In addition to this, they made a cookie for me which pictured the cover of my novel Misfit McCabe. Sondra mentioned to me that whenever they send their Wonderlicious book out for review or send out a press release, they send along a few cookies with the package to help sweeten the disposition of the recipients. It will definitely make your submission stand out from the crowd and give the recipient something to remember you by. One other idea that will help sales along, is to have a batch of photo cookies made to give away along with the purchase of a book for book signings.

The cookie that was made with the cover of Misfit McCabe is called a photo cookie and is commonly made with a sugar cookie base, but I have also seen listings for photo cookies to be on chocolate and gingerbread as well. While I have first hand feedback from my nieces and nephews that these were the best sugar cookies they had ever had, Wonderland Bakery is not the only place to have photo cookies made. Simply search for photo cookies with your favorite search engine and determine which cookie best suits your needs and budget. On top of the fun of having a cookie with your book cover on it, think of the fun you can have conducting the taste tests along the way.

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LK Griffie
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit: Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
For other e-book formats, visit Smashwords.com
To read book reviews by LK Griffie, visit: The LL Book Review

The post A Sweet Way to Market Your Book appeared first on Be the Cat.

Although sounding quite tasty, what does this have to do with books? While attending the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, April 25-26, my attention was captured by one of the author’s marketing materials. The author just so happened to be participating in the AuthorsDen.com booth along with me, so I had ample opportunity to see the marketing materials, and drool. The most interesting aspect to me was that the author, Allyson Ames was using her book, Wonderlicious ~ The Enchanting and Delicious Story of Wonderland Bakery as a means of marketing her Wonderland Bakery. Along with the book, Allyson and Sondra had aprons, shirts, a cupcake purse, a castle tote, a tea set, a cupcake bake set, along with enchanting wands in blue and pink.  But the item that captured the most attention was the Gund bear which reads the Wonderlicious story, a definite must have item among the pre-school set. And as an added bonus, each purchase was accompanied by a Wonderland Bakery cookie. Sweet!

The absolute best thing these very savvy women did was to send an Allyson character to walk around with the book and the bear talking to children and showing how the bear reads the story. Meanwhile, her compadre was quickly passing out flyers to help promote the bakery and direct people to the AuthorsDen.com booth where they might sell a few of the accessorial products.  Could you resist that smile?

We, as writers, focus so much of our time and energy on promoting our books through traditional methods such as book fairs, bookstores, and libraries, we may be overlooking a golden opportunity. It’s time to pull out those creative thinking caps and dream up a kind of marketing strategy in reverse whereby you find another product or activity to promote which leads right back to your primary product of books.  The Ames women have provided a shining example in using a book festival to promote a bakery, without pitching a cookbook or putting on a cooking demonstration.  What is your Wonderland?

The Wonderlicious Cookbook is due out Spring 2009.

Written for the Lulu Book Review.
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LK Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit: Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
For other e-book formats, visit Smashwords.com
To read book reviews by LK Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

The post A Wonderland of Marketing appeared first on Be the Cat.