Building a Hype Army

My Mother’s Chamomile has been out for about 6 months. Hooray!

So. Um. Why am I assembling a Hype Army right now? The book’s already out. People have read it. I’ve obtained fame and fortune…right?

Well. Not the fame and fortune part. I’m not exactly J.K. Rowling.

Here’s the deal.

I’m writing this new book, right? And I hope to wow a few publishers. Part of wowing them is selling a good number of copies of previously published titles. Like Paint Chips and My Mother’s Chamomile.

And a really exciting thing is happening at the end of this month (August 28-31, 2014). The ebook version of My Mother’s Chamomile will be 99 cents. YES! 99 cents.

That’s less than a candy bar at a gas station. Less than pound of grapes. Less than a gallon of gas (although I remember when gas was only 99 cents…it was glorious).

You could download 4 copies of the book for the price of a cup of gourmet coffee.

So. Why am I telling you this? And why so early?

Because I need your help. NEED it.

In order for this 99 cent super sale to be a success, I need my friends and readers to tell their buddies about it. Hype is okay when built by the author. It’s super fabulous when blasted into the internet by those who believe in the novel.

And I’m calling for volunteers who read My Mother’s Chamomile and were moved by it. I’m calling my readers to lend a hand (and a Facebook post or two) to help others discover the story of Gretchen and Olga and Evelyn.

So, let’s get to it. What am I asking my friends to do? One or all of the following…

1. Facebook Blitz: I’m hoping that over the 4 days of the 99 cent sale to wallpaper Facebook with links for people to buy My Mother’s Chamomile. I’ll make a little meme thingy (even though I have no idea how to SAY that word). I’m just asking people to repost the picture and the link. That’s it. Pretty painless. Super easy.

2. Twitter Tizzy: I’ll need quite a few ReTweets of the link. If you’re a Tweeter, I’ll need your help.

3. Amazon Reviews: I know. I know! It’s intimidating to write a review. So many people write super long ones. They give a synopsis of the story and a long thought about the story. You don’t have to do that. All you need to do is figure out a star rating (an honest one, please…no mercy 5 stars) and write a sentence or two about why you liked (or didn’t) the book. That’s it. The reason I ask for reviews (HONEST ONES!!!!) is because when people look, they want to see what others say. What they thought. The more the merrier! And, no, I won’t be hurt by 4 stars. Or even 3 stars. 2 might make me sad…but if that’s honest, you should do it.

4. Bloggity Bloggers! If you have a blog and you’re willing, I would love to borrow it for a day around that time. I could write a short guest post or do an excerpt from the book. It would help me reach more people. And you know I’d Tweet and Facebook about the blog spot and try to get you more readers.

5. Buy the Book: If you haven’t downloaded the book yet, that would be a good time to do it! Or, if you want to make a gift of the download, cool (there’s a give as a gift feature on Amazon). Or if you just want to fill all of your devices with ebook downloads of My Mother’s Chamomile, I wouldn’t be mad.

So, if you’re in, I’m grateful. Just go ahead and leave a comment here with the words “Yippy Skippy Sign Me Up!”. Just kidding. A comment telling me you’re in and how you’d like to help is cool.

And, as always, I truly appreciate you. Each of you. You provide me with the oomph to keep going. I seriously couldn’t do this writing gig without you.