is your way of putting your best face forward for readers to get more information about you. An effective website can enhance your book because it can give insight into your writing and your personality. For example, Kelley St. John has a place on her website where, like Stephanie, readers can read an excerpt of her books. Also, as an added bonus she has deleted scenes—that is, scenes from the book that got left behind on the cutting room floor, but Kelley couldn’t bear to leave out. Similarly, Irene Peterson’s blog has some great insight into the madness that runs through her brain. It is always interesting for me (probably since I’m not a writer) to see what goes into writing a book.

Now all three of these writers have books available (soon to be available in Steph’s case) so check out the bookstore and grab copies of their books. And if you like Jenny’s work designing Steph’s site, email her at jenny.hassler@gmail.com to talk about your own site or blog design.

My author Stephanie Kuehnert is in town and I hung out with her this weekend. In addition to talking about her books and works-in-progress, she updated me on her promo efforts, this last of which I couldn’t help bragging about here. There is a website called Project Playlist that allows the user to put together a playlist of their favorite songs. Steph created one for her work-in-progress that I think is brilliant. Not only does it inspire her to finish the book, but it gives readers who like her work insight into this new book and keeps their appetite whet until the book is out and available. Steph promised that she’d create a playlist for her first book, I Want To Be Your Joey Ramone, coming out June 2008 from MTV books, but for now I’ll have to be content with her playlist for her work-in-progress Ballads of Suburbia. Go here to get the playlist that includes Lou Reed, Liz Phair, Rancid and, of course, the Ramones.

I love my authors. I do. They come up with innovative ways of marketing themselves and getting the word out about themselves and their books. One of my authors, Steph Kuehnert, and I have been kicking around ideas for her promo campaign and I’m floored at how “out of the box” her thinking is. While some ideas might not translate well, I think others are fun and fresh. I thought this merited a blog post about effective publicity.

Publicity shouldn’t cost money. At least not at first. No need to spend money on full page ads in the NY Times or the Chicago Tribune. Effective publicity is about getting the word out about your book, not about writing a check.

Word of mouth is still the most effective form of publicity. Think about presenting workshops, teaching classes, doing readings, etc. You can keep costs down by keeping these talks in your area or in an area that you can get to by public transportation or car. The more entertaining or informative you are, the more people are going to book you (and this can extend to radio and tv appearances), possibly leading to a lucrative side business of becoming a media personality/lecturer. This is very attractive to publishers.

Network. This doesn’t have to be a solitary business. I try to team up my authors so they’re not left to write great books, promote their careers, take care of their families and hold full time jobs alone. No need to impersonate Wonder Woman or Superman.

And lastly, don’t forget to write good books. The best publicity in the world isn’t going to take the place of a good book.

And here is a picture of Steph at the reading she did a few days ago.