SIA Showcase for Readers and Writers discussion

Hi! I'm a brand new author. Just finished my first book yesterday. Now I have to figure out how promotion and marketing work. I feel vaguely like I should have focused on that a bit sooner...

My first book, Tille Madison vs Reality, is about Tillie Madison of the Reality Defense Agency. Think Men in Black, but with fewer aliens and more magic, monsters, and minor gods. And fewer men. And a much more liberal dress code. You know what? Forget Men in Black.

My editor thought this day would never come, and I certainly hope Tillie's next adventure doesn't take quite as long, but for now I'm enjoying the thrill of having my very own ASIN.

I'm also trying to figure out how to categorize my book. (Speaking of things I probably should have done before I finished the book!) It's set in present-day Dallas, Texas, for the very good reason that I live in present-day Dallas, Texas. There's crypto-zoology and some advanced technology, which suggests science fiction, but there's also a little bit of magic, and Tillie does communicate with an ancient mythological being via Skype, so maybe fantasy? At its heart, it's also a thriller: Tillie is marked for death from the opening pages. But science fiction readers might expect more science fiction than there is, and thriller readers might wonder where all of this "Reality Defense" stuff is coming from, so probably fantasy, right?

How about fantasy thriller?

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to the group PL! I have been getting a lot of help from the main SIA page for marketing. There are a lot of good forums on there to help you get started. I wish you luck with your books!

Hello PL and welcome aboard! Your book does sound interesting no matter where you decide to classify it.

Thank you all! I'm getting lost in paperback-formatting choices and options, but I have to stop every now and then and remind myself that this is good! The ebook is done!

I managed to get the book added to GoodReads!

Tillie Madison vs. Reality

Welcome, P.L.!

Hi PL, welcome from another Texan who likes blurring sci-fi and fantasy.

Thanks, Amanda and Christina!

Yay for Texas, Christina!

Welcome to the club. Best of luck!

Hellooo...

Welcome, and congrats on the first book, PL! Must feel hella good!!

Hugs,
Ann

Thanks, Dwayne and Annie!

It sure does, Annie! I just took down the wall of notes from this book, and already I'm thinking about starting a new wall of notes for the next book.

Hi PL, your books sounds like a hoot! Yeah, categorizing is sometimes tricky. Spy Fantasy... ish. contemporary fantasy with a thriller side. Good luck!

Thanks, Nat! I'm trying to get things lined up so I can send out some ebook ARCs, and then at least a couple of people can let me know if it's a hoot or not.

Feb 1 keeps getting closer, and here I've barely managed to get a website up and running last night!

http://www.plwinn.com/

Down to just a couple of days before launch, and I'm still trying to start up marketing efforts!

I posted this on my personal Instagram:


It turns out a friend runs a reasonably popular podcast that covers "paranormal fiction," so that seems like an interview possibility.

Fun! Exciting! Terrifying!

Exciting! I saw on the cover thread you were wondering about ARCs. The easiest thing, since you're going exclusively with Amazon, is to download the mobi file directly. You can do this on the page where you uploaded your manuscript. There should be an option to download a preview. This file you can send to kindle users and they'll be able to read.

Have you considered spec-fic as a category? It can often be a nice catch-all where things blur and there is dash of this, and a dash of that.

Sounds like a great idea, Rough Seas.

Thanks, Christina! I'm starting to come up with a list of who to send them to, which is the even-trickier part. :-)

My book launched last night in 13 countries!

Also, I created a sample .mobi for people who sign up for my mailing list.

I was pretty overwhelmed by the feeling of seeing my book automatically download to a kindle. Now I just need to figure out how to promote the mailing list at plwinn.com, and to whom I should send review copies!

Hi PL! I still like your cover!

Marketing? Marketing is hard work, that is no lie. Some of the best forms of marketing require you to have multiple books out so that you can capitalize on cross promotion and spillovers.

In other words, don't get to bogged down in it, the best marketing is to have a bigger library for people that like your work! :D

Also, we do promos as an entire group at SIAs. That is something to watch for, it always provides me with a boost!

I'm really basking in the feedback from my book right now. I keep hearing from friends and family who are telling me they had prepared to say something nice no matter what, but they're surprised to find out my first book is actually really good. Two people have told me I ought to shop it around to agents and pursue a "traditional" publisher, but I think ebooks are the future, so I'm gonna sit tight. (I'm pretty well-convinced by AuthorEarnings.com)

I've got a friend who publishes a new book every two months. My first book, it took me that long to produce the first draft, and then another nine months to publish the fifth draft. I don't think I'll ever be able to publish six books a year, but I would like to spend less than 11 months on this next book!

