Catherine Stine's IDEA CITY

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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Selling and Touring for Indie Authors, & Anyone Else Too!

There are so many possibilities for an indie author to try to get noticed, but what's the most effective? Will you do an ad? If so, how much will you spend? After all, once you've formatted your novel and paid a cover artist, you want to start selling and stop spending. You want this to be a good investment on top of being a great novel that you hope people love, right?
What's an indie author to do?
On Facebook, you can arrange for an ad, or on Goodreads. Some online review sites that don't review indies do sponsor indie book ads, often for very fair price. There are well-regarded sites like Kindle Nation Sponsorship, and new, unproven ad ops on many newish review sites. Some of the best book reviewers also sponsor small banner ads. I'm not against this, selling is that dirty "S" word that we all need to address in some fashion or ignore at one's peril.
Here's one that I think is pretty cool--Kindle Author, check it out here!

A book blog tour, which I'm about to embark on (MON, FEB 20), is a great way to spread the word and have fun doing it! The Blaze Through Winter on the Fireseed One Tour will be a month-long odyssey, into uncharted lands. I hope you'll follow me along on some of these stops! Book bloggers are such creative people. On the FEB 28th stop, The Magic Attic, my host suggested that I do a playlist for Fireseed One. It was awesome picking out futuristic cuts to go along with an imagined film score. My son, who's a drummer, worked with me on it. I've been playing it non-stop in my new CUBE (which is also futuristic-looks like a space pod). On Confessions of a Watery Tart, my lovely hostess suggested I reveal secret behind the scenes info, on Writer's Ally, I'll do an interview with Varik and his archenemy Marisa. Or are they... ? On Susan Kaye Quinn's site, I'll talk about new trends in YA sci-fi (as heard from an agent at the SCBWI Winter Conference), and on Donna Galanti's site I'll consider the YA thriller. On Wistful Nebulae, I'll discuss out-there "What if?" future plant hybrids, including the wild and wonderful Fireseed One--blood-red and five feet tall, with its unsettling swaying movement suggestive of a belly-dancer. What IS its genetic makeup anyway? And of course, I'll be slipping in some racy excerpts all along the tour, of the most fire and ice love relationship evvvver. Oh, and giveaways, lots of giveaways!

How was your book tour? Most cool moment?
What sales techniques have worked for you-or not? Your most interesting method of spreading the word?

10 comments:

  1. You have some exciting ideas for your tour. Have fun with it.

    I think on my last tour, the coolest moment was when a teen reviewer taped her younger sister and her talking about the book and posted it on YouTube. So cute.

    Good luck with your tour.

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  2. Looking forward to your tour. It sounds great!

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  3. Rad stuff on indie writing/publishing. Thanks! Groovy blog:)

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  4. Thanks, Mark! Happy to put the info out there.

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  5. Catherine, I tagged you on my blog. Stop by to see what to do now.
    http://kellyhashway.blogspot.com/2012/02/tag-im-it.html

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  6. Jenny, thanks, I hope you'll pop into the tour stops, here and there. My next post will link to all of the tour stops and what fun will transpire on each stop! Kelly, stopping by your site now.

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  7. Hi Catherine. You've been nominated for The Versatile Blogger Award. Please stop by my blog http://beverlystowemcclure.blogspot.com and pick up your award.

    Have a super weekend.

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