JO-ANNE VANDERMEULEN “Conquer All Obstacles”

Jo-Anne as the Author

I can officially call myself an author. I was a writer; but now, I’m an author. An elated feeling that soon came crashing down…

Jo-Anne as a Four-Armed Octopus

I feel like an octopus…Okay, I’m missing half my arms; but still, I’m veering off in multiple directions—way too many for my comfort  zone. Functioning in 4 different roles (publicist , distributer, marketer, and an author) is stressful.

Jo-Anne now acts as a:

1.) Publicist – Organizes media visits

2.) Distributor – Displays the book

3.) Marketeer  – Promotes the author and book

4.) Author – Presents self during media visits

I was so clueless a year ago. Actually, even a month ago, I didn’t know what a publicist, distributor or author did. Believe me, I didn’t feel I was prepared or up for this challenge; but, I basically had little choice.

Jo-Anne as a Publicist

When I spoke with the publicists from Regina and Saskatoon, both told me to save my money and do it myself. The publicists figured I knew enough about who to contact. They figured that I had the ability to search and discover  the locations of each media sources myself—Oh yes, Google is an amazing search engine. So, I took their recommendations. As soon as my books arrived at my home, I became my own publicist.

A Calendar Became My Best Friend

As a publicist, I contacted (by phone and Internet—email) the TV stations, radio stations, papers, libraries, author clubs, friends/family, and book stores. I sent media releases  announcing this NEW Local Author (that’s me) and my book. And I had to plan dates for physical appearances (book signing/book talks). I had to be open for interviews, and  had to schedule the interviews to weave around the public appearances.

I soon found out that if I wanted to present book launches, it only made sense to have books on display prior and post the dates of these signings, so… I had my daughters usher ‘Conquer All Obstacles” to the book launch destinations. My oldest daughter, Tanille, hauled books East. My youngest daughter, Brenda, carted the books West…each distributing the books in locations of my upcoming book launches.

Jo-Anne as a Distributor

So far, being a distributor is the worst job. Driving from one book store to another—thank goodness my daughters are helping me…otherwise, it just wouldn’t pay for the price of the gas.

Each place has different standards, but all want to make the most money they can from the selling of the author’s book. The going rate is 40% off the top price. The author may make between 5-10% which just doesn’t jive. If I’m paying for the books to be shipped to my home, the printing of the book, the marketing, and I’m the one who puts all the work into the book, then why should the store receive 40% and the author make 5-10%????

Today, this distributor I spoke to tried to tell me that it was the publisher that was hauling in the revenue and that they should be ashamed of themselves. I, immediately spoke up (even shook my finger at the man…almost jabbed him in the chest with it), told him that his words were not fooling me…it was him and the distributors that were robbing the authors. GRRrrrr … Well, it’s a toss-up between Saskatchewan Postal Services and the Distributors. Both are making it impossible for authors to make any money from their long hard work.

Jo-Anne as a Marketeer

Promotion comes naturally for me. I have the ability…but unfortunately, do not have the time these days. To be honest, I have done little online marketing. The roles of publicist, distributor, and author must happen now. Even though, without the exposure, I’m hurting myself, I can only do so much with the time I have.

I will be my own marketer. As soon as my book tour is finished, I’m going to hit the Internet with robust. Through the past 8 months, I’ve built an author platform which has brought me a huge number of followers.  So my marketing has already started, but is just on a delay-mode until…

December. I’m going to target my reading audience, create massive exposure, and will drive this traffic back to my site where my book is sold. I will be ready to *Conquer All Obstacles.*

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