Sunday, March 12, 2006

I Love my Cover (Part 2)

Okay, so just put me down for a bit of a prideful stance, but I LOVE my cover. So I took it to Staples (local office supply store) to have some glossy prints done on some thick paper so I could show people at local RWA chapter, etc. Weeeelllllllll, they just happened to have this 40% off special on posters. So now I have this incredibly wonderful 2x3 poster of Rumble, laminated and mounted on foam board. I think I'm going to put it over the fireplace. It's too hot in Texas to have a fire anyway, right?

So I pick it up and come out to the car grinning like an idiot. Show it to my husband who says - "that's fantastic. Why don't you get another one?" I'm like, what for? And he says - "you'll need one for book signings but you don't want it to get messed up so get another to keep for yourself." I'm like "I guess so." Then he says "How many first books are you planning on having?"

Okay, sold!

I am WELL aware of how lucky I am to have a husband who "gets it." He's my biggest support and is always pre-marketing Rumble to his clients. Plus, he's made it a point to understand, I mean REALLY understand, the difficulty of the business and the magnitude of getting published at all.

My mom and dad are also getting on the marketing band wagon - passing out business cards to anyone who will take them - friends, relatives, hairdressers, the girl at the drug store, etc.

I've been doing a lot of marketing planning and putting some things in writing and such, but I truly believe that the only way a typical beginning author (or midlist writer) finally makes that next step up is word of mouth. But how do you create word of mouth, you ask?

The real kicker - write a fantastic book that keeps the reader panting for more.

Which means finding a balance between my marketing efforts and my proposal for the next book. It's a hard thing to do, especially when you've got really cool covers to distract you, but it's the most important thing you can do for your career.

Sooooooo, looks like next week it's back to proposal city for me. I'm hoping to wow my agent with something this time!

10 comments:

Wendy Roberts said...

Your cover is AWESOME! Great idea to do the poster thing :)

kim reid said...

Great cover Jana! It's fun reading about your exciting moment.

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

Jana, don't take this the wrong way, but I love your husband. *laughs* How wonderful he is so understanding! And your parents sounds awesome too!

And I'm with you, I hope to frame my first cover. ;D Why the heck not!?

Jana DeLeon said...

Wendy - The poster is great! Thanks for the compliments!

Ecrire - I'm so glad you liked the cover and reading about my excitement. I love to share the good stuff. God knows there's enough disappointment in life that we need to show the positives whenever we can. Thanks for visiting!

Kelly - I love my dh too! And DEFINITELY get a poster. It's so pretty. Ever so often, I take it out of the closet just to look at it. I'm not yet organized enough to have a place to hang it. (grins)

WagerWitch said...

Too awesome - Good luck and keep us posted.

*Jumps up and down for Jana!!!*

Jana DeLeon said...

Thanks, Lady M! And don't worry, I'll probably be shouting from the top of Reunion Tower here in Dallas when the release comes. (grins)

WannabeMe said...

Jana - are you sure we're not married to the same guy? Ha! Great, supporting hubs are hard to come by, guess we're lucky!

Jana DeLeon said...

Hi Dana - great that you have a supporting hubby too!!!! You wouldn't believe the women I've met with horror stories. Guess we just picked a little better, huh? (grins)

Faith Bicknell said...

My hubby is like that too. We're both lucky gals.

Jana DeLeon said...

Congrats on a great hubby, Faith! Support for writers makes all the difference in the world. If not for my hubby, writing friends and agent, I probably would have given up by now. Which would have been a waste.

Thanks for dropping by!

 
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