Shannon Donnelly

Shannon Donnelly – Marketer

Strategy-focused marketing professional with 13 years of book marketing experience, including Random House, HarperCollins, and Macmillan.

Overview

For the last 13 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.

Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs Business & Management
Fiction
Contemporary Fiction Fantasy Literary Fiction Science Fiction Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction

Work experience

Macmillan/Picador

Sep, 2014 — Aug, 2018 (almost 4 years)

Conceived and executed digital strategy for all frontlist and backlist books for approximately 100 unique projects a year.

HarperCollins/Dey Street Books

Sep, 2012 — Sep, 2014 (about 2 years)

Developed and executed full marketing and advertising campaigns for 30-40 books a year.

Random House/Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Jul, 2011 — Sep, 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

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 t... read more
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... 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 repa... 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, a... read more
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 Bo... 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 c... 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 decis... read more
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 inte... 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 une... 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... 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 ... 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 stor... read more
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... read more
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... 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 a... read more

Shannon has 31 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Max S.

Max S.

Oct, 2024

Had a great meeting with Shannon! She both had expertise to offer and answered all the had, will be using the insights and material she gave to launch my first book!
Albert Z.

Albert Z.

Aug, 2024

Shannon was great! Her wealth of experience really helped answer questions about entering the market, when to spend money, and what to optimize.
Phil N.

Phil N.

Aug, 2024

Excellent job, I was very happy with her report.
Carlos D.

Carlos D.

Jul, 2024

Shannon provided me an excellent guide to follow for my self-publishing debut. I am still going through it since it is so detailed and extensive. Definitely recommend!
Antoine B.

Antoine B.

Jun, 2021

Very helpful information and kind responses.

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