Nocturnal Journal–Mandy M. Roth

Since Marketing with Mandy generally focuses on tips and tricks to help authors market themselves I thought it would be fun to get the publishers point of view on it all. With us today is Angela James, Executive Editor at Samhain Publishing.

Angela, thank you so much for joining us here today. If you could start off by telling us a little about yourself, how you came to be with Samhain and about Samhain Publishing that would be great.

You know, people ask me this question a lot, how I came to be in this job. It’s truly all about being in the right time, at the right place and knowing the right people. I was working first as a proofreader for Ellora’s Cave several years ago and I branched out to helping authors (like Mandy and Michelle). My good friends Jaci Burton and Jennifer Martin told me that Christina Brashear was starting her own company and needed an editor and that they’d recommended me to her. Crissy gave me a test of sorts and hired me immediately. And then asked if I had a clone. Actually, she still asks if that’s possible

I was one of the first employees of Samhain, the first editor in the door and I’ve been privileged to work with Crissy in the past year and a half in building Samhain to where it is today—RWA recognized, doing deals with NY publishers, with NY authors knocking on our door and producing what readers tell us are high quality, fun books.

Q: Is Samhain currently accepting submissions? (What can authors do in the meantime while waiting for submissions to reopen… for example: watching for special anthology projects and so forth)

A: We aren’t open to submissions at this time, with the exception of a special project, On the Prowl, details of which can be found here: http://samhainpublishing.com/submissions. We’re also accepting agented submissions and those who are invited by an editor (such as at a conference).

Also, we’re currently running a Best First Line contest on the Samhain blog, entries will remain open until Friday at noon. The prize for that is to get your submission requested and read by an editor before submissions reopen sometime in late July/early August. First Line Contest LINK

In the meantime, if you’re planning to submit to Samhain publishing when the submissions reopen, take this time to polish that manuscript and synopsis to within an inch of its life. Given the response to our Best First Line contest, and the queries we’ve fielded about when submissions will reopen, we expect to see a good number of submissions and we plan to be very picky about what we take as we have a limited number of spots on the 2008 schedule and a lot of talented authors already writing for us.

Q: What do you feel is the single most important thing an author can do to promote their work, after writing a “killer” book of course?

A: Getting their name out there and recognized by readers. Having a presence on the net and in places like RT, so that readers see their name. I believe that readers are much more likely to buy a book from an author whose name is familiar or rings some bells, than by someone they’ve never heard a thing about. Certainly when I’m in the bookstore, I know that holds true for me. So bust your butt getting your name out there. A good book is of course the first step, but there are a lot of good books out there, you need to make yours jump off the shelf and into the readers hands by making it familiar to them

Q: What opportunities does Samhain offer their authors so they can promote/publicize along with the publisher? ie Joint paying of ads, ect

A: We do monthly RT ads that Samhain contributes to, to help offset the cost. We have a marketing budget and have agreements with different sites like Coffee Time Romance, Romance Junkies and others, to host banner ads, forums, chats, interviews and other advertisements for the books. We work with sites to schedule chat times and send announcements to authors to participate. We hold theme days on our Samhain Café several times a year, doing a promo push to get readers on the board and reading excerpts and blurbs from authors. We also offer the Samhain blog, which I mentioned previously, which all authors are invited to participate in and promote on release day. Samhain is active in building the company and its authors and there are any number of opportunities for an author to jump in on.

Q: What conferences does Samhain attend? Do you feel author attendance at these conferences is beneficial to their career? Why?

A: This year we’ve attended EPICon, BEA, RT, and I will also be at RWA, NJRW, as well as the Chesapeake Bay RWA chapter’s fall conference. Crissy will be at RAW hosted by Lora Leigh. I believe she is also attending an Ohio conference and one of us will be at the Georgia RWA conference. We’ve had invitations to other conferences this year but can unfortunately only attend so many. Looking at that list, I realize we’re pretty busy this year. In the past we’ve also attended DragonCon, Celebrate Romance, the Kingsport Women’s Expo and the Lori Foster event. Next year we’re tentatively discussing Comic-Con, Australian RWA and I’d really love to attend the Emerald City RWA conference in the Fall of 2008.

As for author attendance at conferences being beneficial, I think a lot of it depends on what you’re expecting to get out of them and what you put into them. The RWA conferences tend to be more business oriented and they’re a great place for getting your enthusiasm and batteries recharged for the craft of writing, for finding out what’s happening in the industry and for making contacts and meeting your publisher/editor and fellow authors face to face. The reader-centric conferences like RT, the fantasy cons, Celebrate Romance and others are an excellent way to promote to readers in person, help make yourself and your name memorable and catch the energy buzz and love of books that readers have. I do think everyone should give themselves the benefit of one business conference and one reader conference, for the experience.

Q: How effective are booksignings for beginning authors?

A: Hm. Tough question. It depends on where the booksigning is, what kind of foot traffic it gets and how supportive the people/place holding the signing is in helping with promotion and marketing. I think most booksignings are limited to a smaller number of people, but they don’t cost you much more than your time and a little nerves, so they can’t hurt!

Q: What aspects of your job do you think it would surprise authors to hear?

A: Naked table dancing? Oh wait, you mean as Executive Editor No naked table dancing there (thank goodness). At this point in my job, editing is only about 25% of what I do. I have a lot of administrative duties, troubleshooting, overseeing all of the editors (hiring, training and troubleshooting), developing and maintaining our style guide, running/scheduling the Samhain blog, doing online promotion and maintaining a presence on reader/review blogs and author/reader forums, attending conferences, troubleshooting, working with Crissy on company plans, changes and growth, troubleshooting, reading submissions, troubleshooting…um, sensing a trend here? I do a little bit of everything. I’d keep you here all day if I kept listing all the things I have my hand in.

Q: Any marketing words of wisdom you’d like to impart to authors?

A: Be creative and think outside the box. But even when you’re feeling uninspired with new ideas for promo, don’t be afraid to fall back on the old standbys. Some promo is better than no promo at all!

Q: Does Samhain offer catalogs/promotional items for author use when going to booksignings and for general promotional efforts? What is the procedure for attaining/requesting such items?

A: We do have brochures and other things authors may get for promotional efforts. All they need to do is email Amanda Brashear and ask. Amanda@samhainpublishing.com

Q: Are there services offered to authors by Samhain that they generally don’t take advantage of and maybe don’t know about?

A: There are a lot of promo/marketing opportunities through the different review sites that we work with, as well as on the Samhain blog, different genre blogs, and the Samhain Café. It’s actually a small percentage of our authors who take advantage of and utilize these opportunities.

Q: Ways to contact you/Samhain?

A: We have a good amount of information on our website at www.samhainpublishing.com including information about submissions, book lengths and pricing and who we are.

We also have the Samhain Café where there are any number of authors and readers hanging out and chatting. Prospective authors have been known to ask Samhain authors questions on the chat loop. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/samhaincafe/

Thanks for joining us here today.

Thanks for asking Samhain to kick off Marketing with Mandy!

CONTEST: Monday-Friday of this week– anyone who comments on ANY of the posts for Marketing with Mandy’s Samhain Publisher Spotlight (going on all week long) will be entered to win a download of their choice from Mandy’s Samhain backlist and Michelle’s Samhain backlist. (There will be two winners, each selecting one download)

To enter: Comment on the blog this week! The more you enter, the more chances you have to win. Winners will be selected on Saturday and announced on the blog.

Be sure to join us tomorrow for the conclusion our Samhain Author Interviews!