Tag Archives: writing

Dec 31 2012

Self-Promotion – Be Shameless

Self-Promotion – Be Shameless

by Erin Thorne

The importance of self-promotion cannot be overestimated, especially for new writers. You’ve spent a great deal of time and energy creating your work. However, if you stop there, you’ve only done half the job. Arranging book events and being proactive in your approach to marketing is crucial to getting your name out there, and to building your audience.

There are several steps you can take that are free, and only minimally time consuming. One is creating Author’s Pages on Facebook and Amazon. These can be customized with pictures of yourself and/or your book(s), a brief bio, videos, and links to your website and Twitter account. Another is looking up and contacting newspapers and libraries in and around the town in which you’ll be doing a signing. This ought to be done a few weeks in advance, to allow enough time for the public to both become aware of your scheduled appearance, and to mark their calendars. Many free templates for crafting press releases are available online, which you can use to promote your event, and even the book itself. Try sending one to your local paper, and in addition to generating publicity for the signing, you may secure an interview.

Of course, you need to book an event before you can promote it. While large chain bookstores can be somewhat hesitant in inviting little-known authors to appear, independent bookstores tend to be more gracious. I’ve looked up ones within a reasonable driving distance and sent them press releases, or simply called them, with very satisfying results. Other hospitable venues include libraries and cafés; you’ll likely have to do your own promotion, such as printing flyers and notifying the press, but it’s worth it.

Once you’ve got a date, you can also create an event on Facebook to inform your friends, family, and co-workers about what you’re doing. From personal experience, I’ve found that personally inviting Facebook friends to signings isn’t as effective as one would think, and can irritate those who’ve been asked to attend an event that occurs at a locale far from their home. You’re better off creating it and posting it as a status update a couple of times a week, starting two to three weeks before the signing takes place. However, if you create a promotion event that takes place entirely online, such as a book giveaway, feel free to invite your friends, and ask them to share the link on their own pages.

The more effort you put forth, the more results you’ll see. I have two children, one of whom is an attention-requiring two-year old, and I’m working on other writing projects as well. My time and money are both limited; while life’s circumstances can make self-marketing a bit more challenging, it is nonetheless essential to one’s writing career, and can serve as a stepping-stone to landing an agent and enjoying some degree of success.

For examples of what I’ve done, and continue to do, please see my Author’s Pages on Facebook, www.facebook.com/authorerinthorne, and Amazon, www.facebook.com/authorerinthorne.

Good luck, and happy writing!

Feb 3 2012

Great Barrington teen Matthew Whalan writes about ‘freedom’ on death row

This article originally appeared on the website, www.masslive.com.

Great Barrington teen Matthew Whalan writes about ‘freedom’ on death row

By Jenn Smith, The Berkshire Eagle

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. (AP) — Monument Mountain Regional High School junior Matthew Vernon Whalan wasn’t even born when Jimmy Davis Jr. was sentenced to death row for murder in the state of Alabama in 1994.

But Whalan, 16, has grown up with Davis’ story, as told by Whalan’s grandfather, Jack Lahr.

Lahr, a retired Washington, D.C. attorney, took on Davis’ case in 1999, with the belief that Davis did not receive a fair trial.

Today, Davis still sits on death row, and Lahr is still working on the man’s case.

Now, Whalan, an aspiring writer who has only written fiction and poetry until this point, is working on a book about the lives of the two men, and the topic of what it means to be free.

“I really wanted to write about freedom, philosophy and forgiveness as well,” he said. “It’s about the idea of whether someone can be free in the mind, even though they’re trapped in a prison cell.”

With full support of his parents and guidance counselor, and with the legal advice of his grandfather, Whalan has been corresponding with Davis through letters. The Monument student says he’s already written 40 pages of what will be a non-fiction narrative.

In December, Whalan also has plans, through the help of a grant, to travel to Alabama to where Davis grew up and allegedly committed the crime; and to Toledo, Ohio, where his grandfather studied and was raised.

Whalan has already written a preliminary article, “Jimmy Davis Jr. and My Grandfather,” which was published in a Berkshire-produced online news publication called “Red Crow News.”

In it, Whalan tells readers that Jimmy Davis Jr. is an African-American man who was charged with capital murder for the 1993 shooting and killing of a service station attendant named Johnny Hazel, during an attempted robbery.

Whalan also details how there is a lack of physical evidence and eyewitness accounts linking Davis to the crimes, aside from the plea bargains of three other men arrested in the case. Davis, who was 22 years old at the time of his arrest, tested at an IQ of 77. He has been sitting on death row in Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala. for the past 17 years.

Whalan’s work shows a great amount of research and thought, and the high schooler concedes that the time he’s committed to it may have put a damper on his regular course work. He says he also knows the legal implications of writing about Davis.

“Anything I write is going to end up on a prosecutor’s desk,” he said. “I know it’s really risky.”

During this interview, Whalan took a few silent moments to thumb through about a dozen, neatly hand-written pages on which Davis disclosed details of his life. Their exchanges have been more about childhoods, football and faith than about Davis’ case.

“It amazes me how free he seems, despite his circumstances,” he said.

Which is why, he said, he will continue to write the stories of Davis and Lahr.

In the Red Crow News, Whalan wrote, “For all of this time my grandfather’s moral compass has led him to fight for honesty and to preserve human life, and that too, is an original form of freedom.”