ARE YOU A CHAMPION?

My wonderful and hardworking book manager came up with this great list of things friends and family and fans of Blue Moon Vegetarian can do to help spread the word along about my and Phil’s story and to share our yummy and nutritious recipes, too. She even went so far as to include the exact amount of time it takes to complete each tiny task!

I would like to suggest, however, that this is not a formula just for Blue Moon Vegetarian, but a roadmap for friends, family, and fans of ANY book, fiction or non-fiction. So, if you don’t feel inclined to take any of these steps on behalf of Blue Moon Vegetarian, please think of your most recent favorite book, and do a few of these things on its behalf.

For Blue Moon Vegetarian Champions:

1. Recommend Blue Moon Vegetarian to friends and family, or lend your copy to them. 1 min.
2. Spread information about the book and me on social media—retweet, like, share, or repin book related content to help us reach a wider audience. The first step is getting on people’s radar. 1 min.
3. If you enjoy one of my recipes and are planning on making it, take a quick photo of the food and share it on social media. People are always looking for new recipes to make. If they see your picture and that you liked the recipe, they may buy the book so they can make it themselves. 5 min + preparing the recipe.
4. Contribute to the conversation: comment on my and other people’s posts about me and the book. Show others through your engagement that this is a book to pay attention to. 5 min.
5. Tell your local book club or any reading group you know about Blue Moon Vegetarian. You can find a worldwide list of book clubs and reading groups at http://bookclub.meetup.com/. 5 min.
6. Talk to your local library about carrying the book. If multiple people happen to ask about the book, the library will order copies to fit the demand for it. 1 min + travel time (or some library websites have forms where you can submit a request for the book online). Extra: Donate copies yourself for the library to carry.
7. Talk to your local bookstores about carrying a few copies of Blue Moon Vegetarian. Then when they do, take a picture of it in the store and share it with us! 2 min + travel time.
8. Write a review. This is one of the most helpful actions you can take. Many book promotion websites require that a book have a certain number of reviews on Amazon.com before they will agree to promote it. Let’s reach that goal, so we can be promoted on websites and newsletters that reach substantially more people. 15 min. Extra: Crosspost your review on Goodreads to get it maximum exposure.
9. Speaking of Goodreads, if you’re already a member, or are someone who loves books, use Goodreads to get the word out about Blue Moon Vegetarian. Add the book to your “read” shelf, rate it, add your favorite quote, or join a vegetarian or memoir group to genuinely add to the book conversation. 10 min.
10. Know anyone who has a blog? Reach out to them and ask if they would be willing to accept a “guest post” written by me. If our post is featured on their website, it saves them the time it would have taken to write their own post, while also exposing Blue Moon Vegetarian to an entirely new audience of people. 5 min.
11. Know anybody in the press? Ask them if they would be willing to write a story on me or Blue Moon Vegetarian. If they are, send them to the Press page on my website. It has all the information they’d need to easily create content and spread the word about me to their readers. 5 min.

For any questions regarding how best to carry out these steps, email me at coom1286@hotmail.com.

Thank you! and OXOX!