Guest Post by Aggie Villaneuva
I love the name of Carolyn’s blog, Sharing With Writers. It underscores my ideals at Visual Arts Junction where I’m constantly saying, “We’re not in competition; we’re in this together.”
And that’s the core of the VAJ Buzz Club. Together we make it happen for all of us. What does that mean? Let me ‘splain.
We've all learned that as soon as that first book is published writers learn that we can no longer just sit back and sign books at events created for us. We are expected to be branders, professional bloggers, promoters, advertisers, event organizers, search engine optimizers, and the list seems endless. It's like we're expected to learn several new careers to support our writing career, which we no longer have time to practice.
Professional promotion companies are everywhere online offering to take over that burden, and they usually do a great job of it. But who can afford them? Obviously some can, but most writers are like me. There is no such thing for me as an advertising budget. There is barely an anything budget.
There are also fabulous books out there, such as Carolyn Howard-Johnson's The Frugal Book Promoter, that teaches us how to promote our work.
She even tailors many ideas in it for those who'd rather be writing and those who refuse to pay big bucks for promotion.
If you've chosen to continue writing rather than be overwhelmed in a marketing world you know nothing about; if your choice is to let others take care of the promotion, but you demand a price you can afford; there is now a place for you. You'll love Carolyn's book and you'll love The VAJ Buzz Club http://www.visualartsjunction.com/?page_id=4047, group promotional power.
We’ve all struggled with these problems. We've said:
· I know I need to launch my book, product or event, but I haven’t the foggiest how to do that.
· I’d rather be writing. I need to be writing.
· It takes too much time to set up interviews and reviews.
· Why are there so many authors out there called bestsellers? My book is just as good as theirs.
· Everyone talks about creating a buzz. How can I do that for my book, product or event?
· Even should I learn the marketing basics, how do I get a list I can promote to that is large enough to create an effective buzz?
· Before I can even think about creating a buzz I have to increase my subscribers and site visitors. Though I work at it all the time, I can’t seem to do that.
· Brand recognition? I wish!
· Yes, I know I could hire a promotional company, but I just can’t afford to spend thousand.
· Even if I tried to promote a launch on my own, how can I offer all the wonderful bonus gifts I’ve seen in other launches?
Working to promote my novel and my blog, Visual Arts Junction, is where I realized how hard it is to do alone. There is more than safety in numbers, there is power in numbers; promotional power plus affordability.
I worked hard for the past year to promote my novel, Rightfully Mine God's Equal Rights Amendment
.
In April, 2010 Rightfully Mine not only made the top #100 on Amazon (best seller status) in three categories for both for print and electronic version, it made #2 in two categories, and #8 in another. I took this a screen shot to prove it—mostly to myself!
So my model can help others solve these problems--for each other. And the VAJ Buzz Club is one place to do it!
What the VAJ Buzz Club is Not: This is NOT a buy-each-others’-book-to-become-a-best-seller-club.
What the VAJ Buzz Club is: We are group promotion at its most powerful.
Here’s what VAJ Buzz Club offer members who launch.
· Freedom to write while you enjoy a humongous book, product or event launch.
· Less than ½ price charter membership to the first 24 members to launch. Price locked in for life.
· My organizational/promotional experience at work for you. See bio below.
· Other members’ promotional platforms supporting your launches.
· Direct email marketing to thousands about your launch.
· Social media promotion to tens of thousands in your niche.
· Live interview with Nanci Arvizu at Page Readers to promote your launch.
· Four additional interviews at the sites of our members.
· Huge probability that you will become a bestseller through your launch.
· Offer your customers instant and dozens of free bonus gifts.
· Increase your subscribers and site visitors year round.
Here’s what else we offer
· You don’t have to launch a book/product/event to use our services. We offer a la carte services too, or you can bundle them with your launch to drive an even bigger buzz. http://www.visualartsjunction.com/?page_id=8841
· I have a working relationship with dozens of interviewers and reviewers. I’ll contact all of them for you, submitting to standard interview sites, both live and print. This is in addition to the interviews you already get with your paid launching membership.
· You don’t have to become a paid launching member to reap great benefits. Become a FREE supporting member. That’s the genius of this club. Every member benefits greatly with each and every launch.
· And much more coming soon.
Here’s what VAJ Buzz Club offers FREE to supporting members.
· Spike your visitor count year round. I’ve set up the system where each member gets visitors crawling over their sites during each 2-day launch.
· Spike your subscriber numbers year round. In the same innovative format, no matter who is launching, all members gain subscribers during each 2-day launch.
· All this spreads your brand recognition like wildfire year round.
This innovative structure means you don’t have to learn a new marketing career after all. The goal is to let you write while you are THE BUZZ. Check it out.
If you don’t want any of these benefits, then don’t go directly to our VAJ Buzz Club pages to learn more about membership. But if you believe in paying it forward, and are willing to invest a few hours per month to make each member’s launch as successful as yours, then check out our club pages. Hope to see you there.
Aggie's Biography
Aggie Villanueva is a bestselling novelist, non fiction author, and critically acclaimed photographic artist represented by galleries nationwide, including Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ.
For decades peers have described Aggie as a whirlwind that draws others into her vortex. And no wonder. She was a published author at Thomas Nelson before she was 30; founded local writers’ groups, the Mid-America Fellowship of Christian Writers three –day conference; taught at nationwide writing conferences; and published numerous writing newsletters for various organizations. Over the years she has worked on professional product launches with the likes of Denise Cassino, a foremost Joint Venture Specialist in the area of product launches.
Aggie founded Visual Arts Junction blog February 2009 and by the end of the same year it was voted #5 at Predators & Editors in the category “Writers’ Resource, Information & News Source” for 2009.
Now, under the Visual Arts Junction umbrella, Aggie has launched the VAJ Buzz Club – a club where, guided by her experience and organizational/marketing savvy, members combine their individual marketing power (which many don’t realize they have), and much more, to create the ultimate BUZZ to launch each other’s books, products, seminars, contests, etc.
For more information you can contact Villanueva at myaggie2@gmail.com. Or go directly to the VAJ Buzz Club.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about it:
