Jacqueline P Vincent

March was a mad month with loads of learning, writing, leaping into the unknown, and not necessarily in that order.

I belong to a pro-active, friendly Facebook group for middle-grade authors. Rae Knightly, a talented author and group member, volunteered to organise the March Middle Grade Book Promotion. At the time, I didn’t have a clue how someone could organise a group promotion, and I scrolled on past.

However, at the end of February, and coming down from the high after the re-launch of Amalie’s Perilous Journey, I was at a loss. And although there are three novels waiting to be edited, and that process is my least favourite occupation, I wanted something to come along and distract me. So I unscrolled Facebook, I know it isn’t an actual word, and found Rae’s post, and compared to editing, taking part in the promotion seemed like a good idea. Joining in, as I was about to discover, turned out to be an amazing experience.

With spaces limited to the number of days of the month, thirty-one obviously, and before I could chicken out, I entered my details on the spreadsheet Rae posted. My thinking was, this is an opportunity not only to get Amalie out into the big wide world, but to get to know other authors who write for the same age group as me.

I didn’t have a clue what to do, or what the promotion involved, and it was daunting. I was terrified I would mess up or worse, mess up someone else’s promotion. But Rae kindly sent me a step-by-step foolproof guide on the what’s, how’s, and when’s.

Writing, as you may know, is solitary work and my local writer friends write thrillers, cosy mysteries and memoirs, and although we help each other, none of them write for children. And I felt I needed to engage with authors who understood the specific problems that writing children’s books brings. The Facebook group is excellent, but I felt I needed more. So joining this promotion fulfilled this craving, and when I entered the conversation via email, I found so many generous-hearted folks who regularly give up their time and share their knowledge to help others, that I feel this group is the right place for me.

After signing up to follow others in the group, it has encouraged me to interact much more with social media, and understand the whole point. That friends and neighbours may be hundreds of miles away, but we can easily chat as if they are in the house next to us.

One interesting side effect is my grasp of copy and ads has improved immensely. I already loved using Bookbrush to create book-covers, ads, copy and promotion videos for myself, but the opportunity to do the same for thirty other people and on various social media platforms has been a gift for me and my learning. It has taught me to look at book-covers and to read blurbs objectively, to get the essence of the story and convert that feeling into a short video or still. However, some I got right, they were shared the most, and some I didn’t quite manage, but none detracted from the prime objective, which was to promote middle-grade authors.

All in all, a wonderful experience and going forward, I will take part in a newsletter swap, during the month of May. I’ve got no idea how it works, but by the end of that month, with the help of the organiser Lyndi, I hope to be competent newsletter swapper.

The link under the photo, at the top, will take you to Rae’s blog post, where you can find all the books promoted during March. And if you, your children, or grandchildren like fast adventure stories, with a mighty girl and her pony, take a look at Amalie’s Perilous Adventure, which is always free on Kindle Unlimited.