How would you react if your publisher suddenly died and orphaned your series? Panic? Tears? Or would you follow the trend and republish the books yourself? Few publishers will consider a series after the third novel is published, so I resurrected my small press, which I operated years ago to feature fledgling authors.
I’m electronically challenged, but my husband learned to upload files for both ebooks and print editions. And, because the books were previously published, there was little editing to do. It wasn’t long before we had seven books online as well as local stores stocking them.
We have a temporary publishing website www.medallionbooks.com and plan to publish other writers’ work as well. Fortunately, I’ve served as a news, magazine and small press editor, and my husband does a good job designing book covers. We’re both bibliophiles with a large home library, so our love of books keeps us motivated.
The next problem is how to promote our books. With so much competition from more than a million ebooks, and thousands more published each day; we need to find ways to make our books stand out. But how to do that? Too many blurbs on Facebook and other social media sites only turn readers away. So how do you let readers know about your books on a limited budget?
Besides guest blogging at popular sites, I decided to take part in virtual book tours. I was asked to join the “Mystery We Write” Holiday Tour, which will run from November 25 until December 9. Fifteen mystery writers, including award-winning Tim Hallinan and Michael Orenduff, are taking part in the tour and we’ll be collectively giving away more than 60 mystery novels from our individual sites.
My own tour schedule is up at: /http://jeansblogtour.blogspot.com/ (as well as the other writers’ sites) and I’ll be giving away 14 ebooks, one each day of the tour to visitors who leave comments and screen names. I’ll also draw three additional names at the conclusion of the tour for print copies of my mystery novels.
The best part of blog tours is hearing from readers who stop to say hello and comment about our books. Having someone say, “My husband grabbed your book before I had a chance to read it,” really makes a writer’s day—an entire week even. So I hope you’ll have a look at my tour schedule and choose a number of the tour sites to visit. There’s a good chance you’ll win a great mystery novel (or two) and enjoy what we all have to say.
Before I close, I’d like to ask you, my visitors, how publishers attract your attention and what makes you decide to buy their books? I appreciate any comments you’d like to make.
Wishing you all the best holiday season ever!
In answer to your question: How publishers attract your attention and what makes you decide to buy their book?:
ReplyDeleteFirst glance is the title of the book, not the colour or the picture, but the actual title, I'll pick it up and turn it over, or open the cover to see what the synopsis is, that really has to catch my imagination. If it sounds interesting, or "my kind of book" then i'll buy it. But now that I'm reading ebooks, I still look for that title and synopsis, only I'll read it on the website where I get it. And to be honest, once I've started reading it, it has to really catch me in the beginning, it can't be slow, it has to really have a hook in the beginning.
Once I've read a first book, I will activly look for ANY book by that authur. And so far I've not been disappointed. I actually love most mysteries now, and I like when a bit of supernatural is thrown in, although it's not necessary. I like suspense, and the mystery, but if it's too easy to figure out, it gets boring.
Well that's about it from one person's perspective. Keep writing, I love it.
Thank you for your comments, 170426e-. I certainly appreciate them. Keep on reading. :)
ReplyDeleteWord-of-mouth gets my attention. If someone I know has read a book and enjoyed it, chances are I'll try it. Beyond that, anyplace I can find a description of the story. I've picked up a few books because of discussions on Goodreads. And a good title doesn't hurt.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your publishing business!
Thanks, Marja. I enjoy producing other writers' work. Now that publishing them is so much easier (and my creative husband's retired), I'll also have time to write my own. :)
ReplyDeleteRespectfully, I'd say that publishers don't grab my attention, books do. I would argue that readers might be loyal to authors but not to publishing houses. Maybe back in the day when a writer wrote for a single publisher for years, the situation might have been different. But now, with writer's jumping from one ship to another, the situation is much more complicated. One exception might be niche publishers. If a reader really wants young adult zombie romances, they might be keen to pay attention to the few houses that publish them.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Doonan
www.williamdoonan.com
We're splitting hairs here, William. :) I was just referring to what publishers can do to attract readers, i.e. book covers, promotional events, etc. Thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteFor print books, it's the cover that draws my attention first. Despite the adage one can't just a book by its cover, I'm ashamed to say it does! Ebooks are different. It's the author that makes me seek out a book on Amazon.
ReplyDelete