December 7th, 2012 → 6:10 pm @ Robin Donovan
Just watched your video. It looks great! Very professional looking. Sounds like a book I’d love to read 🙂 And love your doggies, I have an Old English Bulldog. He’s lying at my feet this very minute. I wish you all the success in the world!
December 7th, 2012 → 3:50 pm @ Robin Donovan
Thank you so much for all the views of my trailer. As of right now – we’ve hit a total of 379 views – the ten million mark is right around the corner!
October 23rd, 2012 → 5:08 pm @ Robin Donovan
Check out Emily’s interview here:
http://creativejuicer.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/creative-careerist-robin-l-donovan/
October 14th, 2012 → 8:38 pm @ Robin Donovan
Bookdisplay
Wednesday, October 17th I’ll be at the WriteLife booth #451 from 10:30 – 12:30. Come on by and chat and see my book trailer.
Visit with me and all of the other WriteLife authors – up close and personal. This is a great chance to get to know who’s writing what you’re reading.
I look forward to seeing you at the Quest Center and chatting about the first book in the Donna Leigh Mystery series, I might even be persuaded to share some details on book #2:Â I Didn’t Kill Her, But That May Have Been Short Sighted.
September 13th, 2012 → 6:47 pm @ Robin Donovan
My book trailer just went up on the WriteLife YouTube channel today. Check it out:
August 24th, 2012 → 4:27 pm @ Robin Donovan
Tuesday, I shared the Five Pillars of Effective Blogs as I shared with the LARARWA group this past weekend:
Compelling Content, Consistent Posts, Fresh Ideas, Engagement, and Share-ability
Today, I’d like share with you some of the blogs I discussed and why they work.
Yarnagogo – The blog that launched Knit Lit Romance author Rachael Herron’s career. Rachael shared with me that not only did her blog come before she scored an agent and a three book deal, it pretty much sealed the deal. Her agent and editorial team loved her authentic voice and how she connected with her audience.
Girlfriends Book Club – This collaborative blog featuring Women’s Fiction heavy hitters Ellen Meister, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Marilyn Brant, Maggie Mar (who I had the great pleasure of meeting at the LARA event) and many more, is a prime example of great content, consistency, fresh ideas, robust engagement with the audience and a community of sharing between most involved on the blog.
I asked Ellen Meister about how the blog began and how they’ve found success as a popular blog. Here’s what she had this to say:
The Girlfriends Book Club blog rose from the ashes of The Girlfriends Cyber Circuit, which was a group of commercially published women authors who posted about each other’s books. That went on successfully for a number of years and eventually just burned itself out. Author Karin Gillespie deserves some kind of medal, because she not only ran the GCC but continues to coordinate and schedule the group blog.  It’s a tremendously effective way of reaching people, because there’s strength in numbers. With 40 writers as part of the group, the blog pulls from a vast network.  As it turns out, the majority the blog’s readers seem to be aspiring writers. Recognizing this, we post a lot of writing and marketing tips for aspiring authors. My most popular post was 20 Social Media Tips for Writers. Other favorite posts include 16 Tips for Writing Sexy Scenes, 18 Novelists Share Their Writing Routines and Girlfriends Share Tips on How to Be a Productive Writer.  As far as promoting our own books, it’s clear that the most popular posts are the ones that offer giveaways.  Importantly, the women in the group are tremendously supportive, and we help spread the word about each other’s posts with Tweets and Facebook status updates. ÂMenologues – Robin Donovan, author of Is it Still Murder Even if She Was a Bitch?, began blogging about menopause “because stumbling blindly through menopause is less funny than it sounds.” She wanted to reach a community of women who were going through what she was going through and it worked. Robin had a clearly defined audience, wrote specifically for them and soon, her blog was picked up by Vibrant Nation.
Twinfatuation – Twins expert and author Cheryl Lage has a world-wide audience, has written for an impressive array of national and local magazines, and ezines, has appeared on Martha Stewart Live Radio, has been called by The Today Show and so much more, mostly because of her blog. But like many bloggers who author books, she didn’t begin with a blog. Cheryl contacted me when I was a literary agent and she, a mother of adorable toddler twins and a writer with a great idea about a book for parents of twins and multiples. Cheryl’s story is very special to me and I was delighted to share it on literary agent Rachelle Gardner’s blog (another fabulous blog!). I encourage you to read the short post on how we started building her platform as a twin parenting expert before we sold her manuscript. You may see some of your questions and concerns answered in the robust comment thread.
