Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Carol VanDenHende.
Carol VanDenHende is an award-winning author who pens stories of resilience and hope. Her debut novel Goodbye Orchid recently won the American Fiction Award for urban fiction, the Pinnacle Book Award for multicultural fiction, and was listed by Buzzfeed as one of its 12 Most Anticipated books this fall.
Carol is also a speaker (as well as one of my writing conference buddies) and she often speaks on author brand, visual identity, and marketing plans. With an MBA with 20+ years’ experience in marketing and strategy, Carol knows what it takes to market your book (even if you’re a busy author) and she has applied many of these strategies to the launch of Goodbye Orchid.
One secret to Carol’s good fortune? Her humorous husband, fun-loving twins, and rescue cat, who prove that love really does conquer all.
In this episode Carol and I discuss:
- How her book Goodbye Orchid is really about hope and resilience.
- Carol shares how clarifying on your personal ‘why’ focuses your marketing plans and higher-order purpose.
- What people often miss about the hard work it takes to be a successful author.
Plus, their #1 tip for writers.
About the Author
Carol VanDenHende is an award-winning author who pens stories of resilience and hope. She’s also a speaker and MBA with 20+ years’ experience in marketing and strategy.
Goodbye Orchid won the American Fiction Award for urban fiction and Pinnacle Book Award for multicultural fiction.
Buzzfeed included Goodbye Orchid in its 12 Most Anticipated books of the fall.
You can learn more about Carol on her website and by following her on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.
Goodbye, Orchid
RISING FROM ASHES IS HARD.
GIVING UP THE ONE YOU LOVE IS HARDER.
Thirty-two year-old Phoenix Walker is an entrepreneur who has built an agency with a heart almost as big as his own. To add to his good fortune, he’s falling for Orchid Paige, the beautiful half-Asian marketer who’s collaborated with him on a winning military campaign.
Until an accident changes him forever.
Now, he’s faced with the hardest decision of his life. Does he burden the woman whose traumatic childhood makes him feel protective of her? Or does true love mean leaving her without explaining why?
If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!
In the interview, Gabriela and Carol discussed her marketing strategies for coming up with the cover for Goodbye Orchid.
One of the strategies she used was to ask her audience for feedback on the image they liked best. She did her cover reveal by releasing it in segments as to generate excitement for the ultimate reveal.
She then used social media to thank her audience for their participation. As you can see more than 800 people voted. She used a pixelated image to generate even more excitement around the reveal.
Link to Episode 328
(Right-click to download.)
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Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!
