your A game: READ

Your A Game: winning promo for genre fiction by Damon Suede & Heidi Cullinan

Promoting genre fiction grows more competitive every day, yet no two authors or careers are alike.

Our solution: a chooseable adventure so you can pick the path toward the career you've always wanted. We offer a promo game plan tailored to your personal style, strategy, and measure of success.

Your A Game explains the tools and rules of kickass genre marketing to let you make your best next move. We break down the tricks and traps facing all novelists so you can:

build your personal brand into a professional force.
polish your public presence, online and in person.
reach your ideal market and access your fans.
raise each project to the next level.

Your career should be fun. Start playing Your A Game now.

Preview

Intro
Brand
Presence
Market
Project

As genre authors, we all pursue different goals. Follow the path to the rewards that matter to you.

Your A Game skips cookie-cutter solutions to focus on your goals and skills, whatever they might be. We can help you:

build your personal brand into a professional force.
polish your public presence, online and in person.
reach your ideal market and access your fans.
raise each project to the next level.

This book teaches you how to define and refine your unique promotional strategy in a way that’s not only easy, it’s fun. Rather than packaging a set of recycled band-aids or aspirational platitudes, we’ve built an interactive career adventure that lets any genre fictioneer choose a customized path to their own winning promotional strategy. Your A Game is a playbook you can actually play.

How do you stand out in the crowd? By playing to your strengths in your genre niche.

An effective brand can be the difference between roadkill and rockstar, between leaping into thin air and launching a synchronized marketing strike. Your A Game provides a step-by-step guide to making your brand's unique impact last. Showcase your brand assets with:

a name that shines on the shelf.
a bio that breaks the right ice.
a personal guarantee that attracts your readers.
a career plan to help you navigate the industry.
personalized design.
a website that dazzles and delivers.

We'll help you identify and assess your current brand standing and teach you how to make it shine.

How do you present yourself in public without losing your head—or your mind? Develop a game face to promote and protect what matters.

Your authorial presence is the bridge between your brand and the market. It's how you appear online and how you're received by the public at a reading or genre convention. By embracing a personal archetype, you can weather online communities, genre conventions, and professional appearances. Attract success by:

creating a digital publicist that promotes your work 24/7 for no pay.
designing a social media plan that shines but doesn't burn you out.
nurturing support systems and assistants to defend your sanity and your family life.
rallying an all-star A-gang whose skills complement yours.
assembling a wardrobe that can rock any event.
managing media opportunities so every interview tells your story.

We'll teach you how to embody your greatest talents and end the fallacy of of how you "should" behave as an author so you can showcase your singular self and meet the readers ready to hear your story.

How do you boost your signal above the noise? By marketing smarter, not harder.

Too many authors' promotion plans are the marketing equivalent of throwing pasta against the wall and hoping something sticks. Instead of selling your books blindly, go to the market sweet spot where your audience is ready and waiting. Discover how to:

navigate your niche and shape word of mouth.
spot the readers who create bestsellers.
participate gracefully in online reader communities.
select conventions that will connect you with your audience.
locate the venues that maximize your appeal and claim new turf.
look beyond the herd to colonize new shelf space.

The secret of successful marketing isn't mindlessly marching after the latest sure-fire strategy. Promote your work using a plan crafted around your individual skills, strengths, and mindful market insights, and you'll soon find you're the drumbeat others want to dance to.

What kinds of projects advance your career? Books that draw strategically on your talents and instincts.

To succeed with a mass market, your project must reassure audiences it will hit all the familiar favorites while serving up something fresh. Your A Game reveals how a carefully crafted story and pinpoint project launch can make the industry conspire to help you sell your novel. Unlock your project impact with:

the secret formula of all blockbusters.
a killer blurb and a dazzling cover that hook your ideal readers.
a release campaign that cuts to the chase without cutting corners.
professional participation that attracts awards and reviews.
swag that snags you a spot in a shopping cart.
a clear vision for your long game.

You didn't write your novel hoping it would blend in with the background; you want your work to blast through the rafters and rocket to the stars. We'll teach you how to target your individual projects to the people who won't simply read one book; they'll spring for a front-row seat for everything you'll ever create.

