Marketing with Mandy~The Romance Galleria
Marketing with Mandy would like to extend a welcome to Dawn from The Romance Galleria. Thanks for chatting with us today, Dawn. I’d like to take a moment to mention to mention how absolutely cool (yes, I used the word cool in this interview) what you’re doing is. Tell us about yourself.
Can you tell us a little about The Romance Galleria?
The Romance Galleria is a virtual venue offering chats, events, exhibits and storefront services to romance authors, publishers and related industry professionals. Like your local hotel or convention center, the Romance Galleria offers a variety of services and amenities for all your promotional event needs. From public author chats to paid workshop events to private staff meetings, the Galleria has the flexibility to offer professionals a virtual environment available anytime, anywhere. It’s the only truly interactive, real-time 3D world in the industry.
What inspired the idea?
The idea was actually conceived almost a year ago during a visit with my father, who is the developer of the Expo3D program, which runs the Galleria. It just so happened to be the week of the big Romantic Times convention. We got to talking about how I would have liked to go but just couldn’t justify spending the money or time for such a quick event. He had just launched his first electronic convention through Expo3D and when he showed it to me, I said, “RT needs to do this so everyone can attend their event.” That was the beginning of the Galleria.
How difficult was it to set up and to maintain?
Well, if you crack open the code to the Galleria you’ll see a lot of my blood, sweat and tears in there. LOL! For me, it was an extremely difficult process because although I’ve been a designer for the past seven years, this was my first crack at 3D. So I had to not only concept the idea for the Galleria, but teach myself 3D in order to design it. It took me close to a year to build the actual world that is now the Galleria. We launched this February on Valentine’s Day by hosting the CAPA awards for The Romance Studio. Maintaining the Galleria is a daily job. Although I’ve got it down to a science now, the Galleria is a dynamic environment that’s always changing and evolving as my staff and I come up with new and exciting ideas to try. So it’s still very much a full-time job for me.
What are some of the fun things readers can do while visiting the Galleria?
We like to say the Galleria is one-part video game because there are so many fun things to do there. Right now we have two weekly chats: our Mocha Mondays, which are wonderful hour long author chats and our Friday Film Series in which we offer a virtual showing of some of the best romance trailers and then chat with the authors and developers. In addition we are finalizing a third weekly chat called Wild Wednesdays which features authors and publishers specializing in erotic romance. In the next few months we’ll be hosting our second Murder Mystery Game night (the first was wildly successful and a lot of fun), we have a few book signing parties and some upcoming chats with some of our Galleria authors including Lori Foster. Starting in July we will also be hosting a monthly eBookclub presented by All Romance eBooks.
Live events are certainly our specialty, but there is plenty to do in the Galleria during the off days. We have a Trailer Theater where readers can sit back, grab a bag of popcorn and watch some fabulous romance trailers. The Galleria is also the virtual home to tons of wonderful authors, publishers and industry sites. Our Exhibit Hall features stunning suites and alcoves for such individuals as Lori Foster, Carly Phillips, Michelle Pillow, The Romance Studio and Mardi Gras Publishing. In addition we’re also currently building a library where readers (and authors) are welcome to read some free stories and books, browse through a selection of books offered by our Galleria authors, read transcripts from past chats, visit with other Galleria guests and read some wonderful articles.
What are the steps involved in loading the Galleria onto ones computer?
The download and installation process is actually pretty simple. We’ve designed it to be very user-friendly. You simply visit our website and click the download links. A set-up wizard will walk you through the installation, so the whole process is relatively quick and painless! The Galleria and its host program, Expo3D, are completely free. There are no fees to use, visit or download the Galleria.
I’d like to take this opportunity to mention a few key notes about downloads and installations. First off, the Galleria is a very large virtual world. We have over two dozen rooms and alcoves in the Galleria so please note that the download process does take a few moments (and can take upwards of 20 minutes or more on slower connections). But believe me, the first time you walk through the Galleria, you’ll see it was well worth the short wait. Also, the Galleria is not currently compatible with Macs. Expo3D is currently working on a Mac version but it will be some time before this product is ready to release.
Do you offer authors ways to promote via the Galleria? If so, what do you offer?
Oh, yes, beneath its video game façade, the Galleria is at it’s very core, a promotional tool. We currently offer chat hosting, promotional exhibits, private suites, virtual book signing events, specialized large events (like the CAPA’s, Cameo Awards and our Murder Mystery Nights), general cover art advertising, and book trailer promotion. In addition we also offer a variety of free promotional opportunities including our weekly hosted chats.
Any words of wisdom for authors just starting out as far as promotions go?
Authors need a marketing plan in place even before they get their books published. Internet venues like The Romance Galleria offer a wide variety of both free and paid promotional opportunities for authors to take advantage of, and that fit any budget or need. Banner ads, cover art ads, MySpace and Bebo pages, book videos, newsletters, blogs, websites – these are all “must-haves” for authors, but they’re not enough. Authors have to be willing and unafraid to roll their sleeves up and market for themselves. A publisher or advertising outlet can only do so much to draw readers to your work. The rest is up to you, and it can be a fun and rewarding experience.
Links:
Visit us on the website at http://www.theromancegalleria.com to find out more about our virtual venue.
For general information and questions about our services please contact us via email at info@theromancegalleria.com
Thanks so much for stopping by, Dawn!
CONTEST: Monday-Friday of this week– anyone who comments on The Romance Galleria’s blog post (on this blog only) will be entered to win a download of their choice from Mandy’s backlist
To enter: Comment on the blog in a Marketing with Mandy Romance Galleria post this week! The more you enter, the more chances you have to win. Winners will be selected on when I get back from RWA and announced on the blog.
