In a little over a week from now, you’ll be able to go to your favourite online bookstore and buy a copy of Going Back. There is a part of me which wants to think back to the very beginning of this process; to think about how I got here from there, but honestly, I don’t really have time. For example, while I’m updating my online presence in every way I can think of today, I’m also trying to think of ways to improve my press release, and generally coming up with nothing. Now, that may be a good thing; it’s possible that it really does say everything I want to say about the book, but I can’t shake the nagging feeling that there;s something else I want to put in there.
There’s a reason I chose this particular post title, though – getting it in stores, and therefore potentially in the hands of readers isn’t the end of this process; far from it. Getting this far is just the beginning. It’s written, it’s as good as I can make it; now somehow to spread the word and get people to read it. I have some thoughts on that process:
- Don’t give it away. I am a firm believer that people attach a value to things. If you give it away, however professional and polished it looks, your readers will value it less than if they had to pay for it. I don’t mind it being shared or lent (and of course, sold second-hand when that day comes) but I don’t think I should be saying “here, have a free copy”; I don’t think that’s the message I’m trying to get across.
- Make people want to buy it. I don’t really know how that’s going to work. I know it’s a good book; it looks like a good book; I’m happy with the blurb and the publicity package, but still…. This must be what everyone goes through, I suppose. It’s just that, with no experience of doing this, I don’t know if it’s going to work. I do know that publicising through Facebook has caused many hundreds of complete strangers to click on the ‘Like’ button, but that’s easy – not the same thing as buying a copy at all.
- Be shameless. At least, be shameless without being egregiously shameless. I post infrequently on a handful of sites around the web. Some of them I feel comfortable blowing my own trumpet on; others I’m happy to drop subtle hints and leave it just this side of polite. Otherwise, I’m all over every social media site I can think of, hoping that my tiny brass sound can at least be detected by others out there somewhere. I think I’m doing it right; time will tell.
There’s more to come this week, but for now, I’d like to leave you all with some buttons – click on them and see where they take you; it might be fun…
