Tag Archives: advertising

Wednesday Wander – Times Square and Rockefeller Plaza, New York

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It’s Wednesday, and time for another wander. I’m continuing with our recent trip to New York – apologies for the number of posts but there was just so much to see, as we crammed in as much as we could in the few days we had! This week, I’m wandering to Times Square and Rockefeller Plaza.

I have to admit that Times Square isn’t really my kind of place. A bit too frantic, a bit too touristy. But, at the same time, there is a kind of intensity to the neon insanity and towering structures, and I do believe that it’s somewhere you need to see when you visit New York, even if you just wander through.

Times Square is located at the intersection of 42nd and 7th, and was originally called Long Acre Square, after the original in London. Originally the location for William H. Vanderbilt’s American Horse Exchange, in the late 1800s the area was seen as a prime spot for advertising and, when the New York Times building was completed in 1905, the name of the square was changed to reflect the newest tenant. The New York Times eventually moved on to another location, but before they did so they started the tradition of the New Year’s Eve spectacular, which continues to this day.

The advertising and screens around the square are almost overwhelming, content scrolling through and changing every moment, flashing lights and bright colours competing for attention, like some sort of dystopian future city. It was fun to experience for a little while, but we didn’t stay too long, as we had other places to see.

Continuing our wander, we headed towards Rockefeller Plaza, and the famous Top of The Rock observation deck, which we’d been told was the best spot to see the views. However, when we got there, the deck was clouded in – we were told we could take the trip up but there was no guarantee we’d see anything. As it was quite expensive, and the gorgeous girl wasn’t too keen on either the long elevator ride or the height, I opted to stay with her while hubby went up and took his chances with the low cloud. He wasn’t able to see much, but did take a couple of wonderfully atmospheric shots of the Empire State building.

After we went out to see the famous skating rink, with its golden statue of Prometheus (which to me looked as though he’d slipped over while skating). The rink itself is not large – it can hold only 150 skaters and it’s recommended that you book tickets in advance.

We stood at the edge among the flags of the world and watched skaters spin on the ice, dark against the pristine white. Wisdom watched from the main entrance above, another of the many examples of wonderful Art Deco works that decorate the Rockefeller Centre, inside and out. Conceived by John D. Rockefeller as a ‘city within a city’, the Rockefeller Centre comprises several landmark building, including the Radio City Music Hall. Built in the 1930’s, it is a wonderful example of the architecture of the time, and is home to many works by famous artists of that period.

Then it was time to wander up to Fifth Avenue, through gardens decorated for Easter with lilies and blossom and eggs, a touch of colour on a gloomy day. (it was tough to get a shot without getting someone else, also taking a photo, in it, as you can see)

Along Fifth Avenue there were more Art Deco wonders to see, such as this doorway featuring the Industries Of The British Empire, gilded against a bronze panel. The sun at the bottom is symbolic of the phrase ‘The sun never sets on the British Empire.’

We continued on and another wonder was revealed, inset between two buildings. The giant statue of Atlas is one of the iconic figures of the Rockefeller Centre, and has even appeared on a US postage stamp. It is extraordinarily impressive to see in real life.The rain was starting to fall in earnest, but we pressed on, heading north on Fifth Avenue to our next destination, Central Park…

Thanks for coming on another Wednesday Wander with me – see you next time!

Enjoyed this post? Want to read more? Find me on Twitter @AuthorHelenJ,  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Plus my latest book release, Under Stone (Ambeth Chronicles #4), is now available on Amazon. Visit my Amazon Author Page to see more.

Jack Of All Trades

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IMG_0893I was thinking, the other day, about all the different jobs I’ve had. Apart from four months off after having a baby and a couple of months after university when I moved cross-country, I’ve worked pretty much continuously since I was fifteen.

So here, in no particular order, are all the different paying jobs I’ve had:

McDonald’s server

Strawberry Picker (a low point)

Retail Sales: Clothing, high-end shoes, leather goods

Visual Merchandiser – Full time and freelance

Fashion/Promotions Model

Admin Manager

Design Studio Manager

Golf Course Social Club Manager

Accounts Receivable

Signage Designer

Banquet Server/Bartender

Barista

Martial Arts Instructor

Hair Salon Assistant Manager

Print Production Manager

Talent booker

Art Buyer for an Ad Agency

Photography Producer

Gallery Assistant

Receptionist

Freelance Artist

Hmmm. That’s quite a long list. I am *ahem* a bit older than fifteen now, and I have moved around a bit, but I think it’s safe to say that I’ve tried my fair share of different jobs. However, none of them ever ‘took’.

Until now.

For the past ten years or so I have had the same job: writer. And I love it. I love the challenge of working with words, of finding the correct tone for each piece, wrestling the pieces into place so that I speak with my own voice, or that of my client. I love writing stories and sharing them, and consider myself incredibly fortunate to be able to do so. Sometimes it pays quite well, and at other times I can work weeks for a pittance – but I enjoy all of it.

