PROMOBEATS INTERVIEW

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Robin D. Owens

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

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.

Robin D. Owens: Robin D. Owens, HeartMate, Heart Thief, Heart Duel (and if I’d known I was going to get stuck with “heart” I would really have considered another title), a Berkley Anthology in 2005...Futuristic/Fantasy Romance. Mass Market Paperbacks.

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

Robin D. Owens: I spend as much time, money and energy on promotion as I can. I place print ads with the Rising Stars of Romance in Romantic Times, ads with RWAs Romance $ells, and send out plenty of ARCs. For HeartMate and Heart Thief I purchased a “Promote Your Book” package at Writerspace, but I’m unsure whether I will be doing this for Heart Duel. I started a website and update it monthly with things I think people would like to see. My Free Your Artist page has motivational quote, creativity exercises, affirmation and fun links. I show up at others’ online chats and am active on e-loops. I’ve done signings.

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

Robin D. Owens: I think the best thing to do is write a good book. If you don’t have a good product, all the promotion in the world won’t help. That said, send out ARCs to as many reviewers as you can stand.

Website, every author should have one.

I’m not an extrovert, but in person networking has been very valuable. The Celebrate Romance 2003 -- especially READERS conferences. I haven’t attended Romantic Times yet.

Another thing I like is the postcard of my cover I bought from Writerspace. I can send it to groups and get a good count of how many people picked it up. With an excerpt of the book tailored to each group, I think it’s a good value.

I have had people tell me what print ads they noted.

I’ve provided “goodies” teabags and wallet calendars for HeartMate, wallet calendars and “cootie-catchers” for Heart Thief, and believe those particular promo items (used often) work well.

I attended a small sf/fantasy convention for years. I promoted there with booklets and wallet calendars. I think in that particular venue -- a lot of people who read who might be hanging around with time on their hands between seminars -- a booklet works very well.

Contests on my website generate traffic and hopefully readers. I have an average of about 1,200 hits a day.

Putting up my cover and reviews at my workplace.

Signings don’t do anything for me as to having readers who haven’t heard of me or my books in buying them.

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

Robin D. Owens: I used amazon.com’s click throughs when that program was running and I made a mistake of not targeting my audience correctly. It worked when I used it right. I believe you need to know who your readers are and target RIGHT. I’ve also sent emails to yahoo group owners that I thought might be interested in my contest on my website. Sometimes I’ve spent more time messing with this than I’ve received in website traffic.

I just spent a lot of time designing a button only to find out that it would cost more than my wallet calendars, and I believe that it would be less effective.

Signings.

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

Robin D. Owens: I’ve been writing for years, so I picked up some information from published authors. Two other groups that have helped me are the Rising Stars of Romance loop and the Earthly Charms promotion loop.

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

Robin D. Owens: Yes. I like interacting with people online. I am an introvert and less polished in person. I sometimes LOVE promotion, or at least prefer it, because it can be easier than writing and I can justify that I am doing something for myself. It is incredibly frustrating because it takes time from the writing, can interrupt your flow, and can be expensive in time, energy and money. Further, it’s hard for me, at least, to exactly correlate what works and what doesn’t.

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

Robin D. Owens: Online sites and for writer’s newsletters.

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

Robin D. Owens: What goes around comes around...share. Last year I put together a basket for Nora Robert’s literacy drive. When I saw her at my publisher’s party, I had something to talk to her about. She, in turn, offered me the chance to contact her husband and have a signing with her, which I am doing in July.

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

Robin D. Owens has been seriously writing for more than ten years. Her book HeartMate was released in December 2001, the first futuristic/fantasy romance purchased for Jove's Magical Love line and was awarded the 2002 RITA® Award for Best Paranormal Romance. Her second book, Heart Thief is a launch title for Berkley Sensation and was released June 3, 2003. Her third book, Heart Duel will be published April 2004 and she will be a part of a four author romance anthology in 2005.

She is very proud of her website which is updated monthly with motivational quote, creativity exercise, affirmation and contest.

10/03