Nocturnal Journal–Mandy M. Roth

Q: For anyone who doesn’t know who Linden Bay Romance is and what they do, could you please tell them a little bit about the company and yourself?

A: Sure! Linden Bay Romance is a publishing company offering romance books in electronic and print formats. Our catalogue contains short stories, novellas, and novels in all the usual romance sub-genres. We are a royalty paying publisher, with no fees paid by authors.

Our novels focus on the developing relationship between the central adult characters as they discover their attraction to each other. Passion is paramount, and you’ll almost always find a deliciously high level of unresolved sexual tension. Sex scenes range from mildly erotic to very erotic, and can be as graphic as the story and the author’s style deem appropriate. And, we love happy endings.

These are mostly fast-paced, escapist stories. So whether it’s a light comedy or a serious drama, all stories end on a positive note. Linden Bay offers memorable characters that you can relate to and heroes that you’ll fall in love with.

A little bit about Lori James? I run the operation along with my business partner, Barbara Perfetti. Barbara is the Chief Publisher and manages the acquisitions, editorial, and finance departments. I do the rest. I obtained my Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Baylor University in 1984 and my Masters in Social Work from San Diego State in 1988. After working for fifteen years as a psychotherapist in the healthcare industry, I left what I used to call my “real life” day job in early 2007 to pursue writing and working in the publishing industry full-time.

In addition to being the COO for Linden Bay Romance, I am a member of the Board of Directors of Worldview Press, a non-profit publishing house that specializing in children’s books. I’m also the co-owner of All Romance eBooks, an eBook distribution company that represents ninety different romance publishers.

When not hard at work, I enjoy traveling, spending time with my friends and family, reading, watching movies, and wine tasting. Or, you might find me sequestered in my office with my laptop or out at a convention or book-signing. Writing as Samantha Sommersby, I’ve had eight novels published thus far, including the critically acclaimed cross-genre paranormal romance series Forbidden.

Q: What is Linden Bay Romance in the market for from authors? What would you like to see more of? Less of?

A: At this time we’re mostly looking at manuscripts that are referred by current authors, submitted by agents, or that we’ve solicited as a result of convention editor appointments or other contacts. Can a current author refer a manuscript to us on your behalf? Yes. We have a very talented group of authors. If they recommend that we take a look at something, we’ll do it. We don’t make any promises, but we will get it to an editor for review.

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: Develop a presence. Doing one simple task isn’t going to do it. In order to get your name out there and get people reading your book you have to actively promote. That means doing signings, interviews, banner and print ads, blogging, social networking, maintaining a web-site, submitting work for review, distributing video trailers or Bookpeeks, participating in chats and even holding contests.

Q: What publicity can authors contracted through Linden Bay Romance expect from the publisher on their behalf?

A: Like most publishers, our marketing budget varies depending on the book itself. We find that the more an author works to market his/her book, the more we feel inclined to do so as well. At the bare minimum we will place banner ads if given a banner based on the coverart, we have a publicity company on retainer that does new release publicity, and we’ll supply print ready graphics for bookflats, postcards, and signing posters. We also host new release chats and coordinate group print ad opportunities. And there have been instances when we’ve partnered to help subsidize contest prizes, print ads, and other special promotions.

Q: What online promoting do you feel is the most effective? Blogs? Chats? Virtual Booksignings? Blog Tours? Websites? Myspace? Ect?

A: I think that MySpace is a wonderful tool and I don’t think that it’s something we’ve taken full advantage of at Linden Bay. We’re actually in the process of evaluating our current MySpace strategy and we anticipate a major change come fall.

Q: What types of advertising do you credit part of Linden Bay Romance’s success to (strictly marketing speaking, we know that the people in the company also determine success)

A: When we started out we were very small and relied mostly on banner ads. We placed them on reader sites and started to get the word out that way. Now, we also participate in a fair number of interviews, chats, place print ads, circulate announcements on blogs and via Yahoo Groups, and we submit all of our books for reviews.

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

A: This past year we attended EPICON and the Romantic Times BookClub convention. We plan to attend those two conventions again next year and are also budgeting for COMIC-CON in San Diego and Book Expo America in Los Angeles. We do encourage author attendance at conventions. The networking opportunities alone make it worthwhile.

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

A: One of the things that I do is oversee the art department. Sometimes I have to spend hours and hours searching through hundreds of photos to find just the right guy. It’s a terrible job…but someone has to do it.

Q: Does Linden Bay Romance offer catalogs / promotional items for author use when going to book-signings and for general promotional efforts? What is the procedure for attaining / requesting such items?

A: We supply print-ready new release postcard graphics on request. The authors usually then have them printed locally for distribution. The same is true for signage. When we do group signings we tend to print and provide the signage for the sake of continuity.

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

A: No, we have a very active Authors’ Loop where our group actively exchange ideas and support, so the word goes out very quickly about any new opportunity that becomes available.

To be eligible to win one of the many prizes Linden Bay Romance Authors are offering, comment THIS WEEK on their Marketing with Mandy blog spots. Winners will be announced on Sunday!

Here are some of the prizes they’ll be giving away:

Samantha Sommersby will give away a signed print copy of Forbidden: The Awakening .

Nancy Henderson will give away a note/stationary set.

Shiela Stewart will give away a signed print of her book ‘Secrets of the Dead’

Cat Johnson will give away a signed print copy of Trilogy No. 102: Opposites Attract

Peter Brandt is giving away an ebook download of his romantic comedy novel “The Secret Life of Harden Long”

Jane Beckenham is giving away an Ebook download of her book “Hiring Cupid”