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Debra Brenegan grew up in the Milwaukee area and graduated with a B.A. in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She worked as a journalist and taught at Milwaukee Area Technical College before beginning her graduate work. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing from The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she also taught. She teaches English and Women?s Studies at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. For her fiction, she has received a Ragdale residency and was a recent finalist for the John Gardner Memorial Fiction Prize, The Cincinnati Review?s Schiff Prose Prize, and the Crab Creek Review Fiction Prize. Her work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Calyx, Tampa Review, Natural Bridge, The Laurel Review, RE:AL, The Southern Women?s Review, The Cimarron Review, Milwaukee Magazine, Phoebe, and other publications. Debra Brenegan?s novel, Shame the Devil, is a historical account of nineteenth-century American writer Fanny Fern (SUNY Press, Excelsior Editions). She is currently working on another novel, set in Missouri, and on a short story collection. During the school year, Debra lives in a 130-year-old house in Fulton with her husband, Steve, and their elderly cat. They spend summers and school breaks in their native Milwaukee. When not teaching, writing, spending time with family or driving back and forth to Wisconsin, Debra enjoys cooking, gardening, reading and traveling. You can visit her website at www.debrabrenegan.com or visit her at Twitter at www.twitter.com/dbrenegan or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/debra.brenegan; https://www.facebook.com/#!/shame.the.devil.book.

Welcome to Book Marketing Buzz, Debra.? Can we begin by having you tell us a little about your book?

Shame the Devil tells the remarkable and true story of Fanny Fern (the pen name of Sara Payson Willis), one of the most successful, influential, and popular writers of the nineteenth century. A novelist, journalist, and feminist, Fern (1811-1872) outsold Harriet Beecher Stowe, won the respect of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and served as literary mentor to Walt Whitman. Scrabbling in the depths of poverty before her meteoric rise to fame and fortune, she was widowed, escaped an abusive second marriage, penned one of the country?s first prenuptial agreements, married a man eleven years her junior, and served as a nineteenth-century Oprah to her hundreds of thousands of fans. Her weekly editorials in the pages of the New York Ledger over a period of about twenty years chronicled the myriad controversies of her era and demonstrated her firm belief in the motto, ?Speak the truth, and shame the devil.? Through the story of Fern and her contemporaries, including Walt Whitman, Catharine Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Jacobs, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, Shame the Devil brings the intellectual and social ferment of mid-nineteenth-century America to life.

What is the first thing you did to promote your book once your publisher accepted your manuscript?

I went on facebook and hollered at the top of my lungs!

After that, what happened?

So many wonderful people have stepped forward to speak for me and to help promote the book.? I?m truly awed at the generosity of spirit I?ve witnessed.? Other people seem to be as excited about my book as I am and have helped me in so many ways ? by purchasing books, by telling their friends about the book, and by emailing, phoning, texting and blogging words of encouragement and support to me and about me.? It?s humbling to see so many acts of kindness directed toward me and my work . . . and I?m really grateful.

What did your publisher do to promote your book?

My publisher, SUNY Press, made sure my book was available to and for many different marketing venues.? They have touted my book to booksellers, periodicals, and list serves to try to reach the book?s audience.? Some people warned me that I wouldn?t get much attention or marketing help from an academic press, but I?ve found SUNY to be very easy to work with, progressive, communicative and supportive of my marketing efforts.? I couldn?t ask for a better publisher for my book.

What?s your opinion on blogging?? Do you see that it is helping sell your book or is it not making much difference in terms of sales?

Just a few months ago, I would have said that blogging probably couldn?t make too much difference in terms of book sales, but I have definitely changed my mind about that. ?I have my own blog and have been fortunate enough to have appeared on several guest blogs recently and the results have been fantastic.? Some of the blogs have been picked up by other blogs or by online or print periodicals.? The audience reach really can be exponential.? I don?t know, just yet, how blogging, specifically, may affect my book sales, but I do know that my book has gotten a lot of exposure through blogs ? and that, certainly, can?t hurt!

I understand using the social networks to promote your books is also an effective marketing tool.? Do you find it is or isn?t?

Yes, I believe that social networks can be very useful to promote your books ? or anything else you?re passionate about ? as long as you use tact and common sense while promoting.? Just like you wouldn?t corner your friends and talk nonstop about your book in real life, you also shouldn?t spout nonstop about your book on social networks.? Treat your social network connections just like you?d treat your next door neighbor or the coworker down the hall ? tell people a little about yourself and then listen and respond when they tell you a little about their lives.

Besides blogging and using the social networks to promote your books, what other ways are you promoting your book?

I had 10,000 bookmarks about Shame the Devil printed and have asked friends and family members around the country to help me leave those bookmarks in reader-friendly places (diners, coffee shops, bookstores, hair salons, etc).? My thought is that if someone is interested enough to pick up a bookmark and take it home, then he or she might be interested enough to check out my book.

If you had to pick just one book marketing tool that you?ve used to promote your book, which would you say has been the most effective?

Blogging and guest blogging!

What are your experiences with offline promotions such as booksignings?

I recently had my book launch reading and was surprised that 58 people attended.? Maybe that is because the event had been hyped through blogs and social networks, but I was overwhelmed by the crowd.? The bookstore, Boswell Book Company, in Milwaukee, sold out of books and had to take orders to accommodate all of the people who wanted to buy my book.? So, I am happy to say that I?ve had good experiences, so far, with a wide variety of book promotion vehicles.

Thank you for this interview, Debra! ?We wish you much success!

Thank YOU for interviewing me!

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ৮ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০১১

Shining the Book Promotion Spotlight on ... - Book Marketing Buzz

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