Alright, so down to business then. I have found that the hardest thing to figure out the approach to with self-publishing, especially self-publishing an ebook where I don't have a physical item I can show and force upon people unrelentingly, is the promotional part. Word of mouth is always a good place to start, and I've had a lot of people help me out with that by mentioning my book to their friends and family members. Online is a great source too, though I don't think I've had as much success with that yet, but that doesn't mean it won't pan out over time.
The thing I've been working on lately, and subsequently the thing I was working on yesterday, is a form of physical advertising. I'd love to do a press release sometime, but I'll be honest in that I have to figure that sort of stuff out a bit better on how to set something like that up on my own. Perhaps that will be a future post, as I've been doing a lot of this as I go and found what works and what doesn't for me. However, in the meantime I've decided to do a sort of business card approach to my advertising.
No, I'm not going out to smooze about in bookstores handing out my card to random shoppers and whispering 'buy it online'. I'm pretty sure I'd probably get kicked out of the bookstore, and seeing as I love those places I'd be disappointed about not being allowed back. What I'm going to try is something that my father does with his business where you make cards that advertise you and leave them at places that allow you to post them. Going to a college I have some access to the bulletin boards there, and I'll see if some local places nearby allow postings. Now obviously I'm not the first one to think of this (just do a Google search, and you'll find places offering the same or similar thing), but I'm trying to do a DIY approach to all this. I'm going to be doing the art and then printing them myself, and doing my best to distribute them myself.
What I'm making will essentially be like postcards with the front designed to draw attention while the back has information for my book, what platforms its available for (only kindle for a bit, but later on I'll probably make it available for others), and the link to this blog for more information about me. It's a bit old school, but I want to try to get my name out there so that people will be interested in my book (and in the future; books). I have two of these done so far, at least for the fronts, and I'm focusing one card per main character from Gabriel.
I'm sure I'll think of more things as time goes on, and as I get more interest the word of mouth will spread more as well. A lot of promotion is getting your name out there and getting people interested. The best way to do that is try and keep trying.
Below are the two images I have done so far using my tablet and photoshop. Everything was done by hand, and granted I don't do art on a regular basis (at least not anymore as I did once get a degree in the art field) but I'm doing my best to make them polished looking and be something that will catch attention. Only time will tell, but what's the harm in trying?
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| Blaise Promo Card |
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| Leo Promo Card |
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