I’ve been emailing a lot of book bloggers asking if they’d review my book. Since my current marketing budget is a whopping $0.00 (unemployed for 3 months, remember?) the options to get Better Than This out there is limited, but I HAVE gotten a lot of positive responses. 😊 Actually, I’ve gotten more responses than I thought which is 1) shocking and 2) extremely shocking since I didn’t get the same reaction when I did this for Arizal Wars. I don’t know if it’s the genre or the story or what but people are ACTUALLY EMAILING ME BACK which means I have to be doing something right—right?
Part of it makes me nervous. I’m asking people—people I’ve never met—to look at something from my brain and rate it. Rate it on the internet for EVERYONE to see. When I think of it this way, I shake my head and say no, no, no and ridicule myself for imagining something so scary. (I try not to do this.) Instead, I try to think of it as the humble beginning to building my (hopefully loyal and supportive) fanbase. That sounds way better.
Maybe once the paychecks start rolling in or I win the lottery or become the Duchess of Sussex, I’ll do one of those professional marketing tour things. They make sense and sound like a good strategy, but I planned three releases this year on a non-existent budget, so I’m going straight to the source. Reaching out to the readers directly because 1) it is literally FREE and 2) cultivating an authentic fanbase sounds like the first block in any successful author platform. 🙂
Now that that’s decided, onto the optional IWSG Question!
What’s harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names?
I don’t really come up with either—they’re just in my head. It’s like I look to my muse and she goes, “oh, you need that information now?” and boom. I have it. But, I think it takes longer for her to hand me the book titles. On average 😊
Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) is a monthly blog hop for writers at all levels to share their fears and insecurities in a safe and encouraging place. Please drop by and say hi to Alex Cavanaugh who started this nifty concept in bringing us all together.
Woot! I’m glad to hear you’re getting a good response from your inquiries! Looking forward to seeing those reviews. 🙂
God, me too. *good reviews hopefully*
I feel your pain on getting early reviews for your new book. I’ll be going through same process in a month or two for my murder mystery. Regarding the blog prompt, I don’t have a muse to offer titles and names, more like a gremlin in my gut (that sounds bad). Anyway, coming up with character names and title is a gut feel for me. Characters are much easier. I know right away if I will like them.
Good luck with your murder mystery release!
I think it is a gremlin in your gut (awesome imagery!) and you just got to trust it, ya know?
That’s awesome that your brain supplies that information at the right time!
Readers are always the right source! Don’t pay for marketing! I have a few times and I have usually regretted it. The best marketing I have done at all has been with groups of authors – for FREE. It actually has a bigger reach.
That’s what I’m thinking!
You can actually do a blog tour for free if you put the work in yourself finding hosts. I did a two week on one a few years ago on my own – I initially paid someone to do a week’s worth of it and I did the other week, but the person I paid flaked and I had to get my money back (which I did) and find all new hosts myself. As I said, it can be done, it just takes time.
And yay! I haven;t ever done the “mail reviewer” thing. You’re probably doing better because contemporary romance sells WAAAAY more than fantasy 😉
That sucks about that person flaking. Yeah, I think I’m going to do that – my own tour (and I’m winking at you for a stop, lady 😉 )
I don’t know… a lot of the “about me” sections mention them liking fantasy. Of course, that’s in my narrowed search of “YA” but still, I see a lot of it.
P.S.- Thank you for that fabulous review! You rock!! I can’t wait for you to read the second…and then the last… I want you to squee with me NOW. 😉
I can always read it early… *cough*cough* lol!!
Oh and yes! Of course you can drop by the blog! When you start organizing let me know and I’ll advertise you around, too!
I’m not blogging much these days but I do a mean Twitter. Just shoot me some links and tweets when you’re ready and I’d be glad to tweet for you.
Thanks, Gwen! I appreciate it!
Some of the book blogger sites are used to getting emails from authors and publishers they don’t know. If you’re getting a great response, then it must be your book!
Geez, I hope so. Either that, or all those pennies in fountains have finally caught back up 🙂
Look at you talking about multiple releases, “authentic fanbases” and author platforms. Good for you for making stuff happen and thinking like a “professional” writer.
Lately all my writing amounts to is me asking “where the fuck is my laptop?”
It all starts with the right jargon 😉
Yeah, knowing where the laptop is is kind of important.