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Showing results for tags 'promotion'.
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It's been years since the last time I wrote a story (I've written poems in between, however). There was this story fragment that started off with the main character trying to jump off Golden Gate Bridge, but it was never finished. It was very emotionally taxing to say the least, and the amount of research done on suicide eventually lead me to give up. My life experience just wasn't there, and my own emotional state wasn't the best either to carry on such stake. The story idea has been recycled, and that's the starting point of The Sojourner of San Francisco (final title TBA). The story will have twelve chapters. Each single-page chapter is called a Letter, and each letter will be accompanied by a couple of photos (which adds another page to each letter) to document Sojourner's one-year stay in San Francisco in the year 2019. It's a mix of fiction (the main story) and non-fiction (history of San Francisco, and political subtext). Since I am also the photographer, the travelogues accompanied the photos are largely non-fiction as well. The original Letter 01 started out by the shore of Golden Gate Bridge (suggesting the narrator survived the suicide), but that was scraped. The entire idea the narrator is a suicide survivor is very discreet in the new version (as well as main character's homosexuality, which leads to his depressed mental state). For the sake of story arc, the first two letters the narrator (Sojourner) wrote to his Perfect Stranger seem to have positive outlook of a new relationship. It's a slow burn story, but it'll dive into heavy subjects very quickly. It's a very delicate puzzle I am currently working on actually: how to deliver a slow burn story in just twelve pages? If I put on heavy subject way too early and for way too long a duration, readers will burn out and desensitized. The climax would appear to be very flat. That's not a good story arc.... My current plan is to deliver comic relieves in between, but given the word economy this story requires, that's the most difficult task. I am not a very good comedy writer either. The story will have three layers: travelogue layer (Sojourner's physical and mental journey), family relationship layer, romantic relationship layer, plus political events sprinkled throughout which will intertwine with Sojourner's story. It's mostly a coming-of-age story, but with a twist: it's an (older...) adult coming-of-age story. The narrator is more or less my age in his forties. I've written coming-of-age stories before, but not with such age group. I personally think it's easier to write a story for an age group that I can truly say "been there, done that." However, the more advanced age means more complex mental processing that's going on in the main character's mind. People's interaction becomes more indirect, problems no longer have a clear answer, way too many things are going on at once. The very compressed story reflects that (three layers after all...). On top of it, the story might mention some events from twenty plus years back.... Not that I have any choice, as this COVID-19 long break may be coming to an end soon, so I have to finish the story before I return to work or I'd probably have to put the project on hold. It's not a story I can write on spare time or over the weekend, because it's just too emotionally taxing and might affect my work performance. As with my other stories, there might be cameo appearance of Ashi (yours truly) in one form or another, and/or a cross-over character from another story. Just to make things more interesting. 😄
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You’ve done it! You’ve written your story and had it accepted for publication, or you’ve decided to self-publish. You’ve done more edits than you ever thought you’d had to, you’ve done proof reads, cover creation, blurb creation, and everything else you can think of. Your release date is set, so that means you’re done now, right? Wrong. There is still more work to be done. In an ideal writing world, you’d release your hard work into the world and everyone would find it. That’s really not how it works. You have to get the word out there, and there’s a majority of ways to do it. For this topic, let’s discuss blog tours. What they are, how you set them up, and everything that goes along with them. There are numerous blogs out there dedicated to helping get the word out about new books. You can go about setting up your blog tour in two ways. Hire Someone You can hire someone to do most of the legwork for you. There are people out there that have lists of the majority of blogs that are willing to host authors to get the word out about your books. For a first time published author, this is the route I’d suggest, because there may be a lot of blogs out there that you don’t know about, but they do. Many of them have a few options, but some of them are: Blog Tour: Generally a blog tour will span a length of time. We’ll say two weeks. The person/company you hired sends out an email to their list of blogs with a list of dates. The blogs then sign up to host you on that date, and says what kind of post they want to do. These can include: book review, spot light, exclusive excerpt, exclusive blog post, interview, etc. Some promotion companies charge by how many blogs you want to visit. You look at their prices and tell them the maximum you want to visit. Others just have a set fee. Either way, they coordinate your blog tour. So you’re done, right? Wrong again. We’ll go into what you have to do next here in a minute. Cover Reveal: Sometimes, you want to get the word out before the release day. You’ve held that beautifully created cover close to your heart and now it’s time to share it with the world. Just don’t do this too early. Sharing the cover of your story is a good way to get the buzz started. Typically you might do a cover reveal just a couple weeks, and up to a month, before release day. It all depends on if/when your story is available for Pre-Order. If your story will be available for pre-order, that’s typically when you’d do your