Capital Indie Book Con was a lot of fun! I learned some neato things and got some awesome books! Here are all the ones I’ve added to my review queue…
And the view from our table’s window!
Category Archives: Local Events
Upcoming Local Event – Capital Indie Book Con in Olympia, WA
All about the Donuts – Donuts Aftermath! How sales channels/marketing/promotion worked
Percentage of sales from different outlets:
Ingramspark =42%
Amazon =24%
Createspace =4%
In person =14%
Sales events (MVD/Oddmall/release parties) =16%
Marketing prior to book release: Accounts for 10% of total sales (tracked with pre-order sales)
- February 26 – onward Meetup group (86 people currently) where I posted about all the donuts-related events
- Newsletter started in March
- May 5 – June – Kindle and donuts swag giveaway
- May 19 – June 3 – Local donut shop essay contest and giveaway
- May 22 – onward started weekend writing warriors snippet sharing
- A blog tour including 8 authors/bloggers
- May 31- Fluffygolarky
- June 1 – FreeValleyPublishing
- June 1 – T.A. Henry
- June 2 – K.J. Farnham
- June 3 – A Spark in the Dark Blog
- June 3 – Jo Michael’s
- June 4 – Frank M. Fisher
- June 5 – A.R. Rivera
- Paid promotional slot in Ripley Patton’s author’s newsletter
- Thunderclap for the release day June 3rd with a social reach of 282, 508
- Soft Facebook release party on June 3rd
Marketing post book release: Accounts for 52% of total sales
- June 3-4 and June 10-12 = 2 local festivals = 2% of total sales
- Personal contacts – donut shop owners, Maple Valley Days committee members, fellow authors, friends = 14% of total sales
- June 25 Neverending Bookshop sales = 14% of total sales
- June 25 Third Place Book sales = 4% of total sales with
- Amazon online sales = 14%
- Createspace online sales = 4%
- Events listed on local news outlets:
- NIWA calendar and NIWA Facebook page
- Spingo nmnews.com for Neverending and Third Place
- Sent to 8 local news outlets with 0% response rate
- Goodreads/Meetup/Facebook events
- Events listed variously throughout local outlets:
Marketing going forward: Accounts for 38% of total sales
- Ingramspark Third Place Books order = copies still available for purchase account for 38% of total sales
- Weekend Writing Warriors
- Newsletter
- All About the Donuts
- Local Donut Shop Reviews
- Word of Mouth
- Future sales events
- Capital Indie Book Con
- Oddmall Holiday Event
All About the Donuts Newsletter from May:
Donuts Aftermath! Two Parties in a Donut Costume
June 25th was all about the donuts!
My drop-in party at Neverending Bookshop was fabulous! Thanks to Rich for buying donut shop #3 (Krispy Kreme) donuts. Shout out to Annie and her mother for helping out and selling all the books. Thanks to Vicky and Sheri for coming all the way from North Bend! Thanks to the entire Allen family (yes, all of them) for coming out. Thanks to fellow author Emily Bates for stopping in (the shop also has her books for sale, hint hint). Thanks to the strangers who I met at the party who bought my books, said hi, and ate some donuts. Thanks to Paul for his rapid cleanup help and for washing the hours-crusted donut knife and cutting board. I had a ton of fun! Here are some pictures from that lovely event:
And now to the blind donut tasting results!
Donut shop #1 = Factory Donuts in Kirkland
Donut shop #2 = Countryside Donuts in Bothell
Donut shop #3 = Krispy Kreme
The donut contenders were cake, maple bar, glazed, and boston kreme!
The results are as follows:
- 9 people voted!
- Not all votes included rankings of all types of donuts
- The glazed favorite was… Countryside with 5/10 votes, second place was Krispy Kreme with 3/10 votes and last place was Factory Donuts with 2/10 votes
- My favorite glazed was from Countryside. Mmm mmm good.
- The cake donut favorite was… Factory Donuts with 3/6 votes (two voters thought all the cake donut contenders were terrible and I was of the same opinion)
- The Boston Creme favorite was… Factory Donuts wit 5/7 votes!
- The Maple Bar favorite was… Countryside Dontus with 4/7 votes, second place was Krispy Kreme with 2/7 votes and last place was Factory Donuts with a single vote
- I did not even try the maple bar because I don’t like maple bar frosting
The party-goers/readers also wrote down their thoughts about donuts, which I will keep with my donut supplies! The raffle winner was Sheri. Congrats! See you all at the next party and thanks to everyone who came out, ate donuts, said hi, and got a copy of Donuts in an Empty Field.
Donuts Amazon Order link: https://www.amazon.com/Donuts-Empty-Field-Love-Book-ebook/dp/B01FIGENWQ
My second party was a joint-author reading with lovely fantasy writer Ksenia Anske. I admire Ksenia for her boisterous personality, her fantastic author-reader communication, and of course for her lovely dark-raw-fantastical-imaginative writing.
Upcoming Local Event: Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, WA
RSVP to the Meetup HERE or the Facebook HERE
Celebrate the release of For the Love of Donuts Book 1: Rachel Barnard will be there to sign the books with Ksenia Anske and her novel, “The Badlings.”
