Linda Goldfarb is a bold communicator who’s frequently quoted by her readers, audiences, and clients that, “transparency transforms!” She’s an award-winning author, international speaker, certified personality consultant, professional actress, audiobook narrator, podcaster, and board-certified Christian life coach. When Linda’s relaxing, you’ll find her sipping frothed coffee on a comfy couch or photographing nature from odd angles while she and her hubby, Sam, play golf and hike their way across the USA.
Tell us about your award-winning book.
We, Kelly Harris and I, are blessed that two of our books won awards this year. Lovey Mouse in The Night Before Christmas and Lovey Mouse in An Easter Story intertwine common seasonal celebrations with biblical truth in a family friendly environment. These two early reader books share experiences from the life of Eliza Jean’s family and one of her favorite stuffed toys, Lovey Mouse. The pages are filled with beautiful illustrations, the words are easily understood, and the meaning of each story goes as spiritually deep as parents, grandparents or caregivers want to take them. One reviewer wrote, “This is the Christmas story that SHOULD be in every household.”
Each book includes additional craft and interaction helps for parents.
Written by Linda Goldfarb and Kelly Harris
What inspired you to write it?
Kelly and I wrote these books as an extension product of my coaching business. We discovered a need; parents struggle with talking about different celebrations with their kids. These books help parents share and explain the true meanings behind both seasonal celebrations to their children without sounding preachy or disconnected from life.
How would you describe this book to someone in a 30-second blurb?
The Lovey Mouse children’s books depict seasonal family celebrations intertwined with biblical truth to help parents explain the deeper meanings of each season in a child-friendly format.
What genre do you focus on and why?
These children’s books are actually offshoot products to equip parents. I write mostly nonfiction.
Tell us about how you developed your marketing campaign.
When the vision came to produce these books, the Christmas one first, our window of marketing opportunity was very small, so we pulled out all the stops. Social media is key of course.
My platform and Kelly’s target different audiences and that’s a great thing, so we used the small posts on both and asked others to share.
We started with teasers, getting our contacts excited about what was coming. Then with only a few weeks before Christmas, we changed our teasers posts to ones of urgency. Get yours today! Be the first to…, We can deliver! Buy in bulk and save! Many of our buyers bought more than one and recommended the book to organizations, who bought them in bulk. We also had local book signings and offered autographed copies online.
We used meme’s, FB lives, and broadcast email.
What worked best?
Prayer. I know it sounds cliché but for Kelly and me, we never take prayer lightly. God must be in it or we don’t do it.
As far as social media, I can’t say for sure, but we received a lot of attention and shares with our FB live reading of the book—that was a winner. Anytime you give your potential buyers a taste of the product and they like what they hear or see, it’s a good thing.
For our second book, we had a sponsor who covered all the production costs. He and his wife purchased the first book, several of them in fact, and they were more than happy to get behind the Easter project in a way that made it possible for us to give hundreds away as well as sell them.
Moving several thousand books in a short amount of time was certainly a God thing.
What would you do differently?
Ha, ha! Start a lot earlier in the process to begin with.
Though we consider our campaign a success, we would get more people on board as part of our launch team.
What are you continuing to do to market your book long term?
Since these are seasonal books, we are creating seasonal promotions and bundling them for a lower cost to consumer. We are also speaking and doing interviews.
What is the hardest part of marketing? Why?
Choosing your first step. There are so many options available. I think we can get hung up on which direction to go because we don’t want to waste time or monies in the process. It’s a good thing to be aware of, but it can also shut down momentum before it has a chance to start.
Choose a plan, no matter what it is and see it through to the end.
What’s the best part of marketing? Why?
I like the challenge of making the marketing more streamline. It also moves me out of my comfort zone a bit, as I prefer full control, but yeah, it’s not all about me—God’s way, will, and timing are always active in our marketing efforts. I think that’s what makes it the best part, His involvement.
What’s one unusual fact about your marketing?
Our books are season specific, which means you experience an off-season where sales will be low. But the flip side is, they never go out of date – win, win.
Do you have other books? We’d love to know. I have the LINKED Quick Guide to Personalities series coauthored with Linda Gilden, Loving the ME God Sees– a Bible study on relational transparency and The Art of the Interview: Before, During , and After Interview Strategies for Leaders, Speakers, and Writers.
What are you working on now? LINKED for Couples, book four in the series and a YA Fiction fantasy piece.
| Website | Lovey Mouse | Facebook | Facebook Coach | Instagram | Pinterest | LinkedIn |
Adria Wilkins, Bethany Jett, CAN Crown Awards, Carla Hoch, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, Kelly Harris, Linda Goldfarb, Michelle Medlock Adams, Susan Neal
Laura Bartnick
February 22, 2020 - 14 : 48 : 31Congratulations on a book well-received! Your author marketing tips are helpful to new authors as well.
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