A Walking Carnival – This has got to be my favorite slice of life blog ever. I like to say Deirdre Lewis, the creator of AWC, is the love child of Erma Bombeck and David Sedaris. A filmmaker and screenwriter by trade, Deirdre’s unique quirkiness shines through her blog as she takes you through her neighborhood in Echo Park, CA, to a dusty old camera shop, to an airport book store and to her father’s house. There is no post I don’t absolutely love. This blog is ALWAYS fresh, pretty consistent and I feel the content is spectacularly good. One of her latest posts is an all imagined dialog between two car mechanics – notice how the conversation reveals so much about the narrator. Deirdre is not repped by an agent, but it won’t be long before she is. She uses the blog to discover her voice and hone her craft. Works for me!
What blogs do you absolutely love and why? Share them below.
TLC
June 21st, 2012 → 2:47 pm @ Robin Donovan
Check out the wonderful post that Erin Reel, The Lit Coach, wrote on her blog after interviewing me last week: http://thelitcoach.net/from-blog-to-book-with-robin-leemann-donovan/
From Blog to Book with Robin Leemann Donovan
by TheLitCoach | on June 21st, 2012 | 0 comments
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I love book titles that really get to the heart of what the book’s about. I also have a penchant for humor. When I was invited to attend a book reading/signing event for author Robin Leemann Donovan, I was only too glad to go – with at title like, Is It Still Murder Even If She Was a Bitch?, how could I not be entertained? And I was! In the decade I’ve been working with authors and their books, I don’t recall laughing quite so hard at a book reading. Totally refreshing.
The Lit Coach Interview
Donovan, a Managing Principal at Bozell, one of the top advertising agencies in the country, understands the vital importance of hook. At the urging of a friend, Donovan created Menologues, a blog devoted to helping women stumble less blindly through menopause. Her hook? Clearly humor but also authenticity – Donovan blogs, writes and speaks off the cuff, from the heart and with authority not just about menopause but about topics important to women 50+, who have largely been ignored in publishing and other media. That organic combo works for her. From my perspective, she’s on to something.
I asked Donovan for her three most important, need-to-know tips about writing and blogging. Here’s what she shared.
On Writing
Prepare for nothing happening as you would expect it.
Take notes on every chapter so you know where you’re going, where your loose ends are and when to tie them up (very important for mystery writers).
Get your work professionally critiqued and proofread. Friends and relatives are not your best beta readers, except my mother and I’ll loan her out.
On Blogging
Be specific. Stand for something.
Be relatable. Be authentic.
Be prepared. Do your homework. Discover and understand your market. Don’t touch on topics that everyone’s touched. Know what’s important and what isn’t.
Be open to the realities of the people around you and their unique experiences. Avoid stereotypes.
If you’ve had success creating a book from your blog, share your tips (and links!) here.
TLC
May 16th, 2012 → 5:46 pm @ Robin Donovan
April 26th, 2012 → 9:36 pm @ Robin Donovan
Is It Still Murder, Even If She Was A Bitch? is a page turner! My initial thought was that it would in fact still be murder (even if she was a bitch) until I met Donna Leigh, the protagonist. A confident, hardworking, menopausal, tell-it-like-it-is kind of gal with those all-too-common hot flashes and sleepless nights, Donna is very easy to relate to from the get-go. The descriptions that Robin Donovan uses are so precise that you instantly understand Donna’s observations about people and situations, and especially about herself.
In addition to being a captivating murder mystery, the story is a great look into Donna Leigh’s character as the reader is welcomed into a mind filled with ideas and thoughts we can all identify with. Her thoughts are peppered with menopausal experiences, from the inconvenience of hot flashes to the familiarity of sleepless nights and the frustration of thinking that all memory lapses are a telltale sign of menopause. She knows who she is, she is a good judge of character, and she’ll make you laugh!
The twists, turns, gossip and dynamic characters lead to a surprising conclusion that will make your jaw drop! I very much enjoyed this quick read and look forward to reading more Donna Leigh mysteries!
-Ellen Dolgen, Author of Shmirshky: the pursuit of hormone happiness ellendolgen.com
March 9th, 2012 → 8:53 pm @ Robin Donovan
Saturday, February 18, 2012 was the date of Omaha’s first Author’s Fair held at W. Dale Clark Library downtown.
Robin L Donovan on Facebook
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