LaShaunda Hoffman Archives - Page 2 of 2

Hello World,

Me and my lovely assistant at my first book signing at Lifeway Christian Store...

Wow. I got to thank God.

My book is out (as of Feb. 14), and it ranked as an Amazon Best Seller and was listed as an Amazon Hot New Release!!! My Facebook Fam (friends) are blowing up my page telling me they are buying my book! My folk at church who came to my release party are telling me how much they are enjoying the book! And I’m having book signings and what not!

I planted a lot of seeds (WORKED HARD), and God took care of the increase as only HE can do!!! Since I started writing these posts back in July when I started my marketing and promotion campaign (Check out the first one “I’m Bout It Bout It aka Marketing & Promotion Month 1…”), I had the goal of sharing what I have done to help authors behind me as they prepared to launch their babies aka books into the world, and I hope that some author who Googles marketing & promotion will read these posts and be encouraged…

Let me share some of God’s blessings as I’ve worked to get the word out about my book via my marketing & promotion campaign…(in no particular order as all were important accomplishments for me 🙂

I’ve been featured on six radio programs! If you would like to hear me on “The Business of Wisdom” with Dr. Alvin Jones, please listen here! And I thank Shandra Hill Smith of Pullen Press for being an excellent publicist, and helping me with my radio exposure!!! At my first book signing at Lifeway Christian store, one of the ladies who came said she first heard about me on “Business in the Black” with Twanda Black on WALR KISS 104.1 FM. That was my second radio interview, and I think I sounded a bit rough – but thankfully, someone got the message I was trying to convey!
I had over a 100 people at my book release celebration!!! To see the pics from that awesome night of support and love, please go here! Thanks Dwan Abrams for planning the party and spreading the word about it! And I am sooo very grateful for Sofn’free GroHealthy for sponsoring my book release celebration!!!
Various author friends/bloggers featured my book on their blog!!! Thank you to Kathi Macias (kathimacias.com) who featured me on her blog on the day of my book release. To read the post, please go here. And Tayari Jones (yes, the one and only at tayarijones.com) featured me on her blog as well! To read the post, please go here. And other authors including Victoria Christopher Murray (my soror), Tiffany L. Warren (who is featured in my book), & Tia McCollors shouted me out on their Facebook pages! Tia & author Kendra Norman-Bellamy provided endorsement quotes for my book! Author love is a must!!! And I’m soo grateful 🙂 (I hope I’m not forgetting anyone…if so, charge it to my head and not my heart…)
During October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Blayne Alexander of 11 Alive for The Grio.com interviewed Lola Brown, who is featured in my book, about her two-time victory over breast cancer at 36 years old. To read the story or watch the interview, please go to thegrio.com.
I was really encouraged when just as I started my marketing and promotion campaign, I was featured on SORMAG’s blog – sormag.blogspot.com, which is an important website for authors! To see that post, please go here. Thanks again LaShaunda Hoffman!!!
I’ve also been featured in various print media outlets including UPSCALE magazine as well as local newspapers the Clayton News Daily and the Clayton Neighbor!!!
And last but certainly not least, I want to thank Lifeway Christian Store for hosting my very first official book signing last Saturday! I hope, wish & PRAY it’s the beginning of more to come!

NOTE: This roundup mainly includes the media coverage piece of my marketing & promotion campaign….there were other things that I’ve done which are too numerous to name right now…but I will say this…I revamped my website (thanks Tess), passed out postcards just about everywhere I went, networked at various events in the city and throughout the nation, posted like a fiend on my Facebook page and on Twitter and more…trust me…been hustling…stay hustling…

Again, I gotta thank God…And I gotta thank R., who has listened to me talk about this EREday since July…He is the mostest!!!

Ain’ gon lie…I’m tired…but…it.don’t.stop…

Any thoughts?

This song is apropos today….dreams.come.true…

“Yo, I’m strictly about skills and dope lyrical coastin’
Relying on talent, not marketing and promotion.” KRS -One from “Step Into A World”

Hello World,

As hip-hop aficionados know, KRS-One is one the dopest emcees ever but anyone who wants to be successful particularly in a creative field knows marketing and promotion is a must…

Sooo it’s been a whirlwind of month of developing a marketing and promotion plan and getting started on what’s shaping up to be an exhausting but rewarding six to seven months before my book comes out in February 2012. (It still makes me smile inside when I say or even type those words.)

Although according to the Myers-Briggs personality test I am classified as introvert (meaning I get my energy from spending a lot of time alone) a lot of marketing and promotion begins by networking with other people and supporting the success of others in your chosen industry. I have been attending events like crazy this month and on “school nights” too which is typically against my policy.

I started off by attending a book release party at Justin’s Restaurant & Bar for author Curtis Bunn on July 5. His latest book is “A Cold Piece of Work.” Bunn is also the founder of the National Book Club Conference, the event for black “literati.” Dwan Abrams, president of Nevaeh Publishing LLC (the company that is publishing my book) and I hung out at the party together.

Dwan Abrams winning a prize at Curtis Bunn's book release party...

That Saturday, July 9, I attended a meeting of TalkBLACK Atlanta, a black discussion group that meets monthly to talk about issues in the black community. The topic for this month was the black woman which was right up my alley. Although I’m an introvert, I love to talk about controversial topics! Our conversation was heated, but I really enjoyed myself. The crowd was small enough for me not to feel overwhelmed and large enough to have diverse opinions. Also, the meeting was held at Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint, which might become one of my spots in the future…

On July 16, I attended a book signing at the Camp Creek Market Place location of Barnes & Noble for ReShonda Tate Billingsley. She discussed her latest work “Say Amen, Again” and signed copies of the book. I am so inspired by her career path as she started out as a journalist before venturing into the book publishing industry. To date, she is the author of 21 books, and she also is a co-host for “From Cover to Cover” literary talk radio show. In addition, she is venturing into acting, and her book “Let the Church Say Amen” is being made into a movie of which she is executive producer and actress Regina King is the director. And I’m not even listing all of her accomplishments! She’s bad!

Me & ReShonda at her book signing...

On July 21, a friend and I went to a diversity mixer with the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists and the local chapters of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and Asian American Journalists Association at 5 Season Brewery on Marietta Street. I liked this spot as well! People were exchanging their twitter addressess as much as they were handing out business cards…I felt so old although I do have a twitter account….Follow me at @jackiehwrites…

That Saturday, July 23, I went to my first meeting of the Faith-Based Fiction Writers of Atlanta which met at Sammiches ‘N Stuff Breakfast and Sandwiches in the Dec. (I also liked this place.) I was invited to another writers meeting earlier in the week, but I was unable to attend because I teach at the gym on that night. And no, I don’t write fiction yet, but they welcomed me into the group anyway…

This past Thursday, I attended the Black Pearls Magazine Chocolate Social at the Westin Peachtree Plaza where I was able to meet various book authors and others in the black book publishing industry from around the country. I enjoyed meeting many of the new authors like Lakia Brandenburg who wrote “He’s Not Perfect. I’m Not Perfect. But Together We’re Picture Perfect.” And I also reconnected with “ESSENCE” best-selling author Victoria Christopher Murray and my soror.

And Friday, I went to TechUptownATL at the Hyatt Regency Hotel where I was able to meet social media superstars Yalanda Lattimore of DryerBuzz.com and Lamar Tyler of BlackAndMarriedWithKids.com. I feel like I already knew them from their online presence, but it was nice to finally meet them in person…