Thursday, February 14, 2008

Form Letter

Dear Author,

Thank you for supporting our blog, The Book Roast. We will do our best to promote you and your book while having loads of fun in the process!


The Book Roast is a free promotional site for authors dedicated to celebrating great books! Our mission is to help publicize books of all genres, printed by publishers of all sizes. The Book Roast site assumes that authors have some experience using blogs. Please read the guidelines listed at http://bookroast.blogspot.com/2008/03/calendar.html
for tips and instructions on how to use this site.


If you haven’t spent time at the Book Roast, please drop by so you can get an idea of how we work. Our format is humorous and interactive. The more you are able to chat with your participants, the more it encourages other participants to stop by and say hello. We encourage you to drop in early, before 10:00 am, to say hello and initiate conversation. The roast masters will also be around to stir things up!


The format works like this: we post all of the information you sent to us via email:
*promotional paragraph
*excerpt ---with a silly question --- *see below
*book cover
*links
*optional author photo

*We come up with a silly question loosely based on your excerpt. Participants will drop by and try to ‘answer’ the question. It’s all in good fun. There are no correct answers. But, at the end of the day, you will select a winner based on whatever criteria you come up with (silliest, funniest, most creative, etc). The winner you select will receive a free copy of your book. The winning participant will contact you directly, and the two of you will make arrangements from there. Please select your winner before 10:00 pm (eastern U.S. time). Thank you!


When looking at the number of participants who visit versus the number of participants who post comments, we make the comparison with a book tour at a library. You may have a hundred people sitting in chairs and listening to you give a read, but only a handful will raise their hands and interact. But generally speaking, the numbers have been very good. Be sure to take a look at the number of people who have us on Feedburner (who will automatically be reading your excerpt once it’s posted), as well as the numbers on our site meter at the bottom of the sidebar.


Lastly, if your experience on the Book Roast is a positive one, we ask that you spread the word to your book club members, critique group partners, and anyone else who loves books!!


Thank you!