Creating a marketing plan
As a writer, I think a lot about the various stages of writing.
I describe the time spent in these various stages in this way:
Creative Process (the writing, plotting, world-building and character-creation) – 10% of the time.
Editing Process (drafts after the first, grammar and spelling, refining of language and pace, checking character arcs, checking symbol recurrence, refining detail, working with editor and publisher) – 40% of the time
Marketing Process (interacting with publisher, launches and readings, selling books, book fairs, social media, advertising, writing blurbs and press releases) – 50% of the time.
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I am a planner, a bit surprised to say I have never created a plan for the marketing of my books. So this will be the next step in my writing career.
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A little research has given me the main ingredients of a Marketing Plan:
- a summary for reference – pulls together the main points of the plan and states my marketing goals
- identification of customers – who they are and where to find them
- development of a unique selling point – a way to separate your product from others
- a pricing strategy – price of your product and timing of offers
- a distribution plan – how customers will buy from you
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In the next few weeks, I will think about and write down these components as they relate to my products: my books and paintings.
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Have you ever created a marketing plan and did it help you to meet your goals?
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
Now available … fourth in the Meniscus Series: The Village at Themble Hill
The new book in the Meniscus Science Fiction Series is now available. In The Town at Themble Hill, humans on the alien planet Meniscus continue to search for freedom and a safe place to live.
My heroine Odymn, who is expert at the art of parkour, sometimes also called free-running, navigates the landscape with runs, leaps and vaults. She never falls. Or does she? Find out how Odymn copes with a loss of her independence.
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Meniscus: The Town at Themble Hill
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… On the alien planet Meniscus, against all odds, a small group of Humans works to forge a new life together. When a Dock-winder drone pays them a visit, Odymn and the Slain trek along the heights of The Fault, to make certain the community is not in danger of invasion. They find a new way to scale The Fault and a perfect location for building a new village. Matters are complicated when Odymn is injured on a parkour run and the Slain’s former girlfriend joins the group. Faced with a dangerous journey through the Themble Wood and the hardships of building a new community, are the Humans in more danger from themselves, the alien landscape, or their Doc-winder overlords?
… In the fourth book of the Meniscus series, The Village at Themble Hill chronicles the first days of community life on a planet where Humans are not allowed to associate and freedom is always at risk.
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home is the safest place … so build a home …
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Get the paperback version of Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill here. The Kindle version will be available soon. For readers in the Fredericton area, Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill will be available at Westminster Books after May 1st.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
ice-falls in New Brunswick
An ice-fall along highway #102 in New Brunswick
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One of the sad things about the end of winter is the demise of our ice-falls in New Brunswick. Along the roads, where there are streams intersected by road-cuts, we often have a build-up of ice as it drips from the top of the cut. Some of the ice-falls are spectacular and all are dazzlers in the sun. For more about ice-falls in my blog see here.
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From my reading, I know that ice-falls begin as ‘frazil ice’, a suspension of small ice crystals adhering to soil, rock or vegetation. As meltwater flows over the surface of the frozen ice-fall, new layers are built and a cross-section of the ice will show bands of ice.
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In New Brunswick, some ice-falls are climbable, and some create caves under the curtain of ice. A famous New Brunswick ice-fall is the Midland Ice Caves near Norton. https://www.explorenb.ca/blog/icecaves
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one warm hand
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icicles seep between
layers of rock frozen
curtains separate
inner room from winter storm
glass barrier between blue
light and sheltered eyes
memory of water flows
along the face of the rock
one warm hand melts ice
consolation, condensation
on the inward glass
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(published as ‘one warm hand’, http://www.janetims.com, March 10, 2012)
Copyright Jane Tims 2018
herb growing in winter #5: tomatoes and lettuce
Since my last AeroGarden update, I have baby tomatoes and leaves of romaine lettuce in my garden.
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In a couple of weeks, I’ll have enough basil, lettuce and Tiny Tim tomatoes for a salad … if I can stop my ongoing snacking!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
signs of spring
Here are few of the signs of spring we saw on our drive last weekend:
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a skunk running through the apple orchard …
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pussy willows …
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muddy roads …
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beer cans and other returnables, released from their cover of snow …
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and a New Brunswick can-and-bottle collector out for walk …
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Happy Spring!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
my painting at Isaac’s Way
Winter is going fast! But winter still exists in my painting on display at Isaac’s Way Restaurant in Fredericton. The painting is one of 70 original art pieces in the 32nd Art Auction, raising funds for music lessons for kids-in-need.
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My painting ‘farmyard in moonlight’ is 24″ x 20″, acrylic, unframed, gallery edges. The high bid right now is $100. You can buy it off the wall for $320. Half of the price goes to the charity.
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You can see the other painting in the auction by visiting Isaac’s Way and enjoying their great menu. Or see the paintings on-line at 32nd Art Auction.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
someone has a plan!
This time of year the winter ice on the rivers in New Brunswick is starting to break up. At the concrete bridge over the South Branch of the Rusagonis Stream, not far from where I live, there is a narrow band of melted ice.
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However, someone has plans for that part of the river. Have a look at the next two photos and guess who the ‘planners’ are.
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Beavers! Not ice scour since softer trees at the same level are not involved. Also, two of the trees have deep ‘v’s cut out on the bank side.
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We will be watching to see the next stage and the results of this plan. A beaver dam on the Rusagonis. Oh my!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
