I'm backkkkkkk

hello again all! greetings from the nearly underwater state of insanity I live in! thank you for asking me back I'll try to get on more as I'm going to take another stab at the next installment for my Morigana series its the second book I'm writing...but the first book in the series....is anyone surprised that I'm confused?

Welcome Back GypsyWriter! I was hoping you'd come back. We were hoping to hear more about your run through the publishing house for your novel! Do you have a release date yet? Also, nope, certainly not confused yet. Sometimes its easier to write them that way.

Thanks for the rewelcome Kit!

my novel was released in March. As for my publishing house....well, Publish America SUCKS they have done absolutely NO work as far as promoting my novel or the Short Story collection that I think was released in Dec called "On the Nightside" written by myself as Serephyna Storm, and RC Whitecotton...better known as my sister Ranalluna.

I've heard that they are really bad on that. I think they may actually be listed in the Predators & Editors site. Putting that aside though, what promotion have you done for your novel?

Do you have a website for it? Bought a few copies and sent it to prominent bloggers asking for a review? How about asking bookstores in your area if they would be interested in picking up a few copies (since you're a local author) and then having you there for a reading and signing gig? Or contacting your local news channel about a local author being published? Radio stations often work very well for this too, since they like a good "local anything is awesome" segments...

well I've tried the going to the local bookstores thing. books a million doesn't do publish on demand book things Borders will only do a signing if I supply the books, (which I have to buy at 29.95 a book) then they want to take 40% of whatever I make just to set up in the store. I'm going to try emailing the local papers because although I provided the email addy's to PA they haven't done anything about it, at least not that I have seen. I have a twitter page, tried to do a webpage that fell over. I do have a facebook page for the book. and have told everyone I talk to about it, up to the girls in the office of the warehouse I'm temping at. I wish I could afford to buy a few copies of it, but at this point I"m still trying to keep my head above water with rent and bills.

any suggestions of a place where I can get a free website?

Publish America is notoriously bad about helping their authors actually sell books.

Wordpress. I would suggest buying your domain name (I got mine from GoDaddy for about $15 if I remember correctly) but Wordpress is really easy to use. I think you can use them without having your own domain name, but then you have the .wordpress.com sort of thing and it doesn't look very professional.

I would suggest starting up a blog and post once to twice a week.

How are you using your Twitter account, if you don't mind me asking? Also, once you can buy a copy or four, ask the local radio stations if they would like to have you on and give a few copies away free.

Did you sell them the Audio Rights to your novel? If not, then you could start podcasting it. You'll get a lot of people who just listen, sure, but it'll get word of mouth out there and a lot of listeners like reading along while they listen, so they'll buy a copy.

I hadn't thought about a podcast...you mean just me reading it aloud? or getting a cast of people to play the characters? with a narrator to fill in the details? I don't think I did. I would have to look at my contract, thank gods that it is only for seven years, LOL I should have the next one done by then. at this rate I'll be wildly popular after I die. well at least the kids will reap the benefits!

Actually I haven't really used the Twitter account much since the book came out way too many people were adding me just to add me and I don't like that. I can't afford the 120 bucks it would take to get four books and shipping.

I will look into wordpress and see what I can do. You have given me more in two posts than PA has done in almost a year.

Thank you!

You are very welcome. I've been checking this out for the last two years and been doing the work for my own novel once it's done. However, since I'm not done my book yet, I'm glad to be able to help someone who has. Even with the Big Six, Publishers are expecting authors to do more and more of the work themselves.

Another thing you can do (if you can buy a few copies of your books) is start finding book/geek cons in your area and start asking them if they'd like to have you there for a signing or for a reading.

That's another thing you can do with your local bookstores. Ask them if you can do a reading from the author at their location. Once again, copies of your books would be useful here.

And of course, check out Podcasting. Or for the correct term "Podio books". If you haven't sold your audio rights I believe that you can start recording yourself reading it, perhaps asking some of the other podcasters to do a few of the characters. You can find music on the free audio network (creative commons is a wonderful thing). It's a lot of work, but like I said, it'll get your name out there, as well as selling a few copies. You could also do contests, asking people to start mentioning your book and podcast. Perhaps taking a picture of themselves and their copy of the book to be entered in for a prize of $50 to Amazon or something.

Take a look on http://www.podiobooks.com/ . They have a lot of examples there and you can start seeing how popular they're becoming.

In particular, Philippa Ballantine is one of the best podcasters out there. Check out any of her novels for a great example of what you want yours to be like.

So, were any of my suggestions able to help you?