PROMOBEATS INTERVIEW

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Lori Zecca

Please join me in a big Word Museum and PromoBeats welcome to Lori Zecca.

Moe: Please tell us what name(s) you write under, the name of your book(s), the genre of your book(s), and the formats.

Lori Zecca: Right now I am writing under my own name, Lori Zecca, but I have a few projects going at the moment that may change that fact. My first and only published novel is Love Enough For All, a contemporary romance, exploring the lives of two single parents with lots of issues, and lots of kids between them, as they struggle to balance friendship, mutual dependence, and...mounting desire. Available in trade paperback.

Moe: What do you do to promote your book(s)?

Lori Zecca: My marketing efforts are quite diverse. Anything and everything to get my name and my book out there. I do some book signings, individually as well as group signings (I’m a member of RWA and the Missouri chapter MORWA). I am a lecturer and essayist, and have been featured on many author panels, using both as a venue for selling my books. I have book marks that features my book cover, blurb, website address, and other ordering venues are listed on the back using identifiable logo's that I cut and pasted from the Internet (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc), which I pass out with every opportunity. My husband travels frequently and takes bookmarks with him wherever he goes (many a flight attendant have ordered books!). My website is a very intricate part of my marketing strategy. I've learned all about metatags and how to use them to gain exposure on the Internet. Running contests periodically, using countless writing/author venues to advertise, is an easy and powerful promotional tool and helps to develop a mailing list in the process. I have joined several online groups and exchange links with other authors. I attend conferences and workshops, local and national when I can, and enter industry recognized contests for published authors (I was just named 2nd place winner for The Lories Best New Author, RWA chapter contest). I also network with other authors via internet mostly and donate items for drawings, contests, etc. to conferences and workshops that I cannot attend. I am a contributor to several anthologies and gain exposure through the anthology promotions as well.I also belong to a national bookmark exchange group and we place each others bookmarks in book stores, retail shops, etc.

Moe: What method or methods of promotion have you used that works well?

Lori Zecca:

1) Would have to be the Internet and learning to utilize metatags.
2) Bookmarks and other inexpensive promotional items (postcards, magnets, etc)
3) Contests. There are so many free sources on the Internet to promote your contest and people just love the chance to win an autographed book! I usually have them answer a question related to the first chapter posted on my website and ask them if I can contact them in the future with updates on my work.

Moe: What method or methods of promotion have you used that have not worked well?

Lori Zecca:

1) The least effective means for promotion, in my opinion, is submitting bookmarks to conferences and workshops. I still do, anyway—it’s cheap and you just never know—but my feeling is that the recipient is usually bombarded and may never take the time to actually read about each book.

2) Print media advertising. I haven’t done too much of this because of the cost involved, but when the end justifies the means, I may consider it again.

Moe: Where did you learn how to promote your books? Is there a special place or places where you find good promotion information?

Lori Zecca: Networking with author, or any type of writing lists (on-line) or by joining similar types of organizations are perhaps the best resources available for new and inventive promotional ideas. There are Websites as well that cater to author promotion. One of the better sites I’ve found is Earthly Charms (www.earthlycharms.com).

Moe: Do you like to promote? Or do you find it frustrating?

Lori Zecca: This is an excellent question, actually, because generally writers do not like to promote/market their own books. For most of us, writing is all we’re interested in. However, there is a difference between this type of writer and the career-minded writer. The writers who are seeking careers realize that marketing is a part of the package, that even if you are fortunate enough to have a big publishing house behind you with a decent advertising budget, you are still going to want to push your own book in order to generate top sale status.

Okay, here is my actual answer: Yes...I do happen to market my own books with the exception of book signings. Then again, my background is sales and marketing so perhaps this just comes naturally for me.

Moe: Have you been interviewed as an author? By which mediums?

Lori Zecca: I have been interviewed in print as well as Internet media. I have a press kit in which I have prepared questions and answers if the need should ever arise, but so far my interviewers have had their own angles. I’ve been asked to do a guest spot on a local St. Louis radio show, but I haven’t quite made up my mind about that one yet.

Moe: Do you have any good promotion tips for your fellow authors that you would like to share?

Lori Zecca: Talk to people and let them know about your accomplishments. People just love to meet a real-live-published-author! And always carry bookmarks and offer to autograph them.

Moe: Please add anything else here you'd like to say.

Lori Zecca: I began writing almost out of the blue three short years ago. Being an avid reader with an overactive imagination, I always wanted to change what I read, so I tried to write down my ideas. They were good stories, but that’s all—the actual art of creating a novel was far beyond my comprehension. That’s when I got on-line and began networking and learning all I could about technique and our industry on a whole. Authors are amazing people for so many reasons, but when it comes to contributing to the success of others, you’ve never met a more happy or satisfied writer. One year later I had my first contract and was being asked to contribute to several well known anthologies. Three years later I am writing full-time, mostly non-fiction in the form of freelance writing for national trade magazines, but fiction still keeps me up to all hours of the night! I also give back what was given to me—I speak to new writers and provide insight and I judge more contests than my family would like.

Moe: Please add a short bio, your personal website url, your
publisher(s) and book(s).

Lori Zecca: When I’m not writing, On-line or have my nose in a book, I love to indulge my family, friends, and yellow Lab—my passion for fine art, gardening, and wine—and I’m a devoted hockey-mom, too! To read the first chapter of my book and learn more about my work, visit my website.

To purchase Lori's book Love Enough for All.

12/03