With Tara R. Alemany
Have you enjoyed reading The Best is Yet to Come? Or are you interested in learning more about it?
The Christian Authors Show is airing an interview with me all day today! It’s only available online today, so be sure to tune in if you’re interested in hearing the episode.
To listen to it, simply go to TheChristianAuthorsShow.com.
My latest book, The Best is Yet to Come, was released by WestBow Press in November, and I couldn’t be happier. While this is my fifth title, it’s the most personal one for me. We’re not supposed to tell the children which one we like the most, because we love them all equally, right?
Well… Let’s just say that this one has more of me invested in it than any of my other titles.
While this story comes across as an autobiography, the lessons that I learned while overcoming the death of my fiancé are woven into the fabric both of our story and the book. Digging Deeper sections allow the reader to internalize the lessons themselves, so that they too can process whatever loss or grief they are carrying.
Writing the book was cathartic for me, and hopefully helpful for my reading audience. From what readers have been telling me so far, they can’t put it down once they start.
I know similar things have been said about the related talk that I give, “Finding the Gift in Grief.” People are riveted by the story, and drawn into the lessons.
I know that my intent has always been that everyone touched by this message leave with this thought echoing in their heart and mind… The Best is Yet to Come!
So… Why give the book away? It’s simple really… Giving it away is not a forever kind of thing. I’m only doing it for a short period of time.
However, my publisher, WestBow Press, is the self-publishing arm of Thomas Nelson, a world-leading Christian publisher. When the Director of Publishing Services at Thomas Nelson wrote to welcome me to the family, he had this to say:
We consider WestBow Press to be our “farm club” (to use a baseball analogy), and we look at several factors when considering which titles to call up to the Nelson imprint. We monitor sales of all WestBow Press titles and combine that data with other information, including Amazon rank and reviews, Twitter and Facebook reputation (Klout score), and author platform and commitment (speaking, marketing, etc.). Once a title seems to warrant consideration, the primary determinative factors are the quality of the book and the level of projected sales.
So what does that mean for me? The simple starting point is this. The book is available for purchase from the publisher, from this site and from Amazon, as well as from your local bookseller. But let’s face it…
Until I can afford to offset print the book, the majority of the print-on-demand sales will take place on Amazon. And some of the driving forces for success on Amazon is your category ranking and the number and quality of reviews.
So, if I draw a map of where I am now (a new listing with minimal activity thus far) to where I want to be (picked up as one of Thomas Nelson’s 2014 titles), I need to plan my route to get to my desired destination.
Increasing my visibility in the Amazon search rankings, boosting my category rankings, and increasing the number and quality of my reviews are key parts of a multi-faceted marketing campaign.
In doing my research, a new site called StoryCartel appeared on my radar. Co-founded by Jeff Goins, whom I interviewed on my Aleweb blog last year, it’s an ideal site for finding people eager to leave honest reviews of good books.
Once I have a solid number of quality reviews, I’ll be scheduling a book launch to drive sales and increase my category rankings.
Add to that the other activities I’m involved in, like book signings and author talks, as well as my continued engagement in social media circles, and I’m hoping to realize a dream here. The dream of helping as many people as possible find hope and healing after a significant loss, just as I have.
How can you help? Please download your free copy of The Best is Yet to Come from StoryCartel during this limited time offer, and leave an honest review on Amazon and elsewhere when you’re done.
This is a repost from my company’s website, Aleweb Social Marketing. In the interest of getting the word out to as many people as possible, I wanted to share this here as well.
Two years ago, I was sitting at the Thanksgiving table feeling resentful because no one else seemed to get how much pain I was in. I wasn’t thankful. I didn’t want to celebrate. Less than a month before, I’d found out that my fiancé was dead.
Yet, because I was always the hostess, the expectation was that I would be fine doing with everything this year too. I wasn’t! I was hurting. I’d lost someone I loved less than a month before, and was still waiting to be able to bury him.
But it wasn’t just Frank’s death that overwhelmed me. It was coming this close to my dream of having someone to share my life with after so long spent alone, and having it snatched away. I was dealing with grief, feelings of betrayal, hurt that loved ones just didn’t seem to understand, confusion, and so much more.
Maybe you know someone who is hurting over the loss of a loved one right now, or that is struggling with some other loss. Or perhaps you know someone who needs to escape the trap of shame, low self-esteem, abuse, poor health or other seemingly insurmountable challenges?
It’s a lonely and debilitating place to be.
And it’s why I created The Survivors Summit. Our speakers have been there. We’ve faced hard times and challenges that seemed insurmountable at the time. Yet, each one of us not only survived, but thrived afterward.
We want to use our stories to bring hope and inspiration to those who are hurting, especially at this time of year.
Here’s a special resources page that includes important information, sample tweets, as well as posts for Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.
Would you be willing to help get the word out? You can share the website privately with people you know could use it, or you can grab what you like from the resources page and spread it all over your social networks. Whatever feels best for you!
If you have a mailing list, I’ll be adding a sample e-mail as well that you can alter as you’d like.
If you’re a blogger or podcaster and want to conduct an interview before The Summit, contact us and we’ll connect you with the right people.
There’s a special discount code that will work only for the first 50 registrations. When they order their tickets or replays, have them enter “first50” as the discount code, and they’ll save 20% of whatever it is that they bought.
It would mean a lot to me if you would support me in promoting The Survivors Summit.
