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

1. 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!
2. 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!!!
3. 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…)
4. 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.
5. 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!!!
6. 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!!!
7. 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…

The post I’m Bout It Bout It aka Marketing & Promotion Month 7 (And It.Don’t.Stop.) appeared first on After the Altar Call.

If you have checked out my blog in the last couple of months or so, you know that my book “After the Altar Call: The Sisters’ Guide to Developing a Personal Relationship With God” will be released in February 2012….So leading up until that date, I’ ve been literally obssessed with marketing & promotion because I really do believe that this book will really help women in their walk with God AND let’s face it – publishing is a business….And your girl has to move books if I expect to last in this industry….

So each month leading up until February, I plan to let you know about my marketing & promotion efforts…And y’all let me know what you think because I’m up for any and all suggestions…If you want to read about my first month of marketing and promotion, check out “I’m Bout It Bout It Marketing & Promotion Month 1.”

One critical element of marketing & promotion, I believe, is supporting other authors. It is true that what you sow, you will reap so I’ve been attending the book signings of other authors to support them. And I hope that when my day or days come, I will reap the harvest of supporting other authors….Plus, I love to be around book authors anyway…they are a part of my tribe…lol…

So on Aug. 1, I started off the month by attending a book signing for prolific author Tayari Jones at the Camp Creek Barnes & Noble. She read from her latest book, “Silver Sparrow,” a wonderful novel in which the complex lives of a legitimate daughter and an illegitimate daughter are juxtaposed. The story takes place in our fair city…I have wanted to read her work since I heard about her first book “Leaving Atlanta,” a novel in which Jones explores the tragedy of the Atlanta child murders….As someone who grew up in the A and remembers the fear that gripped the city during that time, I appreciate her work. If you did not get a chance to go that book signing, Jones will also be at the Decatur Book Festival on Sunday, September 4 at 12 p.m. in the Decatur Conference Center Stage (Ballroom B). For more information, go to to TayariJones.com.

The next marketing and promotion activity was the ordering of 1000 postcards which feature the cover of the book, pictures of some of the women in the book and my website information…so if you see me somewhere, don’t act when I put one of my postcards in your sweaty hands and ask you to tell somebody….lol…

I met Rev. Owen Griffiths at the conference...check out his blog oldreligiousguy.blogspot.com...for some reason, I am fascinated with collars...

These postcards came in handy when I attended the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference from August 10-13…It is a non-stop learning event, and a must if you really want to focus on ministry as well as writing! I’ve been twice, and I just adore it! I was able to meet New York Times best-selling author Cec Murphey (who I wrote about in “A Saint & A Sinner”) and other authors…

On Aug. 19, I attended the Atlanta Blogalicious Meetup at Hudson Grille where I was able to network with other bloggers…I never knew when I started blogging in 2008 that I would LOVE it…and so now, in addition to launching my first book, I’m hoping to make this blog be the best it can be…And now I’m thinking of attending the Be Blogalicious conference in D.C. on October 21-23…

Panel Discussion at Atlanta Blogalicious Meetup (from left to right) Danica Kombol, Bren Herrera, Stacey Ferguson & Lamar Tyler

The next day, Aug. 20, I attended the Bronner Bros. International Hair Show where I networked and took in the sights and the sounds of this spectacular show…If you haven’t been, you definitely need to go…In fact, I also went in February and posted lots of pictures…check it out at “Saturday in the A – Featuring the Bronner Bros. International Hair Show.”

Four days later, Aug. 24, I officially launched my new website…Yay…I’m also pleased to announce that my book, which will actually be released on Valentine’s Day 2012,  is now available for preordering at Nevaeh Publishing for $14. 95 and (gulp) Barnes & Noble. I have an ISBN number and erething…lol…

Next month, I will be focusing on press coverage and setting up a signing tour…as always, more be revealed…

Any thoughts?

The post I’m Bout It Bout It aka Marketing & Promotion Month 2… appeared first on After the Altar Call.