It's Tuesday, that means that there's a new installment in my continuing pre-prequel fiction over at my LJ.
From time to time, we have an argument of sorts here at the Wyrdsmiths blog about the author's role in book promotion. It's not a real argument because, technically, I tend to agree with those who say that an author really can't do much to significantly boost their sales. I do think getting the word out helps. Whether my efforts to send bookmarks to romance conferences with 40 attendees in Boise or clever tweets can actually boost me from mid-list to superstar isn't really in question. (It can't.)
But it does seem to work for some people on some level, and I always end up wondering by what magic is that done? I'm particularly concerned right now because, as you perhaps may have heard, I have a small press book coming out in the middle of March. (Actually two, since I'm a contributor to WHEDONISTAS, as well.) I feel like I've been telling people about RESURRECTION CODE since the day I signed the contract, but just the other day I got a note from a friend on Facebook who seemed genuinely surprised that there would be a new book in the AngeLINK series.
What am I doing wrong?
I've got less than a month to get the word out. Ideas?
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5 comments:
I don't know.
Debut author Kameron Hurley was recently wondering aloud on twitter if her outreach efforts, in the end, actually made any real difference to the bottom line of sales.
I started a response to this, but it got so long I turned it into a post. It should go up a little before noon.
Kelly, yay! More cross talk!!
Also, I should say that I just put in a call for the Big Idea on Scalzi's blog and donated a .pdf of this book to the "Con or Bust" charity.
Fingers crossed.
Your discussion inspired a blog about how I think the question is changing from "is it worth it" to "how do you do it effectively."
http://bit.ly/g0GgkQ
I think Scalzi's blog is a good place to show up. He really seems to have a wide audience.
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