Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. I hope you are having a good week.As you know, my novel was released as a paperback just before the holidays. The e-book version has been available since February 2010. It was positively reviewed by my high school; a local magazine, Traffic; and the Internet magazine for which I work, Kings River Life. It was also positively reviewed on a few blogsites. I have several satisfied customers on the Smashwords.com store, as well as iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Sony. I am grateful for everyone who has given my debut novel about vampires loosed in my home town a chance.
Now that I have the paperback I am beginning to focus my energies toward print media. I have reached out to a major magazine as well as the major newspaper in the Central Valley of California where my family and I live. We’ll see how that goes. Rest assured that you will be amongst the first to know.
I am currently reaching out to local retailers in Kingsburg as well as the local Starbucks to see whether we might be able to do something together. From there I will be attempting to get through to the major book sellers in my area.
I will continue to push the e-book, and for those of you who own e-readers already, you know why. It is the convenience of the thing, wouldn’t you agree? It is what caused CD to push out vinyl, and probably why digital storage devices will push out the CD eventually.The thing that the paperback has done is to allow so more doors to open to me now. Whether they allow me in the store is quite another thing, however. As I mentioned before, we’ll see.
Mentioning all of this was not to present my feathers to you, but to put all of my cards out upon the table. What do you folks think I should be doing now? Am I going about this the right way or am I barking up the wrong tree? For those of you in similar situations, what have you done that worked well and what not so much? I’m really curious and would like to know your opinions as well as to hear your PR stories. For those of you who will have a novel released in the near future, what sounds right to you and what does not?
I’d really love to know.
We’ll talk soon.
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Blog tours seem Popular !! it promotes the blogger and the book and brings alot of extra interest !!!! mabye promote the book within your country and e books international ? Depends what you would rather, keep in mind, some people with e readers ** like myself ** ;) prefer paperbacks but some authors do not print !! Thats where the e reader comes in handy !!! Just an idea!!!!!
ReplyDeletekat ;)
Ps the cover looks hawt !!!!!!! ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat about heading down to your local library? I'm sure they'd apprecaite a copy, and maybe they'd let you do a 'talk' to some aspiring authors and do a signing (and hopefully sell a few copies at the same time!).
ReplyDeleteAlso schools and university's might be interested in something similar...
Do you have a Costco in your area? I know recently a friend of mine was able to secure a book signing at our local Costco. It was a nonfiction book specifically about the history of the local area, which appealed to the manager.
ReplyDeleteYou might be able to do the same. Good luck.
Big questions! I have a paperback coming out soon, too - pretty much as a support to the ebook. I think it depends on what you want out of the paperback. If you're doing it as a back-up to the ebook, a bit of awareness with blog tours etc might be just the thing.
ReplyDeleteKatrina - Thanks for the idea. I spend too much editorializing sometimes, and not enough time interacting with all of you. I think I would like the latter better. In any event, the tour will definitely be something that I will have to consider. I cannot afford to say no to very much. What I hope to do this year, as opposed to last year, is to prioritize, becoming more efficient and effective with the little time I do have for getting the word out there. I may find out that the tour is perfect. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the cover comment, too.
-Jimmy
Marissa - Great minds must think alike! I just handed the librarian at my local branch of the county library a copy and press kit Tuesday afternoon. Before that, I had just come from sending another copy and press kit to a magazine in the large city in my area. I don't want to say too much more about that until I hear something back, but it is most definitely promising.
ReplyDeleteNow, when do you want me to fly over and sign your copy? ;)
-Jimmy
Maria - Yes, we have three Costco's in our area (30 minute drives). I hadn't considered that. I am working on reviews at the same time that I am networking stores. The great thing about my novel is it is set in my town and the entire Central Valley of California will feel represented since I mention other cities, Police Departments, etc.
ReplyDeleteI had considered some of the retailers, but had not considered Costco as of yet. Thanks for the tip.
-Jimmy
Talli - Before I go further, let me just say that I love the new cover of yours. I saw it yesterday along with that video. I want to copy the photo and replace the old cover that I have to go with that review I did.
ReplyDeleteI am pushing the paperback right now because of two reasons: most of the folks in my neck of the woods are slow to embrace the e-book, and more importantly, so the media will take me more seriously and review me.
Eventually, e-books will dominate, but I'll probably double my sales pretty quickly once this word gets out.
-Jimmy
Hi Jimmy!
ReplyDeleteI want to purchase your paperback, but can you get it anywhere else besides the site you link to? I'm wary of sites I'm unfamiliar with (and that one seems to be outside of the U.S).
Sorry to be so wishy-washy!