Guest Post by Sean Hayden + AWESOME CONTEST!!!

Today I would like to welcome friend, author and fellow crazy person Sean Hayden to Zombies Don't Blog! He's on a national, worldwide, global, whirlwhind blog tour for his new book, My Soul to Keep, which I read and loved and want you guys to fall in love with as well. But enough about me! Enjoy Sean's post and at the end you'll be rewarded with just about the best contest/gifts/prizes I've ever seen. Welcome, Sean, and take it away:

GREETINGS AND SALUMATATIONS DENIZENS OF EARTH!

So. Today I travelled all the way from CyberFlorida to CyberFlorida! At least I went from the east coast to the west coast!! A super big round of applause from everybody to MR RUSTY FISCHER!!!! Thanks for having me here today, dude. Bein on your blog is sorta like bein in zombieland. :D I like it. Seriously though my minions…If you haven’t read ZOMBIES DON’T CRY… You are just a mindless animated corpse. Okay, now on to my shtuff!

So, what you want to talk about today?

I know! Let’s talk plans! Plans are good! (At least that’s what this one beautiful Canadian girl I know keeps telling me. I’m not overly convinced. I’m more of a fly by the seat of my pants kinda guy!)

So, what are my plans for the characters and story?

Well, here you go. I’ll tell you, but you have to keep it on lockdown. This stuff is TOP SECRET! Nobody can know.

My Soul to Keep, I plan on adapting to a screen play.

WHAT?

You heard me. Nobody knows this yet. And when I say nobody, I mean not one soul. I’ve never attempted to write a script or screenplay and I figured this would be a good place to start. Sure, it will probably never see the screen (except the one in my head) but it would be fun to try. I’ll keep y’all updated as to my progress on my blog.

So what else have I got in store?

Here you go. I HAVE THE SEQUEL PLANNED! Yup, you heard it. Book two is already in the works! And, because you have been faithfully following this here blog tour, you get to hear about it first. YOUR SOUL TO TAKE will be out sometime later this year!

SHWAG TIME!

Now we get to the fun part of the blog tour! Your chance to wind some awesome Sean Hayden Swag (SHWAG). All of it features…YOU GUESSED IT! The cover of MY SOUL TO KEEP! There’s a WHOLE BUNCH OF STUFF FOR ONE LUCKY WINNER AND COPIES OF MSTK FOR SOME OF THE LOSERS! Here’s the DEETS!

CLICK THE PICTURE TO ENTER!

Contents include:

1 MSTK Tote, 1 MSTK Notebook, 1 MSTK Keychain, 1 MSTK T-shirt (size large),  1 MSTK Coffee Mug so you can enjoy tasty hot beverages in style…and…cue drum roll…are you ready…1 copy of My Soul to Keep. So what you say? Gasp. You don’t understand. This copy is in paperback. Not only that but its an AUTOGRAPHED ADVANCED READER COPY!!!!!!! Yes ladies and germs, you get the paperback before anyone else in the whole wide world!!!!!! That’s over a $125 value! Why? Cuz we wuv you.

Happy Social Media Anniversary To Me: Or 10 Things I Learned About Book Promotion As a Debut YA Author

We’re closing in on the one year anniversary of Zombies Don’t Cry. Yup, my debut YA novel was published on May 1, 2011. Not surprisingly, I’ve learned a lot about book promotion in the last 365 days.

Here are ten things about the journey I felt were worth sharing with you:

1.     Enjoy yourself: If you’re just starting out promoting your book, it’s a lot of work. If you’re currently promoting your book, it’s a lot of work. If you just finished promoting your book, it’s a lot of work. So you might as well enjoy it. Be creative, be silly, be enthusiastic, be energetic but above all, be fun!

2.     Get involved: Don’t shut yourself off. Book promotion is about interacting. That takes some getting used to for most of us writer types. At least, I know it did for me. But I’ve really, genuinely enjoyed getting involved, getting to know so many online friends, publishers, agents, bloggers, reviewers and actual YA readers, whether they’re YA or just… A.

3.     Own it: Whatever you do, do it up right; own it. If you’re going to blog, let yourself go. Be personal, be passionate, be interesting. If you’re going to tweet, be funny, be yourself, be informative. Remember that your name is attached to all of your online activity and take that as seriously as you do your book writing.

4.     Stretch yourself: A lot of promotional opportunities will likely come your way that won’t necessarily be in your “comfort zone.” Like, say, a zombie convention or an author’s panel or an author’s panel at a zombie convention with an actual “zombie” in attendance. I won’t say that every promotional event I’ve been involved with has worked, but every one has been an informative experience and for that alone I’m grateful.

5.     Try new things: We all know giveaways work to promote our books but have you ever tried giving away something other than your book? Like an edit of someone’s query letter or a sample chapter? We all know guest posts are great promo opportunities but instead of writing the same old writing tips or bullet list (ahem, guilty as charged), have you ever thought of writing a short story about the blogger who’s hosting your post? Or interviewing a main character from your book? Whenever you’re faced with an opportunity, try to spin it in such a way that you can make it more unique, fresh or outstanding.

6.     Try old things: Sometimes, the old things work. You know, like libraries. If it wasn’t for libraries, I venture to estimate that Zombies Don’t Cry would have sold about half as many paperbacks as it has. Don’t overlook opportunities simply because they’re not new or shiny. Sometimes classics are classic for a reason. (Thanks, librarians – for all you do all the time!)

7.     F the haters: Seriously, they suck. Life is too short to waste time worrying about what random strangers who have nothing better to do than squat over your work and take a dump think. That is all. (For now!)

8.     Don’t take reviews personally: A big part of book promotion is book reviews. And a big part of the modern book review is the random reader’s need to critically analyze every aspect of your story, your personality, your book cover, your author photo, whatever. Good reviews are great. Reviews from thoughtful folks that make you rethink certain decisions or directions can be instructive and helpful. Random reviews that say things like, “Wasn’t for me” or “Not my cup of tea” but who leave one star anyway? What are you going to do about that? Lose sleep? Blink twice, count to 10, forget it and move on.

9.     Maintain quality control: What goes online, stays online; remember that. While we can’t always be perfect in our blog posts, our tweets, our guest posts, interviews or giveaway language, we can at least try. Strive for quality in all that you do, and remember that you never know which promotional effort is going to be the “make or break” moment when a reader finally decides to invest in buying your book – or not. Don’t let a phoned-in interview or a lazy guest post or a giveaway with so many rules and asterisks you can’t even find the payoff be the thing that turns a reader off.

10.                        There are no rules: Finally, this isn’t rocket science. (Though it may feel like that at times.) Whatever works, do it. Whatever doesn’t, why bother? Unless you’re having fun doing it, that is. My online friends and I make up a lot of hash tags that don’t mean anything. (Bookish Brunette calls them #ashtags!) Goofy things like #authorsbeingstupid or #godmyauthorphotosucks, whatever. No one’s ever going to click on them and they’ll never trend, but they make me laugh and it breaks up my day, so… why not? Also, it never hurts to make someone laugh. We talk a lot about “impressions” in book promotion. Laughter, I find, makes a lasting impression.

As you can see, it’s been a long, challenging, rewarding, unforgettable and above all EDUCATIONAL year. I look forward – hopefully – to many, many more. And I wish you luck with your writing, whatever that may be!

Yours in YA,

Rusty