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Thursday, August 1, 2013

Hopping Across Genres with Jo Linsdell

Jo Linsdell, the woman behind the popular Promo Day event and the author of Italian for Tourists
and Fairy May, stopped by to discuss how writing across genres can actually benefit a brand.      

Tanya Yvonne: What is Promo Day? 
Jo Linsdell:  Promo Day is an annual online event that takes place at www.PromoDay.info.  It brings people in the writing industry who are dedicated to promoting, networking and learning together.  This free event takes place in May and this year we had 10 awesome presenters sharing loads of tips and advice on a variety of topics. There was also plenty of opportunities to promote and network both in the on site forums and via Twitter using the hashtag:  #PD13. 

TY:  Oh, cool.  What genres do you write in?
JL:  Currently, children's books and nonfiction in the "self help" category.

TY:  Do you feel you need to, at some point anyway, concentrate on a single genre? 
JL:  No. I don't like to limit myself. I like experimenting with my writing and when marketing and branding is done right it's not a problem to jump between genres. 

TY:  Do you ever think of yourself as a brand?  If so what is yours? 
JL:  Yes. I am a brand. I think more authors need to realize that in this business having an author brand is important, especially if you plan on writing more than one book.  Hopefully "Jo Linsdell" makes people think of children's books, Italy, and marketing (especially social media related) as these are my main areas of expertise. When you build a strong author brand people will automatically think of you when they see certain things.

TY:  Do you have a favorite genre? 
JL:  This is a hard question for me as I love all the genres I write. If I could only pick one it would probably be children's picture books though. Writing for kids is always fun and it means I can involve my sons in my work too which makes the whole project even more special.

TY:  What are your self-published titles currently available?  
JL:  Currently I have Italian for Tourists (an English-Italian phrasebook) and A Guide to Weddings in Italy, then my children's books: Out and About at the Zoo and Fairy May.

TY:  How have you profited from these projects both financially and emotionally? 
JL:  It's a roller-coaster ride but totally worth it. I've earned royalties every month since I started out back in 2006 and Out and About at the Zoo has been a best seller since it's release in June last year.  As a self-publisher you need to put in even more work in order to be successful but that just makes it mean all the more.

TY:
  What are you working on now? 
JL:  I'm working on a non-fiction book called Virtual Book Tours: Effective Online Book Promotion from the Comfort of Your Own Home.  Lots of step-by-step how-to, and loads of resources for finding stops and promoting the tour. It should be ready for release this summer.
Happy reading, writing or whatever:-)