Sorry I've been absent for a while. I've got "a lot on" as the British might say. Not only am I in the middle of major revisions of Dead Sexy, the sequel to Tall, Dark &Dead but I also foolishly agreed to judge Mid-Michigan RWA's Happily Ever After romance contest for unpublished writers, *and* review an article for a scholarly journal about romance writers. Both of which just happen to be due in about twelve days (not the book, though, that's due at the end of May).
Also, I'm about a month out from the street date of Tall, Dark & Dead so I've been kind of in a promotional fever. I've been addressing postcards to independent bookstores, libraries, and the like. I've updated my website. Booked a few signing/reading gigs. Designed and submitted an ad for WisCON (a science fiction convention I'll be attending.) And generally running around like a chicken with my head cut off, "Book! Book! My book is coming out! Book!" (You can hear the chicken, right?)
If you've never hopped over to my web site -- www.tatehallaway.com, there is now also a rather long excerpt of Tall, Dark & Dead to whet your appetite. It's the entire first chapter. Enjoy.
I've done a lot of self-promotion over the years and I've always wonder what REALLY works. How do YOU decide to pick up a book? Is it through reviews? Meeting the author at a convention? Noticing an ad? Having your friendly, neighborhood bookstore clerk suggest a title? Browsing? What?
Okay, back to postcards addressing! Whee.
2 comments:
How do I decide to buy a book? Usually either someone will recommend it (either to me personally, or on their blog), or the title and/or cover will catch my eye at the bookstore, or it'll be linked to another book I'm looking at on Amazon.com. (I think that last was how I found your books from your Other Life.)
Also, I've read the excerpt that you posted, and now I must read more. I don't wanna wait a month; I want it to come out now. *whines*
Reviews are the biggest way a book gets on to my to-read list. I read SFSite, Rain Taxi, Strange Horizons, The Agony Column, and mumpsimus. I do look at the Locus New Books list, to see if something catches my eye, but it takes a lot to get my attention that way.
Liking what I hear at a reading will get a book on my list (and an impulse buy because I'll likely buy the book right there and then), but I don't go to readings as often as I should.
Those are my biggies. All the other methods you mentioned might add a book or two a year, but it's negligible compared to what I glean from the above sources.
Post a Comment