Live!
Shikaree is officially live and available for purchase! Has been for about a week now. You'd think that might take some weight off my shoulders, but it really does not. I'm at the hardest part of the process right now: getting people interested enough to read the thing.
Has not been a lot of movement in the first week. That really is to be expected, though, as I've got hardly a lick of presence in the literature world. This first week has been a matter of creating social media posts to garner eyes. That takes the form of things like pestering immediate friends and family through Facebook posts, offering free review copies on social platforms like Imgur, and hunting down review groups willing to take a new soul into the fold.
This part of the process is probably what feels the most like work. I have a particular distaste for social media in a general sense. The fact that I chronicle my thoughts here (somewhat) consistently is nothing short of a miracle. Wading into cesspits like Facebook feels like... well, I guess that's a pretty apt description without more qualifiers.
Regardless of my distaste for these platforms, this part of the process is second in importance only to actually producing the material. Getting attention on these platforms is what will make or break 'Shikaree'. That attention (hopefully) turns to reviews. Those reviews bump engagement, thus (again hopefully) getting more people interested enough to read and review. It's a part of the process from which I CANNOT get discouraged. No matter how much I'd rather just hope and pray 'Shikaree' can carry itself on its own merits. That's just not how the system works.
For now, I just have to take deep breaths and let people read. I've handed out a healthy batch of copies for free review. There are people who downloaded through NetGalley that need a tap on the shoulder. All in all, 'Shikaree' is not a short book. Most people are going to need more than a week to read and drop their review (if they manage to finish the book at all). I probably won't seen many (if any) reviews pop up in the wild until near the end of October. Here's to hoping my nerves can survive the wait.
Toodles.
Has not been a lot of movement in the first week. That really is to be expected, though, as I've got hardly a lick of presence in the literature world. This first week has been a matter of creating social media posts to garner eyes. That takes the form of things like pestering immediate friends and family through Facebook posts, offering free review copies on social platforms like Imgur, and hunting down review groups willing to take a new soul into the fold.
This part of the process is probably what feels the most like work. I have a particular distaste for social media in a general sense. The fact that I chronicle my thoughts here (somewhat) consistently is nothing short of a miracle. Wading into cesspits like Facebook feels like... well, I guess that's a pretty apt description without more qualifiers.
Regardless of my distaste for these platforms, this part of the process is second in importance only to actually producing the material. Getting attention on these platforms is what will make or break 'Shikaree'. That attention (hopefully) turns to reviews. Those reviews bump engagement, thus (again hopefully) getting more people interested enough to read and review. It's a part of the process from which I CANNOT get discouraged. No matter how much I'd rather just hope and pray 'Shikaree' can carry itself on its own merits. That's just not how the system works.
For now, I just have to take deep breaths and let people read. I've handed out a healthy batch of copies for free review. There are people who downloaded through NetGalley that need a tap on the shoulder. All in all, 'Shikaree' is not a short book. Most people are going to need more than a week to read and drop their review (if they manage to finish the book at all). I probably won't seen many (if any) reviews pop up in the wild until near the end of October. Here's to hoping my nerves can survive the wait.
Toodles.
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