Excerpts

The Odds

Brand Plan

Free Prize

The Game

Messaging

Negative Space

Advertising

Users Manual

Personal Guarantee

Swag

Online Press Kit

Push vs. Pull Marketing

The Social Media Mistake

Loyalty Rules

Uniquely Familiar

The Play Style Paths

Your Website

Earn Your Readers

The Play Styles

Endorsements

Your A Game is a career changer. Damon and Heidi’s branding approach helps you learn what sets you apart in a very crowded fiction landscape and, more importantly, how to use that information to your advantage. Regardless the level of your career, every author should take advantage of these fabulous resources. I promise, you’ll never think of your public image and your marketing the same way again!

Joanna Shupe bestselling, award-winning author of the Knickerbock Club series and the Wicked Deceptions series

Smart, fast-paced and comprehensive, this is the ONE book you need to develop your own brand and a personalized marketing plan that works for you. Run, don't walk, to get started on YOUR A GAME!

Cindy Dees bestselling, award-winning author of the Dragon Crest series and the The Medusa Project series

Your A Game is a playful, succinct and accurate guide to marketing in today's changing world. Whether you're a new writer or a seasoned pro, you will find the text and the format fun, informative, personal and useful. And brilliant-- don't forget brilliant, from conception to delivery.

Amy Lane RITA nominee & bestselling author of the Johnnies series and the Green's Hill series.

Your A Game is relevant for everyone - whether you're just starting out or have been doing your own marketing thing forever. It isn't just the same five tips repackaged - this one is literally a game changer.

Tere Michaels bestselling author of the Vigilante series and the Faith, Love, Devotion series

The only truly useful marketing guide I've ever found...Your A Game doesn't rely on what worked for someone else, but effectively helps you find your own marketing platform.

Anne Tenino bestselling author of the Romancelandia series

As a recently published author, I've found Damon and Heidi’s Your A Game an amazing reference book and an invaluable tool. I’ve tightened my marketing plans, expanded my online presence, and improved my website drastically. It made publishing my first couple of books exponentially easier. Thank you for putting everything folks need to know about marketing and publishing in one easy-to-access tome.

Lyla Bellatas Author of the Real Fling series

Heidi and Damon have broken the "code" with Your A Game, a vital tool for any author serious about promotion and branding. The customizable, easy-to-follow program gives the author common sense suggestions to accommodate individual needs. The antithesis of the cookie cutter approach, Your A Game guides you down the path that best suits your ultimate goal.

Brita Addams bestselling author of the Tarnished series

Book faqs

Why did you write the book as a chooseable adventure?

This book started as a simple online article, grew into a two-hour lecture, then drew a deep breath and absorbed so much material we broke word processors trying to sort it into sections. We discovered there was no way to talk about designing a meaningful, personal promotional strategy without a global understanding of both the market and what marketing can (and cannot) do. This meant to answer simple questions we had to either pick a certain type of author and boil the subject down into gruel, or we could do what we did: lay out paths for every kind of potential author.

For some, consuming the book as a complete volume will be a delicious, carb-loaded treat...for others, especially the first time through, an endless nightmare. Instead our book IS a game... shaped by your personal style, strategy, and measure of success. As we both come from a background in education, we couldn't stand to ignore authors of of any type, but also didn't want to bury our readers in info they'd personally find nonessential. The compromise was to lay out paths to help winnow the overwhelming material and strategic underpinnings into navigable adventures, something modern ebook formatting can fulfill. No rifling through pages, no dog-earing to remember a vital nugget, only the touch of a screen to keep the A game going.

When you say this book is a chooseable adventure, do you mean one of those playable children's stories with forking paths and different outcomes?

Yep. Except the story is yours and the outcome is real. Most books on promoting genre fiction treat authors, careers, and even books as interchangeable widgets. That's simplistic, reductive, and inaccurate. At the same time, we knew that trying to cover every possible question and topic would generate an overwhelming pile of advice and anecdotes. Instead we created a nonfiction promo adventure that lets you choose your own way.

Your A Game features over 1400 separate hyperlinks woven through the book to create paths that steer each reader where they'll get the most benefit for their current concerns. We've included:

Play Style paths: for the four ways people approach challenges (Performer, Achiever, Socializer, Explorer)
Experience paths: based on the range of professional experience (Novice, Intermediate, Expert, Cynic)
Adventure paths: routes intended to elicit curiosity and prompt professional experimentation.
Topical paths: narrow focus on topics of immediate interest to speciifc destinations.

