Showing posts with label promotion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label promotion. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Jeana Gartshore-Thompson: Twelve Question Tuesday

Today I am excited to welcome Jeana Gartshore-Thompson to Twelve Question Tuesday.  I have changed some of the questions a bit for Jeana since she is on the promotion side of things at Oak Tree Press. 

1.  Please tell me the three most important things people should know about you.
I try to turn everything that happens to me into a humorous situation. Laughing is the best medicine in any situation! I am always trying to bring a smile to someone’s day, you just never know when someone really needs that! Life is an adventure, mine just happens to be a crazy adventure!

I am very determined to provide for my family, I have four part-time jobs. Besides being the public relations manager for Oak Tree Press, you can find me in bright pink coveralls and an orange safety vest doing patrol at one of our local schools and am a recess teacher too! As well as transporting a small group of kids to a local daycare after school. Most days I don’t know if I am coming or going. But I Love each and every one of my jobs, they are all rewarding in their own way.

There is nothing I won’t try or give help with. This still amazes my boyfriend, Steven Lomprez! I am not a girly girl, I will be out helping fix a vehicle or digging dirt what ever needs done I am there doing it! But I am the worlds biggest Clutz! I can fall over literally nothing! 

Once, I went to get a hand saw that was hanging to high up in the garage, I decided to get a broom to get it down, the saw slipped down the handle on the broom and cut my hand. The same day Steve asked me to put a ear of corn on the squirrel feeder, I pushed it on and the screw went into my hand. What did Steve do? He laughed at me! Bad things happen, you can’t stop that but you just need to find the humor in it!

2.  Are you a dog person or a cat person? 
I am both, we actually have a dachshund named Dashin (that is how I pronounced a dachshund). We also have 2 older female cats, Nibbles and Sassy (Sassy is a blue tip Siamese) We also have two Big Oscar fish and a pet squirrel, Roo that I rescued as a baby. I am a huge animal lover!

3.  Tea or coffee? 
Definitely Tea! I love the smell of coffee but hate the taste! I am a huge fan of hot chocolate in the winter too! Especially when I am on the crosswalk, crossing kids!

4.  Boxers, briefs, boxer-briefs, or commando? (Either what you prefer or what you prefer on others.)
I like boxer briefs on guys! However anyone that read Billie, my boss’s interview would 
know that my guy prefers commando! 

5.  If you could be anyone else for one day, who would it be and why? (You can’t be Mrs. Channing Tatum because I have claimed that one already.) 
Believe it or not I wouldn’t want to be anyone else, I am very comfortable in my own skin! Many of my friends think I am a fruit loop in a world of Cheerios!   I am a little wild and crazy but I do my own thing and enjoy this wonderful thing we call life everyday. I simply dance to the beat of my own drum!

6.  How did you end up at Oak Tree Press?
Well this is quite a long story, however I will try to give the shortest version possible. I had actually gone through my second divorce. I had not worked in 9 years. I sat here wondering how I was going to provide for my children, my father had called me and told me about an ad he read in our local paper. I immediately sent a letter to Billie Johnson, the publisher of Oak Tree Press. We met for lunch and she hired me on the spot. We actually hit it off so well that we are very good friends, I seriously miss her since her move back to California.

7.  What is your favorite book of all time and why?
I would have to say “The Scarlet Letter”  I am not sure exactly why but the story had always stuck with me. 

8.  What is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you?
Probably the huge spider I just witnessed staring at me on my floor! I hate spiders!

9.  If you won the lottery, would you share the wealth or change your name and go into hiding?
I think I would share my wealth, I really like brightening some ones day, and giving gifts!


10.  Would you be food or fighter if the zombie apocalypse were to happen? 
I would definitely be a fighter! I can be very stubborn, I hear. I am do not give up easily at all! I certainly do not go down without a good fight!


11.  What is the most daring thing you have ever done?
Laughing at my boyfriend, Steve when I paid my children to smash raw eggs on his bald head! Was so funny I could not help myself! If you know him you know he is over 6 foot tall, I am a mere 5 foot. I would say that qualifies as the most daring thing I have done.

12.  Would you rather be rich or famous--and you could only have one-- and why?  The fame would be based on something good, not something like being the best serial killer or anything like that. 
Rich! Who in their right mind would not want to be rich? I would more than likely share my wealth though!
MY BIO:

Jeana Gartshore-Thompson is a life long resident of Taylorville, Illinois. and a single mother to three beautiful children, April (26), Jesse (16)and Benjamin(10). Jeana has a step-daughter from her previous marriage, Brittany who is attending SIUE, studying to be a special education teacher. Jeana and her children were blessed to have her wonderful boyfriend, Steven Lomprez enter their lives in 2011. He has two children Travis and Kim that add to the large family. Jeana is also a caregiver to her oldest , April, who has Cerebral Palsy.  Before coming onto Oak Tree Press' staff , she ran and operated her own in-home Daycare for 10+ years. When Jeana is not dedicating herself to Oak Tree or her children, she loves to enjoy the outdoors with her boyfriend Steve. Jeana and Steve 'adopted' many plants from Billie Johnson's garden during OTP's re-location to California, and they report the bloomers are thriving.

My websites

You can visit our website at  www.oaktreebooks.com

Or visit our blog at  http://otpblog.blogspot.com/

I am on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/jeana.thompson.12
 

Oak Tree Press Authors at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oak-Tree-Press-Authors/210979042259140

Oak Tree Press on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/oaktreebooks





Thursday, December 2, 2010

Today I talked about promotion as a guest blogger on Creative Barbwire, my friend Barb's website. Barb is also a writer, and in a few days will guest blog here about her latest work. Until then, stop at http://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/ and pick up some tips from yours truly. While I have a lot left to learn about promoting, why reinvent the wheel yourself if you can benefit from my experiences?

