Take the Initiative for Marketing-Heidi Bee Roemer

The interview with Heidi Bee Roemer has been posted at WaukTOWN radio.

Be prepared to take responsibility to market your book. Start slowly and build the momentum to step by step, says author Heidi Bee Roemer.

For Heidi, taking the initiative in marketing her book came from realizing that once it was published, she didn’t want the book to languish on a shelf or go out of date. She wanted others, especially children, to experience the joy she found in poetry.

Heidi has done a number of things to attract attention for her books. She put together a web site (www.heidibroemer.com) where she can post information for her audience, taking into consideration the needs of the librarians and teachers who she expects will be reading it. School presentations are also a way of reaching others that Heidi has taken advantage of. And, she has been a writer in residence in the Chicago Public Schools.

With the promotion efforts for her most recent book, What Kinds of Seeds Are These?, Heidi has carefully targeted her audience. She is sending out color postcards printed with the cover of the book on one side and information about the book and her availability for school and library presentations on the other side.

Heidi ordered the postcards from an online print company, then compiled a list of schools in her area—plus a few dream locals to visit as well!—and addressed the cards. Although it did take a while to cut and paste the text from a list of school name and addresses, Heidi said she saved some time by addressing the postcards to the school media center or library so she didn’t need individual names.

Heidi’s marketing initiative has already paid off: Her publisher decided to pay for postage to mail the postcards!