How to Get Support From Your Local Community

~ Kristina Stanley

As an artist, getting support from your local community is easy. Just ask.

I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to ask people for favours, but here’s what I discovered. My community loves to help locals. Last Friday, my local newspaper, The Columbia Valley Pioneer, published an article about me.

I’d sent them an email, explaining who I am (a local author), what my credentials are and that DESCENT had just been published. They responded within the hour saying they’d love to interview me. I’d procrastinated for days before I sent the email, and nowKristina at Library I wish I hadn’t hesitated.

Because of the article, the Invermere Public Library asked me if they could put a copy of DESCENT on their shelves.

So…DESCENT in now available at the Invermere Public Library.

One little email led to two great opportunities, and each day a new milestone moment creates a little happiness in my life.

The questions becomes: what else should I ask for?

If you’re interested, you can buy or download a sample of DESCENT at:  myBook.to/Descent

Thanks for reading…

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30 thoughts on “How to Get Support From Your Local Community”

  3. I have been planning to visit the local libraries with The Hanged Man’s Noose come fall (summer everyone is away). I did this for the Toronto Sisters in Crime anthology, The Whole She-Bang 2 with great results. Often libraries will want you to donate a copy of the book, and I don’t have a problem with that. Sometimes they will have signings or other events. I found it best to just go in and talk to the person one-on-one and make a connection.

    In my community we have a monthly glossy magazine and I approached the publisher. She offered me a full page ad FREE in Sept. in exchange for a book giveaway of The Hanged Man’s Noose (one copy) the same month, and I wrote an article for her August issue on Publishing options. Since I’m a freelance writer, I was able to write that up quickly. It was a win-win for both of us!

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  9. Great, Kristina! I did something similar for one of my mysteries back in 2008 and got a lovely write-up in the paper. Oddly enough, I haven’t gone back there, but I think it’s high time I should reacquaint myself with the local papers. My concern has been making a pest of myself, particularly when we have so many authors in our community, all vying for space.

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    1. How could you make a pest of yourself – 2008 and then back is 2015 – hardly a pest 🙂 Go for it. Your books are great and deserve to be out there. I plan to go back in the fall for the release of BLAZE.

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  10. Hi Kristina, good on you! I did the same here in Australia – the local papers love promoting local talent! Same with the libraries – my local network accepted two copies of my self-published (& paid for them!) without question. The bookshops were a little harder – some chains won’t accept them, others wanted local publicity (the newspaper article went in far earlier than expected, so I wasn’t prepared!). Independent stores would probably be easier, if we had any left around here! But it’s always worth asking 🙂

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  11. I don’t live anywhere near a chain bookstore, so that’s not an option. I do have DESCENT in one local store. The gave me half a shelf and a poster about me being a writer who lives here. That was pretty cool.

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  13. I have a question for you. How do you divide your time between the marketing and the writing? That is one of my biggest obstacles and I’ve missed many opportunities because I didn’t handle the marketing the right way. I sigh in frustration and hope I can make things better going forward. Thanks!

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  14. Hi Stacey, I have to admit I find it hard right now as DESCENT came out July 25th. I try to spend no more than an hour in the morning before I start writing to work in marketing. Than I do a check again at the end of the day. It’s all so captivating that I have to turn my wifi off or I can’t concentrate. I’m too easily distracted by comments etc. If I’m having a lull in writing, I’ll turn wifi on and sneak a peak.

    The harder part is writing guest blogs. I’m doing 2 to 3 a week right now, so I try and write the guest blogs a least a week in advance and use Sundays to do that.

    I do think to make a difference, I need to focus on some aspect of marketing each day. The problem for me is I really enjoy online networking so it’s always there as a temptation.

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