Happy Friday, my friends! Anyone else psyched that this cold, rainy week is finally over? Maybe the cold raininess is just an Ontario thing. Still … looking forward to being able to leave the apartment without needing both my full winter gear and an umbrella. It just seems wrong. Pick cold or rain, Mother Nature, not both. Get your act together. Geez.
Right! Moving on. So, as you may know, the LA Times Book Festival is coming up soon (April 20-21), and I’ve managed to wrangle the publicity company Blackbird LSD to represent me at their festival booth. Not to sound like too much of a fan girl, but they’re awesome!!! Check out the latest web banner they whipped up for Imminent Danger:
Fun, right? And very dangerous, which is always good. I love that the cover is all “romance, love, mushiness”, and the ad is all “danger, death, omglazorspewpewpew”. Fun juxtaposition there.
Anyway, the real purpose of this post is to share some of my sticker “designs”, so-called. The stickers are being shipped to California as we speak, so fingers crossed they turn out the way they look on-screen – preferably better! Feel free to either praise or viciously insult my design skills at your leisure, although do recall that my heart is made of cotton candy and is prone to dissolving if exposed to too many tears.
The stickers themselves will only be 2×2 inches (tiny!), so I had to keep the designs simple. And yes, the top sticker image was drawn by the lovely and talented Celeste DeWolfe. And if anyone’s wondering, the grey text in the background of the second image says “SHWOOP”. That’s the sound spaceships make when they shwoop through space and time.
Other updates … Goodreads Giveaway finally finished!
Total entrants = 945. Not too shabby.
Let’s be honest, I was expecting maybe 300, tops, so I’m beyond thrilled. Of course, whether any of this results in reviews / sales remains to be seen, but I’m cautiously hopeful. And if not, well … still a fun experience!
Unrelated link of the day:
Since I already bombarded you with a bunch of images already, today’s unrelated media will be a link. It is Game of Thrones related, specific to the latest episode that aired this past Sunday, so if you haven’t seen it … well, you won’t get the joke at all.
http://www.happyplace.com/23035/game-of-thrones-facebook-recap-season-3-episode-2
Michelle Proulx - Author 
Congrats on the festival spot. Love the stickers. They’re both very simple, but eye-catching.
Oh good! You have no idea how many times I would finish a design, show it to mother, get a list of changes to make, make them, show it to her, get a list of changes, etc. etc. Lol. Either she’s way too picky, or my design skills need a lot of work 😀
My wife is getting that from me over the bookmark. I think she’s about to hurl the computer at me.
What I’ve learned in dealing with my mother — well, actually, what she SHOULD have learned from dealing with me — is to always, ALWAYS start off with the things you like 🙂 And then casually slip in the stuff that needs fixing, in a way that’s less “This needs to change”, and more, “Hey, I wonder how it would look if we tried it this way …”
It definitely softens the blow.
Both are good looking stickers. Celeste has done some great drawings for you. Very cool about Blackbird. It was a nice surprise to see you prominent on their home page.
They’re being way too nice to me, lol. Every morning I wake up and find a new promo image or something from them, and I’m like … I don’t know where you guys find the time or energy to do all this, but awesome! I wish I could do something more for them, other than mention them favourably on my blog! And yeah, Celeste is fantastic 🙂
Very cool banner and stickers. I admit… I love stickers, probably as much as I love bubble wrap. And if I had stickers meant for promotional giveaways I’d probably end up covering everything I own with them. And then there would be no more to give away.
(Slightly off topic – but someone needs to invent promotional bubble wrap!)
Ooooh I like it! Except then people would pop the bubble wrap and then the promotional images would get all warped. Unless you designed the images on purpose to only appear once the bubbles had been popped …
BETTER YET! (sorry, I’m excited) Put small, promotional goodies/tokens INSIDE the bubble wrap! Since its made to be popped, it would be like leaving little confetti banners everywhere.
Hi Michelle! It’s a lovely day in Melbourne today. 22 C. Just thought I’d rub that in. 😉
I’m 40% through the book. Loving all the twists and turns! Should I tell you about the major plot hole here or should I email you about it? Only kidding! I haven’t found any major plot holes. Sorry, I’m cruel. I must stop doing that. The story is actually very well put together. God job to you and your editor/mum! 🙂 I hope to finish it this coming week.
That sticker with Eris and the gun is great. It’s so her. It’s even got the Lamri around her neck. And hair V2.0. Or V3.0 if you count the transition!
As for the 2nd sticker I didn’t see the H and thought it said “Woops”! Whoops.
Good luck with the book festival!
