Commence Begging Sequence in 3, 2, 1…
After a year and a half of hiatus due to unexpectedly major surgery and its accompanying recovery time, I’m back in the proverbial writing saddle and things are off and running on the new book front. I’ve got a release date for the new book (July 3, 2017), I’m working on my marketing plan, and I’ve signed up for ThrillerFest in NYC as a reward for surviving yet another book release.
I have to say, just between you, me, and the Internet, that releasing a book is such a shocking amount of work. You’d think that writing the book or even landing the publisher would be the hard part, but you’d be wrong. Don’t get me wrong, pitching publishers and agents is no picnic (see this post from way back when I had to resort to turning into The Dude in order to cope with the stress of querying), but what no one tells you is that, once you have a publishing contract, that’s where the real work starts!
Never mind content and line edits, the heavy lifting comes in the form of marketing and promotion. Ugh. Promotion. The thing no author likes doing and yet the one thing we’re all required to do.
Part of that dreaded promotion work involves begging. Specifically, begging for reviews. Reviews are as essential to an author’s success as book sales, and they’re elusive. I can’t tell you how many people have taken the time to write lovely Facebook posts or emails letting me know how much they enjoy my work, but I can’t exactly copy/paste those emails onto Amazon so no one else ever gets to know how much so-and-so liked my books.
So here’s where I start begging you, sweet readers. Have you read Blood Money or Bai Tide? No? Then may I interest you in a list of links where you can buy said books? If you’re here, then you like my writing. If you like my writing, you’ll love my books because my books have been painstakingly edited to perfection. Please do pop over to any of these fine sites and find yourself something entertaining to read.
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Goodreads
Library (What? The library? Yes, your local library. If you don’t feel like buying my books {it’s okay, I’m not offended} but you still want to read them, just ask your library to buy them! It’s pretty easy and then, if you like what you read, you can still leave a review on Amazon or something when you’re done!)
Have you already bought and read a copy of my books? Splendid! Fantastic! Hooray! Will you please consider writing a review on the site you bought it from? It would help me out bunches and also make me really, really happy. Like, this happy:
And if you’re one of those incredible people who’s not only bought my books, but also left a review? Well, you are just top-notch and I appreciate the crap out of you. You’re awesome! Kitten high-fives for you all the livelong day!
