Shannon Donnelly - Marketer
Strategy-focused digital marketing professional with 8 years of experience working at Random House, HarperCollins, and Macmillan.
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Overview
For the last 8 years, I have worked with hundreds of authors, both independently and across companies large and small, providing focused marketing with a strong emphasis on ROI. My strategy consultation services are best suited for authors who have a beginner's sense of what goes into marketing a book, but want to know which platforms are most effective and how they can be used most effectively. I provide a thorough, easy-to-execute guide, broken down into 3 parts (product optimization, review generation, and customer discovery), that will help you cut through the digital clutter and make sure the right audience is finding your book. I will never recommend things that will waste your valuable time and money - my marketing strategies are lean and effective and designed for people who don't have a big company's budget to work with and are marketing their books on top of everything else they have going on in their lives. And I don't just drop the document and disappear - I remain available by e-mail as you're putting the strategy into place. I am very invested in the success of my clients and want to help them get the largest audience they can.
Please note, at the moment the only service I am offering is marketing strategy. I am not able to implement marketing campaigns on behalf of the author or write blurbs at this time.
Please note, at the moment the only service I am offering is marketing strategy. I am not able to implement marketing campaigns on behalf of the author or write blurbs at this time.
Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Entertainment
History
Fiction
Comics & Graphic Novels
Gaming & LitRPG
Literary Fiction
Mystery & Crime
Science Fiction
Work experience
Marketing Manager
Macmillan/Picador
September, 2014
–
August, 2018
(almost 4 years)
Conceived and executed digital strategy for all frontlist and backlist books for approximately 100 unique projects a year.
Marketing Manager
HarperCollins/Dey Street Books
September, 2012
–
September, 2014
(about 2 years)
Developed and executed full marketing and advertising campaigns for 30-40 books a year.
Marketing Associate
Random House/Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
July, 2011
–
September, 2012
(about 1 year)
Provided digital marketing and social media support across all imprints within the group.
Projects
Mark Z. Danielewski
HOUSE OF LEAVES author Mark Z. Danielewski wanted to establish a presence on social media. We worked with him to set up a Facebook account and grow it to 10K followers within three months, giving him a solid base to catapult to 85K followers. We also set up a Q&A on Twitter - a platform he had previously been largely dormant on - to tease the cover reveal of his book THE FIFTY YEAR SWORD. The Twitter Q&A drive traffic to a cover reveal hosted on io9, and the combined marketing and publicity hit drove substantial pre-sales for the book.
Grist Mill Road
The author wanted an extensive pre-publication buzz campaign. We launched an aggressive influencer galley outreach that resulted in 100+ reviews on Goodreads ahead of publication, coverage on 25+ influencer accounts on Instagram/Twitter/Goodreads, and a Thunderclap campaign comprised of many early evangelists upon publication day,
Portfolio (15 selected works)
1Q84 (Vintage International)
Haruki Murakami
Coming this October: Killing Commendatore, the much-anticipated new novel from Haruki Murakami“Murakami is like a magician who explains what he’s doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers . . . But while anyone can tell a story that resembles a dream, it's the rare artist, like this one, who can make us feel that we are dreaming it ourselves.” —The N... read more
Grist Mill Road: A Novel
Christopher J. Yates
An Entertainment Weekly "Must Read" "Twisty and told from multiple perspectives, this meaty thriller races to a satisfying finish." ―People magazine"The intensity of the storytelling is exhilarating and unsettling." ―Booklist (starred review)Twenty-six years ago Hannah had her eye shot out. Now she wants justice. But is she blind to the truth?"Arresting...Twisting backward and forward in time,... read more
Call Me by Your Name: A Novel
André Aciman
Now a Major Motion Picture from Director Luca Guadagnino, Starring Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet, and Written by Three-Time Oscar™ Nominee James IvoryThe Basis of the Oscar-Winning Best Adapted ScreenplayA New York Times BestsellerA USA Today Bestseller A Los Angeles Times BestsellerA Vulture Book Club Pick An Instant Classic and One of the Great Love Stories of Our TimeAndre Aciman's Cal... read more
Shelter: A Novel
Jung Yun
Kyung Cho is a young father burdened by a house he can’t afford. For years, he and his wife, Gillian, have lived beyond their means. Now their debts and bad decisions are catching up with them, and Kyung is anxious for his family’s future.A few miles away, his parents, Jin and Mae, live in the town’s most exclusive neighborhood, surrounded by the material comforts that Kyung desires for his wi... read more
House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski
Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth -- musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, enviro... read more
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, Slate, Publishers Weekly, GoodreadsFollowing the success of The Accidental Billionaires and Moneyball comes Console Wars—a mesmerizing, behind-the-scenes business thriller that chronicles how Sega, a small, scrappy gaming company led by an unlikely visionary and a team of rebels, took on the juggernaut Nintendo and revolutionized the video game industry.In 1990, N... read more
