Posts Tagged ‘books’
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
where we read
I am a reader. There are stacks of read and unread books wherever you go in my house. There is a Kindle by my living-room chair and a Kobo by my bedside. Since I read multiple books at once, most are marked ‘last-page-read’. I read the books a bit at a time, choosing whatever I think will suit me on a particular day.
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So where do I read? Anywhere!
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When I was young, I read in my bedroom. I’d take a flashlight to bed and hide under the covers to read. Mom was not fooled! When we went to Nova Scotia for summer vacation, I read in my grandfather’s orchard. There was a tree-limb perfect for sitting!
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During my university days, I read like a mad-woman, as much mystery/romance as I could absorb. I think I wanted solace from my steady diet of science texts and journal articles! My preferred reading place was my car – also a rest from the lab where I did most of my university studies.
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I still favour mysteries, especially detective series. Science fiction too. And poetry, always poetry!
A few series I’d recommend:
Chuck Bowie -“Donovan: Thief for Hire”
Ann Cleeves – “Sheltland Island Mysteries”
Ann Granger – I like her older “Fran Varady Crime Novels”
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Through the years, I have been constant in my reading spaces:
- the car … for years I drove to a park on my lunch hour and cheerfully read the time away. When my son was in his early university days, I never minded waiting for him because I could read while I waited.
- in bed … as the years go by, reading puts me to sleep faster and faster. It sometimes takes me months to read a particular book!
- in my accustomed chair in the living room … experience with decades of public service work means I can read with any distraction.
- in our camp at our table. No distractions, just good company.
- but never in my planned reading space … when I retired I bought a comfy chair and designed a perfect reading corner. It is a great space to store stuff – books for my next signing, the shower head we haven’t yet installed, two throw pillows no-one wants to sit with and recent purchases not put away. When the chair is empty of stuff, it is filled with Zoë. I never read there …. never, ever.
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Where do you read? If you had a special reading spot, do you think you would use it?
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Copyright 2018 Jane Tims
‘Outside-In No. 2’ – bringing the outside into our homes
I have submitted another painting to Isaac’s Way Restaurant, for their 24th Art Auction and Sale. This event will run from May 24, 2015 to September 20, 2015. The proceeds from the auction go to sponsor kids-in-need for theatre lessons.
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Looking for a theme for my recent work, I decided to do a series of still life paintings about the many elements of the out-of-doors we bring into our homes. This includes items collected on walks, motifs on fabrics and metals, small statuary and so on. My second painting in the series is ‘Outside-In No. 2’ – a still life of books, a jar of potpourri, a metal bird sculpture, pine cones and my fern curtains.
For the painting, I used Chromium Oxide Green, Burnt Umber, Titanium White, Phthalo Blue, Cadmium Yellow and Quinacridone Magenta. I finished some surfaces in the painting with Golden Polymer Medium (Gloss) to give some items shine and a smooth texture.
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Jane Tims ‘Outside-In No 2’ May 14, 2015 (24″ X 20″ acrylic, gallery edges)
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The first painting in the series was ‘outside-in’, currently displayed in the 23rd Art Auction at Isaac’s Way. It features a moss terrarium and dragon sculpture. There are still a few days remaining in the 23rd auction (until May 24, 2015) so if you are local, it is a great way to own some original art and contribute to a worthy cause! The paintings in the auction can be seen at:
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Jane Tims ‘outside-in’ February 12, 2015 (24″ X 20″, acrylic, gallery edges)
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The canvas for my next painting stands ready on the easel. Now, to look around the house for some out-of-doors items to include in the painting!
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Copyright 2015 Jane Tims
heart of darkness
I love to read. Certain scenes in the books I read stick in my head. Sometimes they inspire me to try to capture the author’s words on canvas.
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I thought I would share a few of my paintings over my next few posts. If you have read these books, perhaps my paintings will remind you of the words and scenes they try to portray. If you have not read them, perhaps the paintings will inspire you to add them to your reading list.
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Jane Tims 2002 ‘Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness’ acrylic on canvas, 20 X 16
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‘ … Only the barbarous and superb woman did not so much as flinch, and stretched tragically her bare arms after us over the somber and glittering river …’ – Joseph Conrad, 1902, Heart of Darkness
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I first read Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ in school. First published in 1902, the book is set against a background of British colonialism and the ivory trade. The novella takes us on a dark journey along the Congo River as the narrator travels to meet Kurtz, the chief of the Inner Station of a Belgian Trade Company. The book is a study of what happens to humans when corruption and greed become the drivers for life, and when they are left to operate outside the norms of society.
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The painting tries to capture the moment in the story when the steamboat is about to leave the Inner Station with the gravely ill Kurtz. The natives he has been living with come to the shore. Kurtz’ ‘mistress’, a ‘superb woman’, reaches her arms towards the leaving steamer. A moment later the men on the boat use the people on the shore for target practice.
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My battered and dog-eared copy of Heart of Darkness. Leonard F. Dead (ed.) (1960) ‘Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness – Backgrounds and Criticisms’, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
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Copyright 2015 Jane Tims
in the apple tree
How many hours did I read in the apple tree in my grandfather’s orchard?
At least a couple of hours every day were spent lost in a book.
I was ten or so and my reading was relatively simple – Nancy Drew, Anne of Green Gables, Blue Castle, animal stories by Thorton W. Burgess , and books about a young adventurer named Madge Morton. Most of these were books my Mom had given me, and a few were borrowed from my aunt’s summer house. Have a look at ‘books about natural spaces’ to see some of my favorites. Are you old enough to remember some of them?
The search for a comfortable place to read has often eluded me. Today I read at my desk or in the car. Anything more soothing and I fall asleep, in spite of the quality of the read.
Where is your favorite place to read a book?
reading in the orchard
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comfortable limb of
apple tree, how many
books read in the days of
summer, mysteries, tales of
plucky girls, animals personified, sunlight
and apple-shadows highlight words
sentences and paragraphs read at
a glance, breezes turning pages
faster than I read, solve
the crime, blood as red as apples
creaky doors and creepy windows
branches rub together somewhere in
the orchard, forget to go in
for supper, my mother’s voice written into
story, calling
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© Jane Tims 2011
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