Showing posts with label karen cote. Show all posts
Showing posts with label karen cote. Show all posts

Jul 26, 2013

How Karen Cote' Got Roped -- er, I mean Sweet-talked into MFRW @karensromance #MFRWlove @MFRW_ORG

Karen Cote'
Karen Coté is -- or was, before today -- the Promotions Director at Marketing for Romance Writers (MFRW). This is the story of how she got this position.

As the founder of MFRW, it was up to me to do most of the heavy lifting. I had a few volunteers who helped with approving posts when needed, but it was not as organized back then as it is now. Then Karen Coté joined the group. She immediately caught the value of what we were doing. Marketing for Romance Writers is a peer-based community of people in the literary community. We post questions and get answers, ask for advice, seek promotional opportunities, and offer them. There's a strict no-promotion policy. We aren't hit over the head with info about new books or sharing our blogs. It's business-related only.

One day, shortly after Karen joined, she emailed me a link to a site where we might get exposure as a group. I took advantage of it and thanked her for thinking of it. A few days later, she sent me another one. I'd never heard of the site before, so I investigated. It was helpful, and I told her so. Not long after that, she sent me another one, and asked if it was okay if she wrote an article about the group and posted it on another site. I was floored. I was writing full time, volunteering with MFRW, and mentoring a few new authors on the side, so I didn't have time to do much extra. I was thrilled to have Karen's help.

That's when the idea hit me.

Why not ask Karen Coté to do this all the time? So I wrote to her, explained my idea, and asked what she thought. Would she be officially in charge of finding ways to tell people about the group? We would call the position "Promotions Director." To my great delight, she said yes.

Having someone to help took a load off my shoulders. I was able to focus on other areas, and concentrate more on the leadership opportunities. I organized the volunteers a little better, and created a separate Yahoo group where we could discuss aspects of leadership and details about the promotions. We asked for more volunteers, who became Member Liaisons. We coordinated setting up a blog and organizing it for promoting our members. There have been 199 posts so far, and it has nearly 200 followers and many ways to link and share. Due to Karen's influence, we added a Pinterest account for MFRW, and used it to share our members' books. It now has 72 boards, 763 pins, and 634 followers. No idea how many repins it has, but readers love being able to add our pins to their boards, and every pinned book cover leads to a place to buy the book. The responsibility for Pinterest is now handled by Paloma Beck, who does a wonderful job of sharing the posts via our Twitter account. Guess who set up the Twitter account? You guessed it: Karen Coté. MFRW_ORG has 297 followers and has sent out 444 tweets. We're currently looking for a Twitter maven who will help us fire up this account and use it to help promote the group and its members.

We also have bloghops, an amazing newsletter in multiple formats, a website, and a forum on Coffee Time Romance. For two years, we've held a "Marketing Summer Camp" -- one full weekend of workshops on how to market your books, how to write, how to query, what to do with social media, and various other topics related to being an author, publisher, or other worker in the literary world.

Guess what? All of what MFRW does is free.

Erotic Deception
by Karen Cote'
That was one of the things that drew Karen to what we did. She saw the value of what we wanted to do, and that I had a personal commitment to offer these things at no cost. She told me many times that she valued the heart I had to give. Perhaps that was why we became such good friends. She has that same giving spirit. Karen has funded prizes and giveaways at camp out of her own pocket. She's been the backbone of our group with her fun tweets, sharing spirit, and her ability to infuse every aspect of our efforts with humor. Her writing motto is "Romance... it's complicated." How true in any life! But somehow she manages to express it in such a way that she's been a best-seller from the beginning of her career.

Because of One Person.

All the success of Marketing for Romance Writers happened because one person caught the vision of what I was trying to do, and came alongside to lend a hand. When I say Karen Coté will be missed, you can believe it's true.

Here's where to find Karen on the net. 

Website http://karencote.tv
Goodreads http://goodreads.com/KarensRomance

Current  MFRW Staff members

Blog Director: Lynn Crain
Activities Director: Kristyn Phipps
Bloghop Coordinator: Mona Karel
Pinterest Coordinator: Paloma Beck
Newsletter Editor: Rochelle Weber
Assistant Editors: Emerald, Lisa Fisk

Oct 14, 2011

An Interview With Karen Coté

Today we have the lovely Karen Coté to tell us about her...wait...who are you? 

Folks, we have an interloper here...Lily Delaney from Erotic Deception just stormed into the interview room and shoves poor Karen Coté aside.

I heard you’d invited Karen Coté to a launch party. This is my day! She gets to go out-and-about all the time while I’ve been stuck inside a publishing house.

