Sunday, August 22, 2010

Tactical Switch in Kindle Book Promo?

I’m seeing a trend!

Actually, I'm more than a little slow, because the trend has been around for a decade or two. What most readers are reading! Anything fantasy and noir, from horror, to thrillers, to vampires (noir fantasy). Since the Ann Rice explosion in the 1990s, this seems to be what readers clamor for. My friend and prolific author Michael Sims did a successful tour earlier this year for his new book Dracula’s Guest (He’s always in on the cutting edge). Another friend, Sallie Bissell has had good success with her thrillers.

The advent of eBooks has made the abundance of these genres even greater. I know these are the subjects most of the authors on Kindle boards and other forums are writing and promoting. These are what the best-selling eBook authors offer. Romances are always in the mix, of course, although I’m seeing more Paranormal (think vampire) Romance titles. That puts those of us who don't write these genres in the same boat we were in before the electronic "revolution"—up the promo creek without a sales paddle.

I think I'll try a tactical switch and rework the tags and the promo on a couple of books to include words like haunt, ghostly, dark reality or disembodied, and the expected paranormal. How's this for a new Blood and Bond description?
Eddie CloudRunner has been living a relatively normal life, until the dark specter of a dead relative begins dogging his every step. He experiences paranormal knowledge about the lives of several new arrivals in his community of Lamp Creek. Add to this the dark reality of deadly environmental changes in the valley, and Eddie is compelled to venture into spiritual depths he has avoided for decades....
Of course, now the cover isn't creepy enough. Or maybe this for Child of the Mist:
After the death of her father, Juilan Pranss lands employment that takes her off planet—for the first time. She immediately begins having strange dreams that continue, even after Rodrig Ferstan kidnaps her. She is fearful she has been possessed; she can't stop the visions, even when awake. And some are terrifying. Once she is rescued from Ferstan, her benefactor, Trenner Cerambac, promises to help her with these mental anomalies. But Juilan also learns that a economically-powerful, sadistic psychopath is stalking her every move, waiting to capture her so he can become omnipotent ruler of the culture.

Ach! This is so beyond the way I think! But every word I've written is a crucial element of each of these stories. Maybe I'll try these out on the Kindle edition descriptions—see what happens.

Ah, the writer’s life. (sigh)

1 comment on original post:

D. Nathan Hilliard said...
I hate promotion. The hardest thing in the whole writing business for me is writing that little blurb that people read on Amazon.com when checking out my book.

I want to write the book...not sell it. Well, I want it to sell, but I just don't want to be that involved in the process. But that ain't the way this game works.

So it's literally like changing hats, and changing thought processes.And getting into the groove of one takes you out of the groove of the other.

Add more comments!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Blood and Bond - Interviews and Interaction


I've taken advantage of several online promotion sites with Interviews. The book I tabbed for promotion is Blood and Bond, my only contemporary novel.

At Hello Kruel, Kruel World my short Q&A was put up on 28 July. I keep a watch on this blog, and have followed up on some interesting titles. Same is true with The Indie Spotlight, which ran a longer Blood and Bond interview today.

There are many different sites around for reviews, interviews and interaction. Most are free, but the key (as with most promotional efforts) is finding the right one and making contact. They don't invite you; you have to ask to be invited.

It's best to read the site a few times before you decide to solicit their interest. I found many that are genre specific, and not my genre (if I have one). Even if they had been willing to post an interview, their readers would have wondered why.

I'll watch the stats to see if interest in Blood and Bond increases.