We know it's impossible to answer every question, but we hope that this book at least points most genre authors in productive, entertaining directions. Structuring this material as chooseable adventure was us walking the walk: promo is a game where strategy and skill pays off with real prizes. We believe careers should be fun, and in treating promo like a game, we felt the book should be appropriately interactive and gamified in kind.

What formats are available?

For maximum ease in playability, we're offering Your A Game in ebook only for its initial release. It will be available in all common ebook formats: mobi, epub, PDF.

Will there be a print edition?

As soon as we're able to deliver a quality, playable print edition at an affordable price, we'll offer a print edition as well. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to be notified as soon as the paperback edition is available.

What if I'm an author who's just bad at promo?

Promoting your work is not a one-size-fits-all proprosition. You may have had limited success with one type of promo, but that doesn't mean that promo is impossible for you. Rather, you need to figure out what kinds of promo you'll enjoy. Authors are not bugs. We all have skills and flaws that distinguish us from the rest of our colleagues. If you've never had fun promoting your work, we encourage you to keep an open mind.

We wrote Your A Game as a chooseable adventure for exactly this reason: no two careers are identical. We've included a range of path options for different goals and experience levels so that you can find the answers you need. Promo may not always be enjoyable, but it shouldn't be a horrifying chore. Finding more readers for your work should sound like a good thing. Every genre author promotes their work although the effectiveness of those efforts varies wildly.

Will this book tell me how to write a bestselling novel?

We will absolutely help you break down what strengths you have and what you'll need to acquire to reach the target you have in mind. We'll also help you evaluate whether or not you're aiming in the right direction in the first place and show you how to unpack expectations and lead you out of the temptations of shortcuts. Which is to say, you might read this book and figure out how to make your work a bestseller. You might also read it and discover your measure of success can't be constrained by ladders or lists.

I haven't written a book yet, but I want to. Should I write my book before I read this?

You should, absolutely, read through the novice path and give yourself an overview of the marketplace you'll eventually launch your book into. You might also read through the book leisurely, by play style or from end to end, as you're drafting, especially in those moments when you aren't sure who in the world will read your book and how you will ever convince anyone to buy it. (Trust us. That moment is ahead of you.)

I've written several books, and my A game feels pretty strong. Why should I read your book?

First of all, congrats! As you well know, that's no mean accomplishment. We're pretty sure you're going to see a lot of your techniques for success laid out in Your A Game, because there's no secret sauce here, just common wisdom and tried-and-true truths collated into one volume, along with fresh promo advice from other industries that's applicable to genre fiction. However, since you're here perusing our site, we're assuming you're interested in upping your A game. We posit to you, expert author, that not only do we have a path you can follow to polish your projects and produce better promo plans, but should you peruse the volume in its entirety, you'll find this collection of tools and truths something you'll refer back to as a resource, freeing up some space in your head for another story your readers will love.

Publishing has made me so cynical my muse is permanently hunched over in the rain, muttering curses and chain-smoking instead of whispering ideas for new story. You honestly think you have something to offer me?

We saw you coming, cynical author, and we made an experience path just for you. We'll help you identify where you lost your mojo and how you can get it back or forge yourself a new purpose. While we can't promise your muse will be dancing the can-can in the Moulin Rogue by the time we're through with you, we are confident we can get her to put down that ashtray and either head to sunnier climes or at least grab an umbrella and work the scene into a stylish noir.

Why didn't you break this giant book up into smaller topical titles?

We considered it seriously but realized it would never work because of the complex interplay between all the components of an author's promotional strategy.

Promo involves several interconnected disciplines and skills which influence each other constantly. You cannot market effectively without a strong brand. You cannot launch a breakout project without a sense of your presence and the market you serve. Author brands are built on projects.Your A Game needed to cover all those topics as a professional ecosystem, because they ARE a professional ecosystem.

I write nonfiction (or in something other than genre fiction). Does anything in this book apply to me?

While Your A Game speaks directly to the concerns of genre fictioneers, all of its principles and professional advice apply to anyone working in publishing entertainment. Your mileage may vary, obviously. Many guides to nonfiction and general business promo exist, so we wrote our book for genre authors, but easily 80% of the information applies to anyone in the business of writing books, or producing and selling any type of content in the entertainment industry.

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