New 5-star review for Redstone's Valley

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008QH2CMS

By Dale M. Parish
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Very enjoyable book-- reminiscent of The Mirror and The Skin Map, with Comanche mysticism thrown in. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Texas history, mysticism, or who just wants a good read.

Excellent!

Dale's great-grandmother, Rosa Levingston Hunt, and my grandfather, "Cap'n" George Levingston, were both children of Samuel Hiram Levingston, the 8-year-old boy of "From Belfast to St. Joe."

I don't know him all that well.  We would see each other occasionally as children, mostly at family gatherings and reunions.  His mom's sister married my UNcle Feagin (my mom's brother), but we weren't all that close.  I do know him well enough to know he is extremely forthright, and always says just what he thinks.  We've been Facebook friends for a while now.  I believe he must have read my recent entries where I discussed RV, DD, and the whole Saga.  The other day he posted a status update saying he was reading the book. This morning, someone bought a copy of the short story anthology.

Makes me think that Facebook is a good way to get the word out.

I am glad of your great review.  I think sharing is important.  People I know who value my opinion pay some attention to my sharing.  They know I do not share willy-nilly. 
I do not notice any great sales of my work, but I just give it away free anyway and people wait for that.  I do not mind.  It makes me happy that someone likes my stories and if they give a review I am glad.  Ann's work is beautifully written, well researched and lovely to read. 
Love,
Betty

I like sharing your stories, Betty.  I've had several friends "like" them  I feel like we help to spread the word when we share and retweet.

Very Nice!

Five-star reviews add up to sales - congratulations.

Quote :

Makes me think that Facebook is a good way to get the word out.

Congrats on the review! About the above quote. Only if you've got a big, public fan base, or make lots of public posts. At least that's my observation. YouTube is the way to get the word out. The whole world will see it, not just your friends.

I'm really becoming a fan of this promotion venue. "Build it and they will come." Put good, interesting content out there that targets a large-enough audience (doesn't have to be large, just large enough), and the views and possibly sales will follow. 

I now have 67 subscribers, over 14,000 views, and the ads bring in about $20/mo. Not riches, but my goal is promotion, and I do think I'm getting that. People are bouncing from YT to my site, and I like to think the action my books are getting on Amazon is partly from that.

I have 51 vids. They take me about a half-hour each, they're fun to do, and I make them as I have time. Could be at 3 am, if I can't sleep. Of course, I had to learn how to use Camtasia first. Get a good mike (available for under $100 now), and you can do pro videos. I think they do more good than Facebook or Twitter for the average, not-inclined-to-promote person.

Facebook can be an excellent marketing tool for some.  Take my hometown acquaintance, Rebecca Stark Nugent, who wrote If the Devil had a Wife, a non-fiction expose of her grandfather's second wife.

I knew rebecca fairly well, but she is younger, nearer the age of my little brother.  Her younger sister dated a first cousin in high school, and our families would see each other on Sundays at the CC, and at water sporting events, since both our families were supporters.

Off subject a little, but helps explain - A close friend of mine was on a plane flight some years ago, and got into a conversation with the person sitting next to her;  "Ohh, you're from Orange, Texas?  Man, that is one strange place!"
"Strange?  How/" 
"Isn't that the town that's owned by three multi-millionaires who are first cousins, but hate each other's guts?"
"Well, Um, yes..but.."
"And one of them keeps longhorn cattle in the middle of the city limits?"
"Yes, but..."
"And another who is a recluse spinster who keeps a gigolo boyfriend who skippers her private yacht and is half her age?"
"You know, now that I think about it, I guess it could be considered a little strange."

(The gigolo, BTW, was my first cousin)

One of those millionaire cousins married his first wife's nurse, shortly after that first wife died.  And that was when the rumors started....

https://m.facebook.com/pages/If-the-Devil-Had-a-Wife/251101605341?_rdr

What Rebecca has done is to create a page where she markets her book bu posting pictures of Old Orange and telling little stories about the residients and their ancestors.  She doesn't really say that much about the book itself, but includes lots of little stories about her parents and relatives - who are included in the book.

The page gets lots of attention, and people like me share the photos and story bits.

I' wondering if I were to expand my professional page to include stories about the Hill Country and its towns.  If I can ever figure out how the page works.

Just wondering.

Well, it's not either/or. Obviously she has built up a big FB fan base, and makes tons of public posts. Which is what I said in my OP. You described an interaction on your FB page, on which you mostly post just to friends, and the person who bought it was a relative. I just said that YT will deliver a broader audience.

Thanks for the advice.

Another thing -it's probably less work to build up a fan base on YT than FB because YT does so much heavy lifting for you. You said your friend built up her fan base by people like you sharing her posts. With YT, you're not as dependent on "the kindness of strangers." Once you start accumulating views, YT makes them suggested vids and puts them in sidebars. When a few of your vids get shared on a prominent site, the subscriber and view counts jump.

I also think it would be more work writing FB content than narrating YT content. Put some nice photos of Hill Country together, narrate a bit of history, upload and see where it goes. Oh yeah, and put the cover of your book at the beginning for a few seconds. You don't need Camtasia for this, you can use Microsoft's free Movie Maker.

Wow! Here's another:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rewarding reading experience May 20, 2014
By Al Stevens
Format:Kindle Edition
Ms. Joiner is an engaging writer, and her story of the Texas Hill Country, that environment and scenery and most especially the characters, Daniel, Maria, and their relationship and the surrounding characters, are so well-crafted that you forget you're reading a story and are yourself there, living it and seeing it all happen. Redstone's Valley is a short novel, a quick and enjoyable read, and historical fiction at its finest.

Thanks, Al!