Holli

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Helping Children Write

I frequently volunteer at my girls' school and know most of the teachers. In fact, the principal was my fifth grade English teacher, way back in the 70's. So when one of the teachers who I also consider a friend asked me to come speak to her enrichment cluster, I immediately agreed.

Enrichment clusters in the Jefferson Parish Public magnet school system are the equivalent of electives. This particular elective was for the purpose of writing the school newsletter, and included students in third through fifth grade.

I spoke briefly about the things involved in getting published- writing the book, finding an agent or publisher, and then promotion. I explained that writers do not generally get rich, and unless they were one of the few who make it big, they would probably need to keep a day job. I told them the three most important things they could do to was to read as much as possible, write as much as they could, every day if they were able, and to continue to educate themselves, even after they graduate college. I told them I take online courses and buy reference books all the time to hone my craft.

One fifth grader, who happens to be best friends with my daughter, asked the winning question- how do you get your books into book stores to sell and who gets to decide that.

At the end of the class, I received a treat from the teacher. Ms. Bourgeois put the Jefferson Parish Public Library website up on her high-tech Promethean Board and showed me all of the local libraries my book was in, including the regional library where it is in the Popular Section and can not be reserved or renewed. The website also showed me all the libraries the book was checked out of, the ones that the book was in transit to another local library, and the libraries where my book was on the shelf. I had no idea my book was even in the library, so I think we all learned something that day.

Next year, I am trying to assistant teach an enrichment cluster where the kids can work on a book, do some fundraising, and then self publish it through one of the self-publishing companies. I think if I had seen my name in print when I was 8 instead of when I was 40ish, (enough information here), my whole life might have been different.

Monday, May 10, 2010

BLOG JOG DAY BOOK WINNER

Barbara from the creative barbwire blog was the winner of my book, Gumbo Justice, in a random drawing. I entered the names of everyone who left a comment and/or an email.

Thank everyone for visiting my blog and making Blog Jog Day such a success. I found several new blogs of interest myself-- and not just writing or promotion blogs, a few new writers, and even ordered a book. All in all, I think I got out of it as much as if not more than what I put in.

Congrats to Barbara!


Holli Castillo
www.gumbojustice.net

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Promotion Styles

Among most writers, especially with the smaller and independent publishing houses, the hot topic always seems to be promotion. And as many different ways as there are to promote a book, there are just as many promotion styles.

I've seen writers who join social networking sites and make everything they do about their current work. Someone posts congratulations to a mutual friend about their new grandchild, these aggressive promoters will post back, "Congrats! Oh, I just had a baby of my own, my new novel, blah blah blah. You can buy it from my website or at Amazon."

Now I'm not against blatant self-promotion. Often, you need to promote yourself or you won't sell books. I guess my objection is to that handful of individuals who feel that EVERYTHING is about their novel. Maybe to them it is, but to the rest of the world, not so much.

It would help if those types of promoters would occasionally post about something different. For instance, if they posted a status update on Facebook about something else interesting they were doing, maybe I would also become interested enough in them to think about checking out their book. If every post they do, however, just talks about the latest novel, it's not going to entice me to buy it.

The second type of promoters are my favorite. They'll post when they're working on a chapter, or even ask for an opinion on something. They'll post when their book first comes out, when there's a promotion, sale, contest, signing, etc., in other words, when there is a reason for posting, but the rest of the time they post about parts of their lives that are interesting and that fans might actually want to read about. For example, when they've gotten a new pet. Or visited some place exotic. Or even planted a garden. Posts that tell us something about the writer are a lot more likely to make me want to buy their book than posts that constantly tell me about their book.

The third type of book promoters are the overly humble and meek, the type who are afraid to mention they even have a book, listing it in their information section, posting about normal life things, but never posting when they do book signings, promotions, contests, or blogs. While this may make them feel better about using social networks to promote their work, it also doesn't do very much to promote. I completely understand not wanting to appear like a showoff or braggart, but there's little point in using social networks or even writer sites for promotion if you're too shy to promote.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, even Linked in, are good sites to post information about your works, and to give your potential audience a chance to know those things you want them to know about you, and maybe get a few more people interested in your work. It's a tedious process, and I'm guilty about not staying as on top of things as I should in this area, but in the end it can make a big difference to book sales.

That's not to say that on writer's/reader sites it isn't acceptable to post mostly about what you're working on, because the people who visit these sites tend to do so looking for information about books to read, or looking for others' perspectives on issues related to writing. I still think it's important to allow a small glimpse into your personal life if your goal is to get people interested in you as a writer.

In my opinion, a happy balance among the promotion types yields the best results. While the public doesn't need to know every time the writer uses the bathroom, the public may be interested in knowing the writer's favorite food, vacation spot, or television show, and revealing little tidbits of information may help increase sales, as long as the information is limited to those things that won't become a safety concern.

Monday, September 14, 2009

GUMBO JUSTICE Featured at Bookland Heights

I am featured at http://booklandheights.blogspot.com/ for the week. Bookland Heights is a wonderful site that features a different author and his or her work every week. It is a nice bit of free publicity, but more importantly a way for the public to learn a little bit more about novels and the writers. I check it every week even when I'm not featured to see who's on it and to learn a little about other writers and their works.