It is hard to believe that it is not far off 2 months since my last post! I have been busy doing other things but I decided it was time to come back to my blog and kickstart the activity.
I certainly don't claim to be an expert on marketing a book but here is one thing that I am trying to do, when possible. I am trying to be alert to items of news which have some link to the story or characters in my book - and then use them as a marketing opportunity.
You might find that these opportunities are few and far between, and they may come along out of the blue - in fact they usually do!
A golden opportunity came my way a few weeks ago and I have to confess that I didn't make as much of it as I should have. Here is an extract from the Guardian newspaper:
Coca-Cola and Pepsi are changing the way they make the caramel colouring used in their drinks as a result of a California law that mandates drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens bear a cancer warning label.
The companies said the changes will be expanded nationally to streamline their manufacturing processes. The changes have already been made for drinks sold in California.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi account for almost 90% of the soda market, according to industry tracker Beverage Digest.
The American Beverage Association, which represents the broader industry, said its member companies will continue to use caramel colouring in certain products but that adjustments were made to meet California's new standard.
"Consumers will notice no difference in our products and have no reason at all for any health concerns," the association said in a statement.
A representative for Coca-Cola, Diana Garza-Ciarlante, said the company directed its caramel suppliers to modify their manufacturing processes to reduce the levels of the chemical 4-methylimidazole, which can be formed during the cooking process and as a result may be found in trace amounts in many foods.
"While we believe that there is no public health risk that justifies any such change, we did ask our caramel suppliers to take this step so that our products would not be subject to the requirement of a scientifically unfounded warning," Garza-Ciarlante said in an email.
The Centre for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, in February filed a petition with the US Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of ammonia-sulfite caramel colouring.
A spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration said the petition is being reviewed.
But he noted that a consumer would have to drink more than 1,000 cans a day to reach the doses administered that have shown links to cancer in rodents.
The American Beverage Association noted that California added the colouring to its list of carcinogens with no studies showing that it causes cancer in humans. It noted that the listing was based on a single study in lab mice and rats."
Of course, if you have read my book you should be able to spot the tie-in to my story - a forced change to the recipe of the a soft drink beverage. I did take the opportunity to post a couple of Twitter feeds encouraging people to read about another beverage company who had been forced to change their recipe, but I wish I had done a bit more. In an ideal world, getting some kind of newspaper coverage or interview would have been ideal - easier said than done of course when you are an Indie writer.
Sometimes, the opportunity is much smaller, such as when I saw the picture of a dead bird pictured on a friends facebook page (it had flown into one of their house windows) - that was an easy opportunity to comment on the picture - all the friends who clicked on the picture would have learnt about my book - and the good thing is that it all happens in a natural, non-invasive way (and it is free of course).
Another great example I have was when there was talk of Sir Fred Goodwin of Royal Bank of Scotland fame (or should that be shame) being stripped of his knighthood - an event that once again had close parallels with an element of my story.
I am sure that if you keep your eyes and ears open you will find many examples relevant to your book.
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