Add the book to your Goodreads shelf:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30052109-donuts-in-an-empty-field
There’s a raffle: Free to enter. Drawing will take place towards the end of the event. Don’t miss out on the donut swag!
Got something cool to say about donuts? Don’t forget to add it to the “All about the Donuts” comment/quote box.
Before this event ,head over to Neverending Bookshop in Bothell for a donut tasting and meet and greet with Donuts author, Rachel Barnard:
Meetup HERE or the Facebook HERE
Upcoming Local Event: Neverending Bookshop in Bothell, WA
RSVP to the Meetup HERE or the Facebook HERE
Celebrate the release of For the Love of Donuts Book 1: Rachel Barnard will be there to sign books, especially the new Donuts in an Empty Field (For theLove of Donuts Book 1). Her other books, Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams, At One’s Beast, and Vanessa’s Book of Awesome Things will also be available.
Add the book to your Goodreads shelf:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30052109-donuts-in-an-empty-field
There’s a raffle: Free to enter. Drawing will take place towards the end of the event. Don’t miss out on the donut swag!
Vote on your favorite donut: It’s a blind tasting! Compare the same donut from several local donut shops and vote on your favorite!
Bring your used books and get store credit!
Got something cool to say about donuts? Don’t forget to add it to the “All about the Donuts” comment/quote box.
First five purchases after 3:00 P.M. will receive a FREE mini donuts swag pack.
After this event, drive down to Third Place Books for a dual author event with Rachel Barnard and Ksenia Anske here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/919472141499694/
Maple Valley Days Aftermath
Our FreeValley Publishing booth at Maple Valley days this year!
Check out what the Creative Woodsculpture guy did!
I got really tired after volunteering all weekend in the info booth!
The Sasquatch being lifted onto the Wood Sculpture guy’s truck
Upcoming Local Event: Maple Valley Days!
You can find FVP and some great books by local authors at Maple Valley Days near the info booth! This is our third year at Maple Valley Days and we have some new books since last year.
Check out our 2015 Maple Valley Days
Check out our 2014 Maple Valley Days
LAKE WILDERNESS PARK
23601 224th Ave SE
Maple Valley, WA 98038
FESTIVAL HOURS
Friday: 3pm – 8pm – Carnival stays open until 10.
Saturday: 10am – 9pm
Sunday: 10am – 5pm
Oddmall Aftermath!
Photo courtesy of Sheri J. Kennedy and FVP
After Oddmall I went to my friend’s baby shower and got to make her upcoming cutie this adorable onesie:
All About the Donuts: Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1) Publication Day June 3rd (Tomorrow)!
TOMORROW it’ll be here!
Have you joined the release party for Donuts in an Empty Field? Go RSVP now.
Here’s the lineup of my blog tour for Donuts:
May 31- Fluffygolarky – https://fluffygolarky.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/blog-tour-donuts-in-an-empty-field/
June 1 – FreeValleyPublishing – https://freevalleypublishing.com/2016/06/01/just-two-more-days-until-donuts/
June 1 – T.A. Henry – https://tahenryauthoress.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/wed-no-cafe-suprise/
June 2 – K.J. Farnham – https://kjfarnham.com/2016/06/02/facts-about-donuts-in-an-empty-field-by-rachel-barnard/
June 3 – A Spark in the Dark Blog – https://clrozelle.wordpress.com/
June 3 – Jo Michael’s – http://jomichaels.blogspot.com/2016/06/release-day-donuts-in-empty-field.html
June 4 – Frank M. Fisher – https://frankmfisher.net/2016/06/04/my-guest-today-author-and-donut-enthusiast-rachel-barnard/
June 5 – A.R. Rivera – https://authorarrivera.com/2016/06/05/book-release-bonanza-with-donuts-and-rachel-barnard/
And Oddmall in Everett is coming up this weekend! Be sure to stop by our booth (8) and say hello, maybe take your picture with me.
Local young adult writer, Rachel Barnard, will release the first novel in her young adult For the Love of Donuts series titled Donuts in an Empty Field with Life’s a Book Publishing, June 3rd, 2016 (AKA National Donut Day). Pre-order your copy HERE.
Letting go of anger is life’s greatest challenge.
Vanessa hasn’t been the same since her father’s death. A hero until the end, he died saving a restaurant owner’s son from a burning building. Nessa blames the boy, but her best friend Nichole thinks it’s time to let go of the past. In a last ditch effort to break Nessa’s obsession, Nichole hopes signing up for the local food challenge will bust her out of her shell. A single choice defines the road ahead for Nessa. Doing the right thing isn’t easy, but living with the consequences of doing nothing might be worse.
Don’t forget to subscribe to Rachel’s newsletter to receive important updates and promotions, if you haven’t already. Signup HERE
Come celebrate the awaited release of the first book in the For the Love of Donuts series – “Donuts in an Empty Field” by Rachel Barnard, Online Here
Don’t forget: Enter the free raffle to win neat goodies HERE
Add the book to your Goodreads shelf HERE
Rachel Author Barnard 