Who Are Savvy Market Masters?

As a cohort of sorts with Savvy Market Masters, I thought it'd be fantastic to feature the company here and tell authors a bit more about what SMM can do and is doing.

Savvy Market Masters, started by Lacresha Hayes, is a book marketing firm that specializes in bringing visibility to great books. They are structured from a reader's perspective so that their marketing techniques are more effective. Lacresha, being an author herself, has tested the bounds of marketing both on and offline and now is sharing her expertise and contacts to build other authors.

Savvy Market Masters provides everything from media kits to newsletters, blog book tours, radio and library bookings and more. With their newswire service and library/bookstore mailings, they have the ability to put your book in front of tens of thousands of people in a short period of time. Will this guarantee more sales? No. No one can do that unless they purchase your book themselves. But, it will certainly increase visibility for your book and that cannot hurt. For more information, click the links above. Let's get marketing!

Review ~ "Truth and Intimacy: A Couple's Journal" by Lacresha and Lensey Hayes

During times of recession, you can look for divorce rates to spike. I believe the release of this book was timely because of the information it contains. The Hayes wrote an excellent manual on perfecting marriage.

Clearly, there is not one solution that will work for every marriage and that is the mistake most authors make. However, this book lays out advice in a way that can be adapted to suit each couple individually. Each chapter has stories of real couples and real struggles. They all end with a solution, which will presumably help couples find their own area of struggle and overcome it together.

Truth and Intimacy is a marriage counselor's friend and any married couple's companion. I enjoyed the entirety of the book. If there is one criticism I'd have, it would be the scriptural references which can alienate couples that are not of the Christian faith. Otherwise, this book is an excellent read!

What Makes an Author Stand Out

Authors are both born and made. Some people are writing as soon as they can hold a pencil and never stop. Some people just fall into writing as a way of dealing with an issue, or as a result of their primary profession. Either way, no one writes to be mediocre. A real author wants to be great. What author hasn't dreamed of a Pulitzer or other prestigious writing awards?

This profession is filled to rim with mediocre writers. Just because you may have a million people competing against you doesn't really mean that your competition is a million people. Your competition is yourself and all those who strive for excellence and greatness in writing. Believe me, that may be 5 percent, and I'm being generous. My point is you have to strive to stand out from the pack.

Standing out isn't hard. First, care about what you're doing. If you care, it will show in all that you do. That is a life lesson, a lot of which I've been learning from a dear friend, Lacresha Hayes. Secondly, give. Most people's eyes are so full of dollar signs that they are paralyzed when you tell them to give something away. Lend your expertise. Give your readers a real piece of yourself. Lastly, connect with your followers. Books are great, but you won't find people just picking up your books for the hell of it. Something has to draw them. Your publisher can't do it. Your publicist can't do it. YOU have to do it.

Review ~ "The Rape of Innocence" by Lacresha Hayes

The Rape of Innocence is a hard book, written from a upfront and in-your-face POV. It lays out a lifestyle that most of society are happy to forget exists.

Mrs. Hayes, minister and activist, put her very career on the line by writing in this style, yet somehow it worked well for the composition of the book.

The book begins with Lacresha's struggles as a child without a parent and ends with her victory over sexual assault by a traveling minister. In the in-between, she marries three times, nearly kills her first husband, commits adultery, turns to Christ and away again, and all that before finally coming to terms with who she was created to be.

I have to say, while I fully support this book and the message, it was so graphic that you have to prepare yourself before reading. I didn't do that because I had no idea what I would be in for. If you try to jump right into this book like a novel, the descriptive language will disturb you emotionally. In fact, this is the most haunting book I've ever read.