It's official!
The culmination of years of work enjoyed 15 minutes of fame this week when I uploaded Spring Thaw as an ebook on Smashwords. What a tumultuous journey this has been.
As many of you know, the publishing industry has morphed over the past decade for both writers and their agents. The creation of the ebook and Amazon silently eroded the foundation of traditional publishing, slowly at first, but overtime the rivets grew, deteriorating businesses as well as marketing venues. Now, only a handful of viable retail options remain for writers. Because of this shift, publishing companies have tightened their belts, encouraging budding authors to have tens of thousands of followers before submitting a proposal. One editor stated that publishing a book use to move at the pace of a model T-ford, then it slowed to a John Deere tractor, now the process moves at the pace of a rickshaw.
So what's an author to do....pray. And so I did...I felt the Lord told me to wait. Fast forward weeks, and the answer came. I heard through a friend that The Multnomah County Library located in downtown Portland established a project for local writers. If anyone wished, they could upload their novel with Smashwords for selection. The library would add selected novels into their ebook data base which receives 1500 hits a day. I felt this was the answer for which I had been waiting, and so I naively began the process. Copying, pasting, deformatting, reformatting until, miraculously, last week it was done and uploaded for distribution. And so, breathing a sigh of relief, I sat and waited. Waited for what? I'm not sure. After years of focusing on the writing, I now stared in awe at the journey of marketing....and so it begins....here....and there... and everywhere.
And so my question goes out to you...any ideas where to market an ebook? My daughter-in-law, Mallory, mentioned posting pictures in coffee shops....great idea...happening soon. What about your ideas? I'd love to hear them.
As many of you know, the publishing industry has morphed over the past decade for both writers and their agents. The creation of the ebook and Amazon silently eroded the foundation of traditional publishing, slowly at first, but overtime the rivets grew, deteriorating businesses as well as marketing venues. Now, only a handful of viable retail options remain for writers. Because of this shift, publishing companies have tightened their belts, encouraging budding authors to have tens of thousands of followers before submitting a proposal. One editor stated that publishing a book use to move at the pace of a model T-ford, then it slowed to a John Deere tractor, now the process moves at the pace of a rickshaw.
So what's an author to do....pray. And so I did...I felt the Lord told me to wait. Fast forward weeks, and the answer came. I heard through a friend that The Multnomah County Library located in downtown Portland established a project for local writers. If anyone wished, they could upload their novel with Smashwords for selection. The library would add selected novels into their ebook data base which receives 1500 hits a day. I felt this was the answer for which I had been waiting, and so I naively began the process. Copying, pasting, deformatting, reformatting until, miraculously, last week it was done and uploaded for distribution. And so, breathing a sigh of relief, I sat and waited. Waited for what? I'm not sure. After years of focusing on the writing, I now stared in awe at the journey of marketing....and so it begins....here....and there... and everywhere.
And so my question goes out to you...any ideas where to market an ebook? My daughter-in-law, Mallory, mentioned posting pictures in coffee shops....great idea...happening soon. What about your ideas? I'd love to hear them.
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Ann
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Jan 06, 2016 06:39AM
Congratulations Tammy on your book. I have been marketing for over a year now and it is fun once you get into it. My husband did a book trailer, which you can see on my Goodreads page which helped. If you subscribe to Southern Writers magazine(you don't have to be from the South) then you can post your book trailer there. They also have a place you can post your book if you are a member. Doing a Goodreads giveaway is also good. Having a Facebook author page helps especially if people "like" it. Mine is at Ann Mock Author if you want to see what one looks like. Best wishes, Ann
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Ann, I wondered if you could suggest a reputable venue to create book markers? My graphic designer is working on the project, but neither one of us knows where to print them. Thank you for all of the wonderful marketing tips you sent my way.Tammy