Question: How many rounds of editing drafts do you guys go through? With beta readers, editors, self-editing, etc, is five crazy-high? Crazy-low? Pretty normal?

Pretty normal. Then you send it to your editor and beta readers and you get to have all the fun of rewrites and corrections.

Welcome to the madhouse.

What's sad is that even after my editor put in two rounds, and beta readers put in two rounds, my published book is still missing an "s" in chapter one, and an "it" about halfway through. Those corrections came from purchasers. Doh!

Hi PL! Everyone has a different method, but my first book took over a year from the time I finished the first draft to the time it was published and there were still mistakes that got through. Another book took me three months from start to finish. I tend to do a first draft, then a deep rewrite for plot, another for grammar, and then all the rest are proofreading. But if it takes you one or 100, it's all good.

By the way, I'll be reading soon. Your first review says it's similar to the work of Robert Aspirin, who is one of my favorites and definitely an inspiratiin for my own sillier works. :)

Wow, I just found out that my book is going to be included in the March/April issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction, in Charles de Lint's "Books To Look For" column! I'm overwhelmed!

Nice! Good job!

How cool! Congrats!

Thanks, Dwayne and Christina! I still can hardly believe it!

That is really impressive; nice job!

P.L. wrote: "Wow, I just found out that my book is going to be included in the March/April issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction, in Charles de Lint's "Books To Look For" column! I'm overwhelmed!"

Nice! *Pops the champagne cork* :)

Thank you, TR and JC! Champagne sounds really nice. It's late enough in the day that I should definitely celebrate. I mean, anytime after 12:01am is late enough for that, right? :)

P.L. wrote: "Thank you, TR and JC! Champagne sounds really nice. It's late enough in the day that I should definitely celebrate. I mean, anytime after 12:01am is late enough for that, right? :)"

Well, if you look at it globally, it's got to be happy hour somewhere :)

P.L. wrote: "Wow, I just found out that my book is going to be included in the March/April issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction, in Charles de Lint's "Books To Look For" column! I'm overwhelmed!"

Whoa, that's legit!! Congratulations!

Celebratory hugsss,
Ann

Thank you, Ann! Hugs back!

I like the way you think, JC! I'm going to go out for drinks with a friend right now!

*hops in doing congratulatory jig, leaves basket of goodies and hops out*

I'm doing a live interview in a couple of hours. Details here: http://www.americas-most-haunted.com/...

This might be interesting!

Congrats, P.L. on your book and your live interview!

Thank you, Angel!

Hi, P.L! I'm at work so I'm not sure if I can make the interview, but good luck and have fun! :)

Congrats on the interview!

Sadly, I was in bed.

Hugs anyway

So that went slightly weird, but I guess I should have expected that on a podcast dedicated to UFOs and demonic serial killers?

Anyway, the interview is now up here: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/after...

My segment starts after 1:05:45 and lasts about 50 minutes.

Thanks to Lyra and Madeline and Jane!

I'm much less prepared for book two than I was for book one, but I'm not sure how much all that preparation gained me. I'm starting book two with a rougher outline, and we'll see how it goes.

Then, after starting the book on Monday, I'm starting a major diet change on Wednesday, so... maybe those chapter will be naturally grumpier? I guess we'll see!

P.L. wrote: "I'm much less prepared for book two than I was for book one, but I'm not sure how much all that preparation gained me. I'm starting book two with a rougher outline, and we'll see how it goes.

Then..."

It'll all be glorious. Trust me!

Thank you, Jane! I've managed to put down words two days in a row, so that's good. I've got second-book jitters--what if I'm spending too long introducing characters my readers already know? what if I'm using the same words I used to introduce them last time?--but I'm pressing on!

Ah, PL!!! you're staling! Don't even think about that. Write your story as it comes. Once you are done, it will be time to check the new introduction is the same or not and change it if it is. The important thing right now is that you write it and get it out of your system. STOP PROCRASTINATING!!!!! No but seriously. Nothing is written in stones. You can go back and change it so why let yourself being bogged down with it NOW?
GO GO GO!! Write!!!!!!

Writing proceeds! I've set a daily minimum goal of 500 words. That's not a lot, and some days last time around I wrote more than 2000 words, but 500 words a day for 160 days would give me an 80,000-word novel.

So far I'm averaging 591 words/day, and I haven't skipped a day yet, which is also a big improvement over last time! For the first book, I ended up skipping 20% of the time, although I finished with a 20-day streak.

Most importantly, I'm pretty happy with the story so far. I think it's shaping up to be a great one. :)