Six Gentlemen, One Goal: the Destruction of Hitler’s War MachineIn the spring of 1939, a top-secret organization was founded in London: its purpose was to plot the destruction of Hitler’s war machine, through spectacular acts of sabotage.The guerrilla campaign that followed was every bit as extraordinary as the six men who directed it. One of them, Cecil Clarke, was a maverick engineer who had... read more
#1 New York Times Bestseller Winner of the 2014 Living Now Book Award for Inspirational Memoir"An enormously smart, clear-eyed, brave-hearted, and quite personal look at the benefits of meditation."—Elizabeth GilbertNightline anchor Dan Harrisembarks on an unexpected, hilarious, and deeply skeptical odyssey through the strange worlds of spirituality and self-help, and discovers a way to get ha... read more
The Memory Painter: A Novel of Love and Reincarnation
Gwendolyn Womack
WINNER OF THE RWA PRISM AWARD FOR BEST TIME TRAVEL/STEAMPUNK AND A FINALIST FOR BEST FIRST BOOK A thriller, a romance, a 10,000-year adventure…The Memory Painter is “the guy-meets-girl story as you've never heard it before" (Refinery29).Bryan Pierce is an internationally famous artist, whose paintings have dazzled the world. But there's a secret to Bryan's success: Every canvas is inspired by ... read more
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLERAt twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Cre... read more
A Fighting Chance
Elizabeth Warren
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An unlikely political star tells the inspiring story of the two-decade journey that taught her how Washington really works―and really doesn't―in A Fighting ChanceAs a child in small-town Oklahoma, Elizabeth Warren yearned to go to college and then become an elementary school teacher―an ambitious goal, given her family's modest means. Early marriage and motherhood se... read more
The Sellout: A Novel
Paul Beatty
Winner of the Man Booker PrizeWinner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in FictionWinner of the John Dos Passos Prize for LiteratureNew York Times BestsellerLos Angeles Times Bestseller Named One of the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book ReviewNamed a Best Book of the Year by Newsweek, The Denver Post, BuzzFeed, Kirkus Reviews, and Publishers WeeklyNamed a "Must-Read" ... read more
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLEROne day, sad cubicle dweller and otherwise bored New York transplant Hannah Hart decided, as a joke, to make a fake cooking show for her friend back in California. She turned on the camera, pulled out some bread and cheese, and then, as one does, started drinking. (Doesn't everyone cook with a spoon in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other?) The video went viral a... read more
Angelmaker
Nick Harkaway
A Wall Street Journal and Booklist Best Mystery of 2012 From the acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World, blistering gangster noir meets howling absurdist comedy as the forces of good square off against the forces of evil, and only an unassuming clockwork repairman and an octogenarian former superspy can save the world from total destruction. Joe Spork spends his days fixing antique clocks. Th... read more
The Third Gate: A Novel (Jeremy Logan Series Book 3)
Lincoln Child
Under the direction of famed explorer Porter Stone, an archaeological team is secretly attempting to locate the tomb of an ancient pharaoh who was unlike any other in history. Stone believes he has found the burial chamber of King Narmer, the near mythical god- king who united upper and lower Egypt in 3200 B.C., and the archaeologist has reason to believe that the greatest prize of all—Narmer’... read more
Shannon has 24 reviews
Professionalism
Professionalism
Quality
Quality
Value
Value
Communication & Punctuality
Communication & Punctuality
Very knowledgable on the intricacies of marketing for self publishers. Every time I have a question I pull out her marketing packet or refer back to previous conversations. I highly recommend her for any future project.
Jason Sallee, October 2020
I had a nice call with Shannon and then she followed up with a blueprint, roadmap type document which makes it easy to execute each phase of the marketing plan.
This document covers your bases and takes out a lot of the guess work and hours upon hours you’ll spend reading blogs on the topic otherwise.
It’s still on you to execute and there’s resources available online if you need to get more g...
Read more
Zachary Adams, September 2020
Shannon was very helpful and knowledgeable and I found her marketing plan very comprehensive. She's also been available for followups - which is great because i'm a first timer at this. I've found her guidance very impactful.
Carl Brothers, August 2020
Very complete information--so much that I've hardly begun working my way through it all. Everything is laid out step-wise in a manner that's easy even for a newbie like me to follow. Shannon is pleasant to deal with, responsive, and provided lots of alternatives for publicizing my book, many of which I had never heard of, and would never have thought of myself. I warmly recommend her!
Genevieve Morrissey, August 2020
Shannon provided exactly what I needed -- a clear marketing plan that helps me focus my efforts. As a professional eCommerce marketer, I can confidently say that the recommendations and insights she provided are valuable and smart. Investing in a marketing strategy like this upfront will likely save you time and headaches if you're new to the book market.
Sarah Day, August 2020
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