TODAY WE WELCOME

AUTHOR

GREGORY G. ALLEN

presenting his book

PATCHWORK OF ME

about the book:

A product of the foster care system, Sara Butler spends her early thirties hiding from her past while striving for a normal life with her small group of quirky friends in Arizona. Seeking treatment for an invisible rash and abnormal dreams, her therapist helps her unlock a heinous past that she is unsure she wants to open. To patch her life back together, she realizes she must travel across country to Maine to confront that past in order to plan for a future.

info about the book can be found

here

about the author

Gregory G. Allen is the author of PATCHWORK OF ME, WELL WITH MY SOUL, PROUD PANTS: AN UNCONVENTIONAL MEMOIR, and CHICKEN BOY: THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF A SUPER HERO WITH AUTISM. He has had short stories and poetry published in: New Town Writers' anthology Off The Rocks 14, Loch Raven Review, Muscadine Lines: A Southern Journal, The Oddville Press, Word Catalyst Magazine, Rancor'd Type, Home & Holidays and is a contributor of articles and blogs to several online sites. Allen has been in the entertainment business for over twenty years as an actor, director, writer, and producer and is an award-winning musical theater writer with over ten original musicals produced. Allen currently manages an arts center on the campus of a college in northern New Jersey.

www.ggallen.net

www.facebook.com/author.gregory.g.allen

This biography was provided by the author or their representative.

MR. ALLEN IS HERE WITH A GUEST POST FOR US TODAY

Grgeory Allen - You Mean I Have to Market Too?

By Gregory Allen

You’ve written the novel. You’ve put it through an editor and have gone back and forth on every element of the story. The cover and interior design done and a launch day set for the book. You feel complete in knowing your journey is finished.

But is it?

No! It’s not. You want people to read the book. You want to get it into as many hands as possible and if you leave it up to fate, it will get lost in the shuffle of the vast goodreads shelves and online virtual stores.

Marketing is never easy. It is so uncomfortable for many to talk about themselves and what they’ve accomplished. But for a writer: you have to do just that. You need to have your pitch all set on what your book is about so when the cashier at the store is making small talk, you can give them a quick sentence.

You need to carry bookmarks around that state where people can get your book – and a couple of choice reviews on those wouldn’t hurt.

Network. Network. Network. You must be chatting with others in your world that can share thoughts and ideas. Who better to understand the burden you carry on having this wonderful (your word) masterpiece created without an audience to share it with. Authors read. So share your work with them. Offer to give advice/testimonials/reviews for each other as you build up your tribe of friends.

Take to social media. It is the wave of the future, so be sure and be on that wave. Not every author can be reviewed in the NY Times, but there are plenty of bloggers out there with amazing followers who listen closely to what someone says. Find them. Friend them. And share your work.

Get into your local bookstore. And by local: I mean indie. Not a huge chain. If you are an unknown author, the big store isn’t going to have you in. But your local one just might do it and share with them how you plan to get your friends, co-workers, postman into their store to buy your book. It’s a win-win for you both.

Support others. Too many authors get stuck in twitter-land simply tweeting over and over “buy my book!” “Look how great I am!” Well….say those things about other unknown authors you have found. Share the word about them and in turn, they may do the same for you. Pay-it-forward. It just makes you feel good in your soul to do that.

And somehow, find time to do some more writing. It’s a juggling act to write that next novel while you are marketing one, but one you must refine if you are going to have any type of inventory past your first book. It can be done…follow other people and watch how they are accomplishing it. You’d be surprised.

Buy Now @ Amazon 

Genre - Contemporary Women's Fiction

Rating - PG13