Marketing Advice

Hi! Let me introduce myself quickly. I’m Chrissy Siggee and I have two adult children and three grandchildren and live with my husband of twenty-eight years, in Brisbane Australia.
After serving many years in children and youth ministries, I dedicated myself to Pastoral Care and Counseling to shut-ins, hospitalized and those with special needs. I only rediscovered my childhood desire to write shortly after moving to Sydney in 2006. I began with writing my first novel. I then spent many months housebound in unbearable pain. Partly paralyzed on one side until my surgery in late October 2007, I discovered this would be a major turning point in my life.
I finally found enough courage to have my manuscript edited, then asked a friend if she would design a book cover for me. A website was launched and after I returned from a five week holiday to America, “Out of the Shadow’s – Jenna’s Secret” was published and in my hands. This was early September 2008.
Marketing has become a full time job. Sales came in immediately and steadily from America, New Zealand and Australia. I approached a local bookstore who accepted six copies on consignment. This was the motivation I needed to get started. I began sending long informative emails to major book stores in Australia. Within days I felt like I was on a locomotive that wouldn’t slow down.
An email asking an old friend to assist at a book signing, led me to two speaking engagements within the next two months. Two large church magazines, covering most of Australia, offered to do half page book reviews in their next issues. (December/January) I received a reply and acceptance email to place my novel on the National Independent Book Stores Data Base System, which was available to every independent book store in Australia.
About the same time I was hit by a huge disappointment from one of the largest book store chains in the nation, explaining to me that their stores were franchised owned and I would have to approach each of their 177 stores individually. My heart dropped. I researched, Googled and made telephone calls until I found what I needed. The email I received was not 100% correct in their reply. I was determined I would succeed and replied to the email announcing they were right about the franchise but each franchised purchased from their head office data base system, just as the independent bookstores operated. I also told them that I was disappointed in the lack of communication they must have within their company and with their franchise owners. The following week I received an official apology from the head office general manager. I was correct in my assumptions and my book and details was immediately placed on their data base, and an official launch of my book sent to every franchise owner in Australia.
Next, I used all my accumulated information and finally emailed Koorong’s head office. Koorong is THE biggest Christian bookstore in Australia. I received a telephone call the very next day discussing details and setting up an account as a private distributor; something that is not often done within their company. I had proved my dependability, advertising and marketing skills.
Marketing has slowed down now and I’m beginning to receive the rewards of my early efforts with a second reprint order organized for the New Year. With a second book due to be published in February 2009, I feel ready for the marketing Glimpses Of His Glory with a sense of excitement.
One thing I’ve learned through my marketing experiences is not allow one disappointment to discourage my effort and determination to achieve. It’s also a lot of hard work but very rewarding.
You can contact me by email chrissy@chrissysiggee.com or through my book website http://www.chrissysiggee.com/

The Mighty Queen of Freeville, a review

Chris' Critique

A Writers Review

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Amy Dickinson’s The Mighty Queens of Freeville about the many strong women, highly memorable animals, and the few significant men in her life.
Dickinson opens with a perfect portrayal of a marriage gone bad and flawlessly puts words to the heartache that ensues following the finality's of ending a long term relationship. She writes what we all feel. "First, I wanted it not to end. And second, I wanted for others to share a complete and interior knowledge of my heartbreak, followed by demonstrable grief."
Inspirational stories throughout her life will change the reader’s. These stories concentrate mostly on Dickinson’s attempt to raise her daughter and changing for the better while doing so. It almost seems as though daughter Dickinson (Emily) assisted her mom in the growing process and is granted full responsibility for her mother’s success.
Dickinson’s memoir is overflowing with thought provoking analogies and beautifully visual metaphors. Comparing herself to a caterpillar at a picnic, "inch worming my way in and out of situations," she describes her repetitive habit of what she refers to as "failing up." She effectively personifies emotions previously unimaginable to the reader. For example, when casually mentioning Emily’s prom date, "She would see her crush crushed."
The Mighty Queens of Freeville is representative of a library of books enabling women to empower themselves and their loved ones. Dickinson’s writing is a true to life portrayal of what will happen when women continue to stand by each other throughout the duration of their lifetimes. Only good can come from this.

Chris is a local writer who is currently working on her first book.

Happy New Year...

... my wish is that 2009 be a blessed and fulfilling year for all of us. My goal for 2009 is to assist more writers achieve their goals. I am convinced that readers will continue to look for that next great read, and that publishers will continue to look for authors who can supply them. Consider joining a writers group, take a class, buddy up with another writer ... do whatever works for you. But write!

What are your goals for 2009?

Andrew Greeley Interview (Lawrence Grobel)

Lawrence Grobel has been a freelance writer for thirty years, Playboy calls him "the interviewer's interviewer." In 1993 he sat down with Andrew Greeley:

Lawrence: "What's the most courageous thing you've done as a writer?"

Andrew Greeley: "The greatest risk was to turn from nonfiction to fiction. It took me a while because I wondered if I was able to do it. It was a risky business, not because I was going to put some eroticism in my books, I'm unself-conscious there, sexual attraction is part of the human condition, you can't write a story without it - I just felt telling stories was a risk."

Lawrence: "What would you say is a main theme that runs through you books?

Andrew Greeley: "Second chances. That we keep getting second chances."

Lawrence: "Would Chicago always be a subtheme"

Andrew Greeley: "Somebody once said, "Why don't you take your novels out of Chicago, it's not the center of the world." And I say, "Yeah, it is." Faulkner was comfortable in Mississippi; I'm not Faulkner, but I write about Chicago."

Endangered Species, Writer Talk About Their Craft, Their Visions, Their Lives
by Lawrence Grobel
Published by DA CAPO Press (c) 2001
page 166, 167

Christmas Fun

Christmas Time

Merry Christmas, again