Writing Resources: The Owl Branch Book Promotions & Southern Owl Publications

I am so very honored and excited to be able to talk to you about the Owl Branch Book Promotions and Southern Owl Publications. This is a company that I was lucky enough to fall across, and definitely deserves all the praise I can give them.

If you’re anything like me, book marketing and promoting is a terrifying endeavor. What’s your platform? What’s a platform? Do you have social media? Are you posting everyday? When do you have time to write if you’re always trying to figure out ways to market?!?!?

This is how, or when, if you will. Crystal Miles Gauthier is the owner and founder of Owl Branch Book Promotions. She has been doing this for years all out of a love of helping other authors make their mark on the literary world. A fellow author of mine, Darlene Kuncytes, introduced me to Crystal’s business a couple of months ago and boy am I glad she did. The TOB has taken my promotional opportunities to a new level, and their goal of customer/client satisfaction is off the charts. Within days of asking for some information from them, I was getting emails and offers and ways that they could help, above and beyond what I ever thought was possible. That’s the key with the TOB. They know we all have expectations, and they seek to, not only surpass, but whatever word goes beyond that! They’re a family, and once you join them, you’re part of that family too.

So here’s a little bit more about the Owl Branch Book Promotions and Crystal Gauthier!

What exactly do you and the Owl Branch Book Promotions do?

I am a Book Promoter and Publisher. The promotions side started in 2014 when I realized there were so many new authors out there that did not know how to market or promote their books. I know I did not know how to when I wrote my books. I wanted to help authors, plain and simple.

What do you love most about working with authors? Why did you want to work with authors?

I love people, working with authors is a bonus. It is a wonderful experience talking to each client, reading about their books, learning how their literary minds work. Making friends along the way. When an author goes bestseller with us it is rewarding to see. Knowing that we contributed to it just fills our hearts with joy.

What’s the hardest part of what you do?

The hardest part about promoting and marketing is the limit that the social media sites put on us as far as sharing and posting clients information. Algorithms are the devil. We are constantly in FB Jail and told we are sharing or posting too many images, words, etc. It is so disheartening when an author says; “I have not seen my books being promoted.” They always are, our staff assures them they are. It is social media and the applications we use that prevent them from seeing things. I personally go through all of the applications and feeds to see if there is a problem and remedy it immediately.

In general, what is your turn around time for your work?

The Owl Branch Book Promotions, LLC starts immediately when an author signs up for our services. We personally gather their information and welcome them to The Owl Branch Book Promotions.

Publishing – Southern Owl Publications, LLC takes a little longer. Our turnaround time now is two months. Beta Reading, Editing, Format and Cover.

Can you tell me a little bit about your business practices and ethics and why those are important to you?

The Owl Branch Book Promotions, LLC is dedicated to customer service. We provide support and promotional packages to authors looking to gain more sales volume for their books. We at The Owl Branch stand for integrity and honesty. We are here to help your books get noticed in the vast world of literary works.

We provide these services to help, we are of course also in it for a profit. However, we realize we cannot possibly make a living off of helping you sell your books. We just want to help you and other authors out of the goodness of our hearts. Also, because we ourselves are authors and know it takes a team to sell a book. It is a hard life being an author. We are here for you.

We will endeavor to help you solve the problems you are having promoting your books. It is up to you as our customers to give us all the information to help you.

The Owl Branch respects all of its employees and partners. We strive to make this website the best it can be. All employees are treated and compensated fairly.

Southern Owl Publications, LLC is a varying genre publisher. Historically, an Owl is a nocturnal bird of prey with large forward-facing eyes surrounded by facial disks, a hooked beak, and typically a loud call. Like the Owl, we stand sturdy, focused, ready to make an imprint on our readers and the world.

Our goal is to publish words that were inspired and put to page by your minds, ones of great diversity and respect for the written word. Point with your mighty eyes to see beyond yourselves, and in doing so, awaken the wise owl within you.

How do you manage merging your own creative expression with that of the authors you work with?

First of all, we see what authors need, teasers, posters, better quality covers, social media wording, hashtags that will associate the books with a tweet or other social media form. We also see when an author is struggling and take into consideration that they may need a little bit more of a push on their books now and then, creative merging with other employees and brainstorming ideas is a big factor.

From a business standpoint, what are your goals for your company and those that you represent?

The goal of and is to serve and sell books for our clients in the most effective way possible. We see a vision of a long and lasting business relationship with the literary world. We are international in our sales and standing with social media. We have clients from 15 different countries. My wish is to have every author want our services. If that is too lofty a goal, then I will ask that our business be recognized in the literary world of movers and shakers. When we represent an author, we educate, communicate and ask what they would like for us to do for them. We listen and learn ourselves.

You have a small team of people as part of your business. How did you all come together? What backgrounds brought you together?

The Promotional team started out as just me as founder (Crystal Miles Gauthier) with a partner who is no longer with us. As clients started signing on, I met a wonderful Author named Viv Drewa whom I have grown to love like a sister. She was asked to join The Owl Branch with me as a partner, she brought with her Karen Vaughan also an author who is great with our graphics and promotional side. Then there is my astounding girl Friday – Lindsay Johnston whom I could not live without, she keeps me from losing my temper, from forgetting, and helps me with the business side of the companies. Lindsay is now formatting books for us at Southern Owl Publications.

We hired Monna Jones Johnston as our Chief Editor for Southern Owl Publications recently. She brings with her a vast knowledge and a hawkish eye for detail. A former client who another client said would be a good fit for us came along and does graphics for book covers a wonderful lady named Teresa Barber.

There are six of us running two small companies. We are growing so fast we are looking for more in the near future. (See Staff Photos HERE)

If there’s one thing that you want authors looking to work with a promotional group to know about you, what would that be?

We are inexpensive – keeping our prices low for struggling authors so they have a chance to compete with the “Top Authors”. No one writes a bad book. Books are to be treasured whether they are online ebooks, paperback, hardback or audible. We care about our clients. We listen to your needs. We are available to you through messenger or text 24-7. We have a reply time of mere minutes. We share and promote 24/7 (365). We utilize all social media sites, Libraries, Book Stores, Websites, Blogs, and so many other ways to numerous to count.

We promote all genre’s including Erotica, Children and Educational books.

For more information on the Owl Branch Book Promotions and Southern Owl Publications, please see the links below, like their page on Facebook, and, I know from personal experience, contact them with any questions you might have.

It’s always good, as an author, to have good support structures in the bag to help you along the road to literary success, and The Owl Branch Book Promotions and Southern Owl Publications are exactly the type of people you can rely on to work for, and, more importantly, with you!

From my experiences, I feel like, and this is after only a short time as a patron, that I’m part of The Owl Branch Book Promotions’ family. You are so inclusive and so welcoming and have made me feel like I’m a top priority to your enterprise. And I just wanted to say thank you and can’t wait to do more with you in the future!

Cheers everyone,

Links for The Owl Branch Book Promotions and Southern Owl Publications, LLC

The Owl Branch Book Promotions Website

http://theowlbranch2015.net/

The Owl Branch Book Promotions Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/theowlbranch/?ref=bookmarks

Crystal Clear Book Stream

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Crystalclearbookstream/?ref=bookmarks

Crystal's Turtle Street Team

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WurtleOne/?ref=bookmarks

Peeping Owls

https://www.facebook.com/groups/755364294604020/?ref=bookmarks