22 C, eh? Well, joke’s on you, sir! Yesterday it … rained all day. Yeah, I don’t have a leg to stand on and I know it. Ah well. Spring *has* to come eventually, right? RIGHT?
Yay my book! Oh man, I almost had a heart attack when you mentioned a major plot hole. Grrrrrr. Seriously though, I’ll pass along the compliment to my mother — she always likes to know her work is appreciated (as do I :D).
The sticker’s really cool, right? I love Celeste (the artist) — her attention to detail is incredible, plus she’s so great at capturing Eris’s spirit. Love it. And … lol. Yeah, the shwoops actually used to be a lot lighter in shade so you could read them better, but then they obscured the actual title / my name, so they had to fade back into obscurity. Have a fabulous weekend 😀
I neglected to mention it was 22, cloudy with a bit of drizzle. Expecting rain today. I’m looking at working in tourism marketing. Doing great, hey? 😉
Oh… here we are talking about the weather. How tragic.
I have to say you’ve done a great job on the book and the promotion of it. And here I am dangling from the hook above the water because the bait looked so inviting. Glad to say I’m not disappointed. 🙂
It only scares me that I’ll have to do all this myself some day. Arrgghh!! Writing a book is one thing. Getting people to buy it is quite another! As you realise!
Well, if not tourism marketing, you could definitely pass as a decent weather man 🙂
Hahaha thanks. My online marketing attempts are going fairly well … not so much my real life ones, lol. The other day I offered a girl a bookmark, and she was like, “No thanks”. Who doesn’t accept a free bookmark???? Gah.
^- Weather geek! 😉 Don’t get me started!
She probably doesn’t/won’t/can’t read. I’m told these people actually exist. Sad.
I’m so happy you noticed the Lamri!! I stuck it in there because, hey, authenticity, but I figured everyone would assume it was just part of the outfit… :)) But thanks!
And the red streaks in the hair… Authenticity is good. So often you see artwork or blurbs, etc. that somehow don’t quite match the real thing. This is great! Cheers!
Both the stickers look good. And nearly 1000 people for the giveaway is great. I hope they represent you well at the festival 🙂
Fingers crossed! Speaking of the Giveaway, I actually got a message from someone who had entered and didn’t win asking me for a copy anyway, promising to read and review and share with her friends. I feel like that’s kind of sketchy … but on the other hand, I could be losing a loyal fan if I don’t send her a copy. Thoughts?
I think that’s a bit cheeky. If they are a well known book blogger then a review copy would be one thing, but otherwise sounds dodgy.
Right? I looked at her Goodreads stats, and apparently she’s rated 4 books. Or something very sketchy like that. I think I might send out a feeler email, mentioning my concerns in a very tactful way, and see how she responds.
Lol … I wouldn’t necessarily say “closer”. Maybe “shining as a distant beacon on the far-away mountains of success that can only be reached by crossing the vast river of mediocrity and scaling the foothills of obscurity”.
My house smells like ink. Daniel showed my your stickers and I was very excited for you, but just to be clear . . . it could be the ink high! LOL. You know i’m kidding. I love the swoosh, thought it was very clever and love all the designs. We are also doing World Book Night the 23rd, so rest assured he will be promoting your stuff there as well. We have two girls and Daniel who will be chatting up your book at the fair, one of them is the 14 yr old who wrote that awesome review. Until next time, pewpewpew 😉
Lol I love that they shipped the stickers before the ink wasn’t even dry. I suppose that’s what I get for panicking about getting the stickers to you in time and selecting the “next day print and ship” option. I’m SOOO excited for the festival/book night! I wish I could be there 😦 Ah well. I’ll have to live vicariously through you 😀 Also, I encourage you guys to film at least a few minutes at the festival — think how great a promotional trailer that would be for Blackbird LSD!
Ahhhh, yes. Gotta pack the camera! Thanks for the reminder. Should probably charge it.
Sorry I’m behind on commenting, but hey! Love the second sticker design! =D I think those will be great representations of your book, even though you can’t be there–and that image at the top? BRILLIANCE. I love it. So happy to be a part of all this. ^^ ❤
I’ll try to hook you up with Blackbird LSD when your own book gets published so they can go nuts making marketing stuff for you too 😀
Ah hah, sounds great! :)) I will probably need all the help I can get, lol. But they seem totally radical, d00d!
Cool stuff!
Is that a Tesla gun in the top photo, from District 9?
I … don’t actually know. Blackbird LSD whipped up that promo pic, so … I don’t know where they got the gun from. It’s certainly very similar, isn’t it?