Tag: Jill Amadio

Welcome to Cozy Wednesday!

I am so happy to well Jill Amadio to Escape With Dollycas today!

PROMOTING BOOKS VIA IMPROBABLE PUBLICITY OUTLETS

After promoting my new crime novel to the usual online, broadcast, and print mystery media where I hoped (okay, begged) for reviews and interviews I realized: there are many other publicity outlets worth approaching that are outside-the-box and neglected by many authors.

“Yes, indeed,” I wrote to a gentleman in Virginia, USA. “I believe I am definitely qualified to join your organization. My family played an active part in the St. Ives community when we lived there”.

This email conversation with the Cornish-American Heritage Society came about after my book, “Digging Too Deep: A Tosca Trevant Mystery”, was published. I had endowed my amateur sleuth with a vocabulary of Cornish cusswords and a penchant for brewing tongue-curling medieval mead from the land of the piskies. My initial reason for seeking out the Society was to get back in touch with my roots and because my main character is a Cornishwoman. I was worried I’d forgotten parts of my heritage by living in California!

The Society has a newsletter that reports on various goings-on in Cornwall and on ex-pats. One delicious news item that caught my eye was that the Duchy of Cornwall was contemplating opening up an embassy in London now that the Cornish are finally recognized as an official minority. Raise the drawbridge! Tosca can have fun with that in her next book in the series, I thought. Then, Lo and behold, I noted that the newsletter also ran book reviews. Well, icing on the cake. The review and a blurb of my book appeared in the next issue. I noted, too, that with the Society holding events all over the U.S they provide signing opportunities. Their next meeting is in San Diego, California where I am invited to talk. When I attended the international Gathering of the Cornish Bards in Milwaukee, Wisconsin last month I had a book table and sold out.

On my website, www.jillamadiomysteries.com, I added a page about St. Ives that includes a photo of its 1312 pub, The Sloop Inn, which is still selling pints. A topic for a future article for the brewing trade publications? I also sent a copy of the book to the St. Ives Archive which maintains an online site as well as a gift shop that sells books. (Shouldn’t I be hired by the Cornwall Council as a roving ambassador?)

Another avenue for publicity came from a friend in New York, a leading classical music critic. He writes an internationally-syndicated column for ConcertoNet.com distributed in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and on the island of Karguella for all I know. He’d helped with research for the music in “Digging Too Deep” and surprised me with a lengthy review. After it appeared in the Bangkok Post, Thailand I heard from a reporter I worked with years ago. She now owns a specialty museum that I’ll include in a future book. Again, grist for the mill and an addition to her Facebook page.

Some authors combine their non-literary careers with the fiction they write and are able to pursue marketing on both fronts. British-born crime novelist Sheila Lowe, a certified forensic handwriting examiner and president of the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation, bases her protagonist in the Claudia Rose series on her daily job. Lowe’s expertise and testimony in court cases gains her entry and access to legal publications, legal blogs, and online sites where she can discuss real cases involving forensic graphology and at the same time promote her novels, even if only as a tagline.

“Using handwriting analysis as my platform,” Lowe said, “makes it easier to promote my series. Last year I testified in the high profile murder trial of Karl Christian Gerhartsreiter, a con artist better known as ‘Clark Rockefeller’. Having analyzed the defendant’s handwriting I can blog on what it says about his personality and the motives behind his crimes, and mention my crime novels.”

Lowe does the same in cases against kidnappers, serial killers, bombers, and other criminals which become fodder for plots and publicity. She is often interviewed on television and in national newspapers to comment on current cases and has analyzed the signatures of President Barack Obama as well as the writing of famous athletes.

Author Diane Vallere spent over 20 years in the fashion industry and her passion for shoes, clues and clothes encouraged her to base the fashionista sleuth in her Material Witness crime series on her own life. Her tongue-in-cheek book titles include ‘Suede to Rest”, “Some Like It Haute”, and “Designer Dirty Laundry”.

“I reached out to a Los Angeles fashion blogger”, said Vallere, “who now reviews and tweets about all my books. For my Sleuthing in Style crime series I designed paper dolls and outfits, and for my Mad for Mod series I advertise in a mid-century mod magazine, with great results.”

The list of custom blogs, like this one of Lori’s, for just about every subject on the planet is growing by the week and looking for content. If you write about wine, gourmet cheese or other foods are you or your publicist sending review copies to bakers’ and grocery organizations for their blogs and newsletters? To crafts and pet magazines? How about a review copy to women farmers’ associations? The Internet is chock full of hobby newsletters that probably one of your characters enjoys although I doubt there is a milkmaids fellowship.

I used to write an automotive column and sent my book, which features a vintage Austin-Healey, to my pals at car magazines. Alumni and club publications, too, welcome notices of new books. Hit them up for a talk and write on their blog. Platforms such as these provide ideas for finding new and unusual opportunities to promote your book. Turn over that stone!

~Jill

 

 

A mysterious gemstone, and lost manuscripts offer banished Brit journalist Tosca Trevant a chance to earn her way back to her beloved Cornwall and her job in London. The strange happenings at her California island home include a woman dropping dead practically at Tosca’s feet, a famous author’s works showing up under suspicious circumstances, and a creepy collector of rare musical instruments. Helped by retired Secret Service Agent Thatch MacAuley and a few well-placed Cornish cuss-words, Tosca digs deep to track down the killer.

About The Author

Jill Amadio has worked as a reporter in England, Spain and Thailand and a crime reporter in the U.S. She is the author and co-author of several biographies, as well as a ghostwriter of fiction, non-fiction, and true crime. Her book, Gunther Rall: Luftwaffe Ace and Nato General, was a bestseller and is now on available for the Kindle and Nook e-book readers. Originally from St. Ives, Cornwall, the land of mead and piskies, she has lived on both the East and West Coasts of the United States. She presently lives in Dana Point, California. For more information about Jill and her books, please visit www.JillAmadio.com.

The author is giving away 1 paperback copy of Digging Up The Dead and 2 bucket and spades! 
Contest is open to anyone over 18 years old
with a US  mailing address.

Duplicate entries will be deleted. Void where prohibited.

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something you like here and become a follower.

Followers Will Receive 2 Bonus Entries For Each Way They Follow.
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This year I am trying to build my Twitter following so for this giveaway 4 Bonus Entries will be awarded by following me on Twitter. @dollycas

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Contest Will End July 20, 2016 at 11:59 PM CST
Winner Will Be Chosen By Random.org
Winner Will Be Notified By Email
and Will Be Posted Here In The Sidebar.

Click Here For Entry Form

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”