cover reveal. If it’s not, then a couple weeks before the release date is usually good. A cover reveal typically will include: the cover, the blurb, author information, and sometimes where they will be able to purchase it. Release Day Tour: A release day tour is just like a blog tour, only it only spans one day. The official release day of your book. Do it Yourself Essentially, you’ll need to contact all the blogs you wish to appear on and request for them to host you. Some blogs only really take requests from promotion companies, while others also accept requests from the authors themselves. Blogs that accept author requests will generally have a form you can fill out. They’ll want to know: Details about your book to decide whether or not they want to host you. The date you would like to be hosted. Many have you pick multiple days and they’ll pick which one works best for them The type of blog post you’d like them to post: cover reveal, excerpt, book review Contact info Which is better, a blog tour or a release day tour? It’s personal preference, but I prefer a regular blog tour. If you go with a release day tour, then you flood all the blogs on the same day, whereas a regular blog tour, your name and book get attention over a longer period of time. With a release day tour, you get that one day and that’s it. What if someone missed the blog post that day? I personally think you reach more readers by doing, say, a two week blog tour. So, now that your blog tour dates are decided on and the blogs have all signed up for their day? What do you do next? It’s time to see what all those blogs want and deliver the information to either the blog itself or the person coordinating your blog tour. If you’ve hired someone, you’ll send them any graphics you want included in the blog tour. This will always include a cover, but might also include banners, an author photo, or other graphics you’ve created to go with your book. You’ll also look at each blog and provide the specific info they want, some of which are: Interviews - Some sites will send interview questions, either to you or your coordinating person, with a date that they need it back by. You go through and supply the required answers and return it. Exclusive Excerpt - You’ll have to go through your book and decide what excerpt you want to be exclusive to that blog and provide that in a word document Excerpt - Provide a decent sized excerpt, but be careful not to give all the blogs the exact same excerpt. I usually create at least 4 excerpts and then vary which one I send to each blog. Blog Post - You’ll need to pick some topics for blog posts. No two blogs should have the exact same blog post, so you’ll need a variety. It might be what inspired you for that book. Or if your book setting is in a bar, you might include a list of some of the specialty drinks in your book and how they’re made. Make these fun, but they should showcase something about your book. Book Review - You’ll have to provide these blogs with an ARC (Advanced Review Copy) of your book. Blogs will tell you which format they require in order to do a book review. Generally you want to have available a .pdf file, a .mobi file, and a .epub file. If you are going through a publisher, you will have to contact them for the ARC’s. A key note is to make sure you have a good variety. Here’s a few examples for book tours of either my books, or tours I’ve participated in: Cover Reveal: Cover Reveal: On Fire by Alicia Nordwell Interview: Blog Tour: Swift for the Sun by Karen Bovenmyer Blog Tour: Blog Tour: Separation by Louise Lyons Review: Review: No More Hiding by Renee Stevens | Joyfully Jay It's been a while since I've participated in any blog tours, so if I've forgotten anything, I'll update when I remember!
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Anthologies are a great way for you to promote your writing and show prospective new readers a sample of what you can do. While anthologies are short, they can give readers a sense of your style, and showcase your ability to craft a story. There is one way I can think of this could backfire. While it's great to step out of your norm once in a while, if you only do one anthology and it's a completely different style, genre, etc. than the rest of your work, it doesn't really showcase the majority of your work. I'd suggest to all authors, to participate in at least one anthology, preferably more, but do at least one that showcases your talent and gives readers a feel for what your stories are about.
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One of the most powerful things you can do to market yourself is just being active and engaged on the site. You are allowed to set your signature here: https://www.gayauthors.org/settings/signature/ Put one of your stories there. Now, go and participate in discussions on the site. And I don't mean going to a topic and saying "me too". Well, sometimes that fits, but don't be a wallflower. If you want people to go read something you wrote, then say something interesting and relevant to a topic. If people like what you say, then they might go looking for other stuff you've said or written. This is not a one-time thing. This is something that builds over time. So don't go out and make 15 posts in 15 different topics and then disappear for a month, and expect more people reading your story. It's far better to make 1 post every day for 15 days. Now, that great thing about this technique is that it is win-win-win. The site benefits from the activity. Other people benefit from the engaging conversation and you benefit by putting your stuff out there where others can see.
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I have added a new section "Image Tools" to the Writer's Resources page. https://gayauthors.org/writingresources/ One of the simple things you can do for your story is have a banner. There are lots of free tools out there to help you create it. There are also links to images you can use for inspiration. Reminder, if you use an image, you must have a license to do so so you don't run afoul of the copyright laws. You can search for Creative Common images or use your own or license images from photo stock images.