Heeby-Jeebies

I promised I would cover the entire process while I was going through it, so I’ll expand on that a bit today.  But first, what’s new…

I’m on the last chapter.  Yay!  My football teams sucks, (The Browns,) season over.  I know, don’t laugh.  It’s not funny, it’s just sad.  My dog Romeo is an attention whore and sometime’s I stop writing to oblige.  Okay, I do it a lot.  

Romeo, the attention whore

I know that sounds like procrastination, but I don’t see it that way.  My little breaks are mind refreshers.  I write when I have something to write, and when I turn from the page, it’s usually because I need a break.  Playing with my dog, getting a cup of coffee, or surfing the net are all fine distractions.  I also like a good game of solitaire to relax my mind.  So little breaks are perfectly fine, IMHO, the main key is ass planting.  Plant your ass in the chair and write, and don’t worry about the little breaks.

Another HUGE part of the process is marketing. 

Marketing.  The very word gives me the heeby-jeebies.  But I’ve decided that it is so important, that it is the most important part of the process next to the actual writing of the book.

As you may or may not know, when I started writing GERM LINE: REVOLUTION, my intent was to self-publish electronically.  It still is, though I am open to other avenues as well.  But I wanted to run this as an experiment for myself to see if it could become a viable source of income.  In other words, can I sell books on the internet and earn money? 

That’s the big question here.  Can I earn money?  I already believe I can write, or I wouldn’t be doing it, so is it viable as a business concern?

Like any business concern you need a product, plus relationships with vendors, employees and customers, and if you’re smart, effective marketing efforts.  Since we live in the digital age and this is a digital venture, my product and relationships and marketing efforts will, for the most part, be digital as well.

When I started the process, research revealed that I should begin marketing right away, so I designed a cover, (digitally of course).  That was my very first marketing move.  After all, the cover is the face of the franchise at this point.  The cover is what people will see first, and (hopefully) remember when they see it again.

There are a lot of cover designers out there, so suffice it to say you can get a cover made easily and relatively cheaply or even better, free.  Just do a search for “free book cover design” and companies like www.covercreator.net or www.diybookcovers.com will pop up.  You will need to decide if a template or particular stock photo appeals to your vision of the book.  Take your time, look around, the rest is easy.  If none of that works for you, you can hire to have it done, fairly inexpensively.  

I wanted free, and I couldn’t fine a template or photo that tripped my trigger, so I designed my own.  If you’re handy with Photoshop, or know someone who is, you can too.  The three dimensional version was done on a free template, and I created the background and married the cover to the template by first altering the perspective.  There are also plenty of companies that will allow you to make 3D versions, just google search “3d book cover template”.  

The intent of my design is to visually highlight the subject matter of genetic manipulation, as well as to convey the sense of a “Frankenstein” approach to building a perfect human.  Does it work?  Would you read the book based on the cover?  You tell me.

Germ Line: The Cover

The next step in building my self-publishing empire involved designing a logo and coming up with a name for my publishing company.  More on that later.  (Since I’m still in the free stage, the company hasn’t officially launched yet, so it’s all hush-hush for now.)

After that, I created a Facebook page, and began writing this blog.  I also began promoting the blog on Facebook and Twitter.  Hopefully, you are aware of all this.  If not, I’m doing something wrong.

I should note here that I have spent and will continue to spend hours scouring the web for ways to market frugally.  After all, with zero sales, my marketing budget is an appropriate percentage.  (To give credit where credit is due, and repay in some small way, I will attempt to provide you with the names and websites of those most useful, helpful and effective as they come up.)

One thing I did make sure to do was download the free ebook, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER BY Carolyn Howard-Johnson.  Sorry I’m not sure it’s still free but I advise getting it.  Buy it if necessary.  Lots, and lots of good information there. The Frugal Book Promoter

Marketing is tough.  Being heard above the noise it the hardest part.  Making an impression is even harder.  If you’ve read my last post, you know that the viewership numbers are sketchy at best. 

[Update: The counter I installed on the page after I wrote about it shows a current total of 2200+ views.  You can see it for yourself down at the bottom.  Also, the “real” Paige View count has gone up significantly since I began promoting it more aggressively.  And, I finally have a comment!  I held a contest for the first comment and our contest winner was Delali!  Congratulations on being the winner!]

Since I’m nearing the end of the first draft, I realized I need to amp up my Twitter presence in the hope of amping up interest in the book.  I began tweeting more vigorously and frequently, started following more relevant people, and my “Follows” have more than doubled.  From 79 to over 200, (There has also been a corresponding jump in blog page views, if you believe the counter,) and I’ve had several retweets and have been added to a handful of lists: DS_Scriggler/writers, IScriggle/scifi-and-fantasy-authors, sheaoliver/writing-about-scifi1, ppcorcoran/science-fiction1, ndrewHinkinson/writing, IndBk/writers.   Very cool!

This exposure I’m receiving in such a short period of time is fantastic, invaluable, and I cannot thank enough the individuals responsible.  I also need to give a shout out to the fine folks at www.scriggler.com and www.HappyMeBooks.com for helping me get the word out.  They’ve been promoting GERM LINE: REVOLUTION since they started reading my tweets.  Very cool.  I also want to mention www.EdgeKorp.com, @KKAllen_Author, @TBRList, @ReadersGazette, @CowboySciFiBot and anyone I may have missed for their retweets.  Much, much appreciated!  (I wish I could figure out how to like a retweet notification.  Help?)  Also, a major thank you to David at www.askdavid.com he offered and I took advantage of the ability to tweet to his 44,000+ followers.  He gave me free tweets, so thank you very much, David!  Awesome offer!

I started using www.Hootsuite.com to schedule my Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn posts.  It happens while I’m at work, and their free platform allows me to work with three social media sites.

My interest at this point, (beyond getting my numbers up,) is in establishing real, viable long term relationships with individuals and companies that can help promote the book effectively and economically, free whenever possible.  I’ve starting building a network of companies and individuals.  More on that later, it’s still in the very early stages, so stay tuned.  

I have listed the blog on Daypop & Popdex for what that may be worth.  I really have no idea.

Even though marketing and promotions are ongoing, I know I will eventually need to spend money to do this thing right.  Free promotion is great, and I hope to utilize that type of generosity whenever possible.  But there will be hard costs such as editing, formatting, printing, (I need at least a few hard copies,) publishing, and advertising & marketing.  I’m thinking I need a Kickstarter project to fund the launch.  So don’t say I didn’t warn you.

So that’s where I am.  I’ve just begun Marketing in the grand scheme of things, but I have begun.  There is much, much more to do as it’s a never ending process.  Right now, my focus is on perpetuating the book’s presence and continuing to write.  Finish.  Then rewrite.  I’m a ways down the road from actual publishing, but I won’t publish until both the book, my release campaign are ready to launch and I have funding in place.  And as of now, I’m not completely sure what that all entails.  I do know that I need a lot more people interested first.  It hasn’t costed a dime, so far, but I know it will.  So that is the question, isn’t it.  Can I make money, beyond the costs?

I’m very interested in reading your thoughts on all this, perhaps share your experiences or point out what I’m doing right and/or wrong.  TIA!