In a previous post, I gave the top five general guidelines for your book marketing strategy. So today we’re going to talk about the hub of your marketing presence, your website. Some author websites genuinely reek. After searching some really big names (which I will not name here because I don’t want to burn bridges) I was like, “Wow! If I hadn’t heard about this person through word of mouth I would not read their books based on their website.” THEY have the luxury of being uber-bestselling authors who can have ugly websites. If you’re not quite there yet, I’ll teach you the essentials of a damn good website.

In this post, I’ll share a few general pointers about marketing strategy. In following weeks, I’ll mention the individual pieces of my marketing plan, including: website, blogging, social media, print materials and swag, live events, launch parties, and PR. So let’s get started with the general principles behind your marketing strategy.

My son is seven, smack dab in that magical age where the world still shines. He doesn’t judge people based on their outward appearance. He makes judgments based on if they are “mean” or “nice.” But he is growing and we have conversations about the gray areas.

“Sometimes kids have a difficult life at home,” I try to explain when he is being bullied on the playground.Sometimes people are just born bad. I may think that but I don’t tell him that yet, because I want to preserve his innocence for as long as I can. Before life shows him that lesson.

In 2009 I went through an existential crisis. My son was 18 months old, I had an adjunct teaching job, and I was driving myself nuts trying to care for him all day while teaching freshman Comp classes at night. If I’d had a full-time teaching job (including that much fuller paycheck), I’d probably have stuck it out, but my course load had dwindled to one class per semester so I was making a pittance. To me, this situation spelled F-A-I-L-U-R-E.

Voodoo Butterfly is about a woman who unexpectedly inherits a New Orleans voodoo shop. Along with the shop, she inherits the power to change evil people good. The only problem? She knows nothing about voodoo or her secret power. 

Funny enough, Sophie's story came to me in a dream when I was actually visiting New Orleans with my family. I dreamt of this woman who had the power to change evil people good.

Camille enters the Blog Ring of Power and shares about her paranormal superpowers.

I’d always wanted to try hypnosis, so I went there when I was pregnant with my daughter. At the time, I was having terrible, terrible morning sickness, so that was the focus of the session.

It all started with a childhood of family stories and paranormal experiences. I use some of those experiences in Voodoo Butterfly. For instance, when my mom was younger, she heard footsteps in her grandparents’ house. The person was wearing high heels in the middle of the night. They walked to the bottom of the stairs and never retreated or walked up the stairs. The presence just disappeared. So we’re thinking that was the spirit of my great grandmother. That story is used in the chapter about Sophie’s first night at her new apartment in New Orleans.

When I first visited New Orleans over Christmas of 2008, I fell in love with the city. Be prepared for some culture shock, though. I’ve visited 27 countries and I don’t normally experience culture shock, but I did in NOLA. Yes, you’re visiting an American city, but its architecture looks European, some of its partygoers look like they’re from another planet (especially on Bourbon Street), and everyone’s walking around with an alcoholic beverage in their hand. Even during the day. If you feel so compelled, grab a drink and let me show you the fun, paranormal side of the city.