I’m so excited to announce that I am a finalist in the Christian Authors Network Crown Awards Visual Media category for the marketing campaign of my debut novel A Cross to Kill! The CAN Crown Awards recognize, educate, and encourage excellence in marketing and promotion skills of all Christian authors. Winners will be presented with gold, silver, or bronze awards at the CAN Crown Awards Gala on November 7th, 2020, from 6:00-7:00 p.m. The Crown Awards online event will include an overview of each Gold winning campaign in three categories. (You can read more about the Gala on CAN’s website: https://christianauthorsnetwork.com/can-crown-awards-gala/)
I submitted a very detailed brief on the marketing campaign for A Cross to Kill to the contest and I wanted to share some of what the judges got to see! I personally directed and designed almost all of the elements of the campaign's content, though I should note that Kregel Publications handled the book cover, printed materials, and other traditional marketing components for the book release. My personal campaign was divided into three parts: the Pre-Release stage, the Pre-Order stage, and the Available Now stage.
Each stage of the campaign focused on introducing myself as a new fiction author and attracting an audience of potential readers. I used my social media platforms as well as my author website to build interest in the book from before and after the release. Here's some quick stats on my platform growth and reach in 2019:
- 525 unique visitors to website
- 40% growth of Twitter followers
- 45% growth of Facebook author page likes
- 2,157 views of the book trailer on YouTube
- Audience reach of over 20,000 on Facebook & Instagram
And last but not least, here's a glance at some of the key marketing assets I used at various stages of the campaign:
I’m humbled to have been chosen as a finalist and can’t wait to find out if I won! For a complete list of Finalists for this year's CAN Crown Awards, check out the announcement video here: https://youtu.be/-ldedcjSRoI.