I waited months and months for a manicure. Do you know the challenges of trying to style hair that’s unruly and needs a trim? I hadn’t been shopping in like…forever and I wasn’t about to show-up in something that was so last year. Now I’ve done all that…I want to plaaay!

So what are these questions. I’m sure you’ll find my answers much more interesting than hers. Let’s see…

Leather or lace?

*snicker* Hellooo. That‘s like choosing between red or pink lipstick right? Love, love love lace, but some occasions just scream leather, don’t you think?

Black or red?

Oh! You just described my favorite Jimmy Choos.

Satin sheets or Egyptian cotton?

Hmmm…now that’s a toughie. Satin can certainly bring a sigh to my lips but 1200 thread count Egyptian? That’s worthy of a groan.

Ocean or mountains?

*chuckle* You know those times when Karen gets writers block? Yeah, I’m sure you do. Well, sometimes my friend, Mr. Muse won’t come out until Karen walks to the beach and yes, Karen’s Muse is a male. It’s great for me as I can flirt outrageously with him to get my way with that pesky sheriff. So definitely ocean.

City life or country life?

City life is fabulous but dipping my toes in a cool lake can send a tingle up my spine. Hmm, moonlight caressing my skin, water lapping against the shore, leaning against those big broad shoulders…Huh? I’m sorry. What was the question?

Hunky heroes or average Joe?

Yes.

Party life or quiet dinner for two?

Is this another lipstick color question?

Dogs or cats?

Pugs…the chubby ones. Sometimes they act like cats. *snort* Of course, sometimes they act like pigs. Then there’s the bullfrog look. Yep. They’re just like people.

I love pizza with...

No one…coz when that doorbell rings and that pizza guy delivers that pie, I want nobody encroaching on my pepperoni.

I'm always ready for...

Criminal Minds. I swear, if the Chippendales stopped by while I was watching Aaron Hotchner, I’d send them off with their bow ties and cuff links tucked between their nether regions.

When I'm alone, I...

Really? We’re gonna do this here?

You'd never be able to tell, but...

Oh no. Nice try but I star in a Romantic Suspense novel and I’m not gonna... like…just hand you the answers.

If I could ...

Get those handcuffs away from the sheriff, I’d hook him up in my room and teach him some investigative skills.

I can never...

Be anything I’m not because I am what I am.

Uh...thanks for the lovely interview, Lily. Help Karen celebrate the release of her book, Erotic Deception.

Books Coming Soon from Karen Coté
Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road…An Anthology (November 2011)

Find Karen and her books here:
Buy Links: http://www.karencote.tv/newsbooks

Oct 9, 2011

The MFRW Authors Blog is Open!

The Marketing for Romance Writers group was founded by Kayelle Allen in 2006, and is focused on learning marketing and publicity. We discuss ways to advance our careers, brainstorm new ventures and ideas, get feedback, and find others interested in mutual promotion.


Our motto
"Seek, teach, share, learn, succeed." This sums up the concept and heart of the group. We look for ways to help others, and in that spirit, often find opportunities to help ourselves.


Our Yahoo Group
The group is business oriented. We welcome marketing-related material that asks a question, offers a promo or idea, or is a request for help, advice, or opinions. We offer opportunities to promote and we seek to join others in promotional efforts. As fellow authors (published and not-yet), publishers, literary agents, editors, author promo groups, promo assistants, and artists, we are a combination of support group and co-workers.


Our opportunities
In order to provide promotional opportunities for our 1000+ members, we created two blogs, MFRW - Marketing for Romance Writers, and MFRW Authors (this blog). We will be adding a Facebook page, have a presence on Twitter, and will be doing joint activities such as blog hops, videos hops, and contests. All these things take time, and people. Volunteers are always needed. It's a great way to "get your name out there" among the publishing community.


Our training
Workshops and seminars are offered by members, and are always free. One is scheduled for Oct 26th -- Twitter for Beginners, taught by author Cassandra Carr. You don't even need a Twitter account to take the class. Want to sign up? Simply join the group, and show up on the night of the class. Lessons are posted directly on the group, and you can follow them via email or by visiting the site.


This blog will showcase new releases, offer contests, and be a place for you to meet new authors and hear about favorites. Follow news via email, Feedburner, Google Friend Connect, or Networked Blogs.


Our books
We are open to all fiction and non-fiction genres without limit regarding levels of sensuality or gender orientation of characters or authors. 

Our marketing blog
MFRW - Marketing for Romance Writers

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