Donna Brennan Interviews
Suzanne & Shawn Kuhn
Part 2
Suzanne Kuhn is owner of SuzyQ, a full-service author promotion and retail development firm. Together with her husband, Shawn, Suzanne works with authors, publishers, and retailers, helping to coordinate events, train staff and authors in reader engagement, and develop promotions for increased sales and reader/customer loyalty.
Both Suzanne and Shawn will be available at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference May 15-18 and at the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference July 31 – August 3. Suzanne will be teaching three sessions on various ways to promote your books and yourself, including running successful in-person events as well as connecting through social media outlets. Both Suzanne and Shawn will be available for appointments.
Your workshop, “Putting the Social Back in Social Media,” focuses on making a true connection with the person on the other end. Hopefully we all know not to come on too strong trying to promote our books or risk being unfriended or unfollowed. Will you show us ways to promote ourselves and our books without being overbearing?
Yes, we will talk about using social media for engaging influencers, readers and potential readers. We’ll also discuss ways to make social media manageable and a great tool for expanding your audience.
As authors are engaging what are some unexpected benefits we might find if we handle this social media thing well?
Your followers will be talking about your books. And we all know word of mouth advertising is some of the very best advertising there is. We have had clients who have received radio interviews, speaking engagements, and one even signed a traditional publishing contract all because of well planned and executed social media.
What do you mean by value-added content?
Value-added content is simply offering information beyond just your limited author and or book interests. I will give specific ideas and even offer a Q&A opportunity to those who attend this workshop to brainstorm specifically what their value-added content could be. This is also a great topic to brainstorm in an appointment with Suzanne or Shawn.
Is it worth an author’s time to do in-person promotions when you can reach so many people at once via social media?
Would you prefer to be texted goodnight or kissed goodnight? Meaningful interaction takes place with live events. Readers leave the event feeling as if they’ve gotten to know you. Upon returning home, these now reader friends will then engage with social media. Social Media is the add-on or follow up to a strong live event.
In your “Engaging Events” workshop, will you focus primarily on book signings?
We will touch on many types of events.
What other types of events will you cover?
We will address book clubs, reader days, and book launches, just to name a few. Any topics not specifically discussed could be answered in the Q&A or through appointments.
Will you introduce us to some unique ideas for Author Events?
Our ideas may or may not be new, but the execution we suggest certainly will be unique.
Can a face-to-face meeting really influence the staff of a bookstore to promote our books after the event is over?
Absolutely! Live interaction can make or break an author’s sales in a bookstore. In the Events workshop, we will share a real experience that happened in a bookstore and how it directly affected that author’s sales.
Suzanne, you have over 20 years of experience in book retailing and event planning, and Shawn you were part-owner and VP of a regional bargain book chain for over 25 years. So I’m expecting your Retailers Request workshop to provide lots of ways to develop a good relationship with bookstores, which can result in increased sales. Can you give us a few tips now?
Books are still being discovered in bookstores. It is so important for an author to nurture those relationships in a way that best suits the bookstore. My best tip is you don’t want to miss this workshop. You will gain valuable insider information.
Will either of you be available for individual appointments at the conference? What types of help can authors expect to get out of these appointments?
We will both be available for appointments, meals, and after hour chats. We can talk about any aspect of an author’s book promotion plans, branding, social media, events and connecting with bookstores, or anything else promotion related. We love these appointments. We get to spend 15 minutes with an author, catching their vision then helping them to come up with ideas that are authentic to them as an individual.
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Thanks much, Donna, Suzanne, and Shawn. I’m looking forward to seeing all of you in Colorado and Philly.
You’ve shared lots of great ideas here! I’m looking forward to seeing you in Philly, too. Besides–I’ll get to see more of Suzy’s cute shoes. ; )