Michelle Styles:

I was very surprised to see that this particular workshop was not well attended. Personally I had thought there would be people sitting on the floor. It could have been the timing -- just after lunch on the Saturday  or didn't really say that this was SMP marketing and PR team plus a high profile book publicist and star agent. Mary Kay Andrews is a best selling NYT author and she brought along her team to say how they supported her and what could be done, particularly when budgets are cut to the bone. This wasn't a PAN workshop but something that was open to everyone.
There is a handout which I believe was mainly written by Meghan Walker and Mary Kay. Meghan Walker is a book publicist with Tandem Literary. It is worth its weight in gold.
It was recorded and perhaps that is the reason for the low attendance but I was surprised. It amuses me that so many people spend time in the bar when there is so much to offer on tap.
Anyway, it was highly useful, and Mary Kay did her job as she is now in my TBR pile.
But if anyone needed a primer on marketing, this was it.  Her message was the more you take on, the more the publisher is willing to kick in. You are your brand and your brand is you. Believe in it.
The workshop confirmed many of the things that were said in the Harlequin Digital Workshop and elsewhere -- Social Media is key. If you don't want to do it, maybe you can get a fan to do it. Only do what you are comfortable doing but make sure your website is up to date and there are BUY buttons for all major online bookstores, or at least have the ISBN. There was mention again of exclusive content which is only available from your website.
Don't waste time on bookmarks -- actually if you happened into the goody room on the Saturday afternoon, you'd see why. All books gone. All pens gone. A ton of paper left behind.
But you can also do things locally such as reaching out to local bookstores and libraries. Give workshops and reach out to reading groups. (Which reminds me -- I need to update my website and add the workshops etc that I am doing in the next few months...)
Stuart Krichesky mentioned the book Tribes by Seth Godwin and the importance of building communities. (Acutally I've read Seth Godwin's blog for years so I felt smug.) Krichesky also gave some pointers on twitter and how to use it. This tallied closely with the Digital workshop that Malle Vallik and Jenny Bullough gave on the subject. Twitter can be used as a listening station to see what others are talking about, it should be used generously and not as a hard sell. It is another way to engage readers. You should also use the search function and you should look at things that interest you.
The handout contains 10 things that an author can do and shouldn't expect the publisher or publicist to do for them but the most important thing is to use your time wisely. The Book must be done FIRST. It is only through having something to sell that you can get a return on the investment.
Anyway, it was a thoroughly useful workshop and one which was open to everyone. It is also why it pays to go through the workshop list beforehand and see what appeals.

Kay Stockham wrote an interesting post on the Pink Heart Society about the need for branding and in particular, the need for an author to know her tag line.

As you can see from the top of this blog, I don't bother with tag lines. Yes, I write historical romance novels, but really how I describe my historical romances is not necessarily how my readers would describe them. However I do hope they are engaging page turning reads that allow the reader to escape into the world of the story for a few hours.

The best way to understand what my writing is about to read them, or at least read the blurbs and excerpts and see if they pique your interest. If they do, great. I hope you get as much satisfaction and joy from them as I do writing them.

My product is my books. It is not business cards, book marks or magnets. And I firmly believe that it is the quality of the content that keeps my readers coming back to my books. If I put out books at regular enough intervals, hopefully readers will remember me and think -- ah I really enjoyed her last one. Also hopefully readers will think, ah I am going to tell my friends about her books because they gave me such enjoyment, or I know that so and so likes romances or history, I am going to tell her about the books. And I am going to ask my librarian/bookseller to tell me when the next book is out.

The converse is also true, if a reader did not get the enjoyment out of my books then no amount of clever merchandise will make her pick up my next book. My last book helps sell my next book.

The other problem with having an individual strap line is that it would need to be there at point of sale -- i.e. on the book cover. That is not going to happen.
Marketing at Harlequin Mills & Boon have their own ideas about what goes on the front and the back, and they have their own positioning for me. The covers exude a mood, and a promise about the content. Writing series books means that I can take advantage of the hard work that the publisher has put in to build that series brand and trust. Single title authors have other challenges, but again I would argue that it is about the point of sale, rather than the brand that is on your website. It is about the cover and blurb at the back.

Authors build readership by delivering a quality product. Authors deliver written content. It is all about giving the reader satisfaction. It is all about growing that unique sub set of readers -- the ones who when they close the book think -- I want to read another one by that author, wow what a great enjoyable page turning read. And if they do buy another book, and get the same experience, the author's readership grows. The biggest names have been delivering on their unique promise for years.

Content is king.

The best way for an author to grow her brand is to deliver a high quality product on a timely basis. So I need to go and write my wip as that is ultimately what I want to sell.