I don’t know that there’s much of a point to this post, other than the fact that I tried lots of different things until I found what it was that I really wanted to do. And, the thing is, I was doing it all along. One of my best friends from university, when I told her I was writing a book, said, ‘but you’ve always been a writer.’ Funny that she could see what I could not. So I look back on each of my different roles as learning experiences. Sometimes the only thing I learned was that I never wanted to do that job/work with that person again, but it was a lesson, nonetheless.

Perhaps we only come to things when we are ready for them. I know all the jobs I’ve had gave me different skills and made me the person I am now. They also gave me life experience to draw upon when writing stories, and taught me what I didn’t want from my life. It was one of my former employers who first took a chance on me, asking me to write something for them. And for that, I’m eternally grateful.

So how about you? What unusual, awful or wonderful jobs have you had?

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You can find me on Twitter @AuthorHelenJ, plus check our my Facebook Page, Instagram and Pinterest Page for book info, photos, blogs and more…

 

 

Another Marketing Foray

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The other week, I wrote a post about a free promotion I ran for a limited time on my first book, Oak and Mist. It was a pretty successful promotion, increasing my readership and leading to further sales, so I was happy with the result.

I decided to test out another marketing option by placing an ad on Goodreads. It’s a pay-per-click ad, where you set a price to pay each time someone clicks on your ad (I bid $0.60 per click, a little above the average of $0.50) . There were three things I liked about the set-up:

  1. Control. I wrote the ad, set the price-per-click and the maximum number of clicks I was willing to pay for each day.
  2. Budget. The ad is pre-paid, so will run until my maximum number of clicks is reached, and I won’t be charged any more. There is an option to automatically renew once your credit runs out, but I opted out of that.
  3. Flexibility. You can change the copy or appearance of your ad whenever you choose, or change the cost-per-click or maximum number of clicks per day. When you do this the ad needs to be approved again, but this happens fairly quickly.

So far, I’m going to be honest and say that it hasn’t set the world on fire. I’ve only had a few clicks so far, and garnered a lot more interest when I ran my Goodreads giveaway. However, it’s been a great opportunity to test different taglines for my book and see which ones gather the most attention. Goodreads sends me a daily report listing how often the ad was viewed, how many clicks for that day, whether any one added my book as a result of the ad, plus my remaining credit, so it’s easy to see patterns when you change any aspect of the campaign. This is invaluable information that will be very useful when putting together future campaigns, as I’m essentially testing my ideas on a huge live audience and getting immediate feedback.

When you self-publish, it’s important to choose your promotional avenues wisely, as they are all part of the brand you are building in order to sell your books. There’s also an enormous amount of learning on-the-job, and I’ve been extremely grateful to the many writers out there who share information about their experiences.

And how about you? Has anyone else out there had experience advertising on Goodreads? And how successful was it?

 

 

A Marketing Experiment – Follow-up

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Oak And Mist final cover

Last week, I wrote a post about a marketing experiment I was doing, the main objective being to increase my readership and, hopefully, generate some interest in my upcoming new release, No Quarter. I decided to offer Oak and Mist, the first book in the series, free on Amazon for a limited time, hoping to capitalise on some positive reviews.

Front Cover Image

I took advantage of the free five day promotion from Amazon, part of being enrolled in KDP Select. You get five days out of every ninety to list your book as free – you can either run the days all together, or break them into separate promotions. I chose to run the five days together, hoping to maximise my exposure. I also ran three paid advertisements during the promotion – one with Booksends, one with E Reader News Today, and one with Robin Reads.

So how did it go?

I ended up having 4415 people download Oak and Mist for free. Even if only twenty per cent of those people actually read the book, I’ve still substantially increased my readership, and potentially will be able to sell subsequent instalments in the series. I also noticed a large increase in my KENP pages, for which I get paid royalties, and sold several paperbacks as well. I received a new 5 star rating on GoodReads, and several more people on GoodReads marked Oak and Mist as ‘currently reading.’

Screen Grab #8 on Amazon

In terms of the paid advertising, I ran ads on the first, fourth and fifth day of the promotion, and on each of those days my downloads increased dramatically to over a thousand per day, propelling me into the top ten Amazon free books (I reached number 8). The days on which I did not advertise averaged at about three hundred downloads. I supported the promotion with a couple of tweets per day – most of which were picked up and retweeted. I was also fortunate to receive some wonderful support from fellow bloggers (you know who you are, and thank you once again!). Chris The Story Reading Ape was kind enough to post a promotion on his site, which was then reposted by several other bloggers.

In conclusion, this was a successful marketing exercise for me. I’ve increased the audience for my books and, hopefully generated some momentum for No Quarter, the second novel in my Ambeth series. The KENP and paperback royalties I received as a result of the increased exposure have already covered much of my advertising costs, and it was wonderful to get another five-star rating. I believe the complete results of this promotion are yet to be seen, and will be keeping an eye on reviews and reader stats over the coming weeks.

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I write books because I want people to read them. I love Ambeth and the characters who live there, and it gives me great pleasure when other people enjoy the books. I had no problem in offering my work free for a limited time, and will definitely be employing a similar promotional strategy when I release Hills and Valleys, the third book in the series.

I’d love to hear about your own marketing experiences, and whether they were successful or not. I think our blogging community is such a great and generous resource for self-published authors – I know I’ve learnt so much already.

Thanks for reading 🙂