One of the most important and difficult things (at least at this point in time) about the e-publishing game is what I fundamentally see as utterly shameless self promotion. Such as trying to promote this blog.
Mohammad Ali loved to promote himself. Me, I was raised to believe that you’re not supposed to talk about yourself; that decent, modest human beings enter into conversations with others to draw them out. To make them feel comfortable and not to blather on endlessly about ourselves.
Sometime in the last 10 or 15 years this etiquette of personal humility flew out the window and an enormously large, self-important bird of personal praise cruised in and kicked humility off its perch.
But the times are different now – especially for writers accustomed to being cloistered away in their studies, only emerging to hand over the manuscript, get notes from the editor and then scuttle back into the study and lock the door.
Since the good ship Publishing Company (the one with the deep pockets that handed out advances and had a fleet of editors, plus mega publicity and promotions departments) struck the rocks, most writers are now expected to shill promote their own work.
This is my promotional plan thus far. I want to spend the next seven months preparing for the launch of Night Town. I want a lick your lips, anticipatory build up such as the world has never seen. Do you think I should link to FB and Twitter on my blog page or is that overkill?
I’m going to post excerpts from the book within the blog, podcast small, yet riveting passages of Night Town that will have you twisting like a junkie on day two of a detox begging for more, and host small get-togethers in pubs for readings.
Now what else…What would you advise?
How about me dangling off the top of the CN Tower with a megaphone bellowing about the book?
Too much? You tell me. We’re on this journey together and I intend for it to be one heck of a ride. Oh and BTW, have you told your friends to link to my blog yet? All they have to do is type their name into the newspaper in the dog’s mouth.
Thanks CB
What about a walking tour pub crawl taking fans through some of the fictional hoods depicted in the novel? Might be cool to see how some of the mean streets have mellowed over the decades while recapturing the dark days afterwards during a reading at a local tavern….APB
I never thought of doing a tour through the old haunts. Too bad Edgertons and Bimbos are gone, but the Zanzibar, Pilot and The Rex are still there. Ah if only we could resurrect the ghosts of A&A Records and Sam the Record Man.And of course The Gasworks and Quest (a gay bar up on Yonge.) And The Barn, where Jo-Jo’s disco used to be, was just closed about a month ago after all of those years of operation. Indeed, I think that’s a fine idea Archibald. Plus folks could see what a vast change Toronto has gone through in even just the last decade. Do you ever go by Archie?
Absolutely take advantage of social media to beat the drums but trust that the work is enough to entice when you post the excerpts. Take the time to educate your readers about the era the novel is set in to help set the mood for the literary experience. Especially for the younger audience who may not realize the importance of a payphone location or the lack of instant messaging in the 70′s.
People love swag, give aways. Maybe you could arrange with a tech company to give away e-readers??
Will you also be doing readings at book stores??
That is all I can think of for now.
Sue
Hey Sue,
There would have to be something that a potential reader did to win the ereader. Do you think that if I could get my hands on a bunch of Playbooks or Sony Readers that people would drive traffic to my blog? To get a Playbook how many people would the potential winner need to sign up?
I guess the real deal would be to get them to stay. Which, btw, any feedback folks on the content? That’s the whole point of this is for all of us to talk about publishing and selling in this new manner. Thanks Sue
Cathi wrote: “Me, I was raised to believe that you’re not supposed to talk about yourself; that decent, modest human beings enter into conversations with others to draw them out.”
– Reading your blog, I do not get the feeling that you are talking about your “self.” You are talking about the book industry, about writing, about publishing. You are using your own experiences and journey as an entrance into the conversation. You lose your audience if your discussion is boring or self-absorbed. It isn’t. In addition you draw out others by inviting their comments. Your fan, Lil
Thanks Lil! That’s what I’m trying to do. You know I really do believe this is going to be the future model, because there isn’t even a single atom in my entire being that thinks that people don’t read anymore. It’s all about the conduit. I might be way too early and I do think that e-readers will have to get better. Like Greg said. But technology moves at such a lightning pace. I am curious to get my hands on the new Kindle. But I just got my old Kindle at Xmas so I guess some self restraint is in order.