The Garden of Forgotten Dreams:
A Contemporary Women's Fiction Novel
Project Vision: Writing under the name Avalon Dane, I penned a contemporary novel about motherhood, marriage, and the need to get away from it all.
Challenge 1: To create a professional produced and compelling story that would appeal to primary target markets (women of child bearing age, divorcees, victims of emotional abuse) and secondary market (readers who enjoy inspirational stories about starting over).
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Solution 1: With the first draft done, I enlisted a variety of specialists in order to finalize the book (see collaborators below). Each played a vital role in ensuring the book was
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Challenge 2: With over 2 million books self-published in the US alone in 2019, I needed to understand best practices for bringing it to market and breaking through the clutter.
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Solution 2: Performed extensive research on genre and comps. Developed marketing plan that included free giveaways with Booksprout, Amazon and Bookbub ads, along with free promotions via social media (Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads).
Collaborators:
Beta Readers: Rebecca Stasiunas, Regina Duffy, and Casey Clayton
Developmental Editing: Melinda and Tiffany at Beyond Def Literary
Line Editing and Final Proofreader: Christina Consolino at Literary Mama
Interior Formatting: Rene Folsom
Artwork and Cover Design: Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design
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Currently available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon!