As most of you know, I usually reserve Fridays on the blog for a Weekend Writing Discussion.
Last Friday was a bit different, as I posted The Biggest Mistakes Writers Make When Querying Agents (not quite a writing discussion, but a darn good substitute).
Today, I want to go down a slightly different path yet again; this path, however, is less beneficial to you than last Friday's post.
Did I lose about half of you with that admission?
Stick with me. 71 seconds left.
Here is my quandry:
Two days ago, I received the edited version of The Great Lenore, which illuminated within my mind the fact that...hey, we're getting really close to the publication date!
In January, I'll get to see Jamie Keenan's book cover design. And by early-to-late February, the book will be available for pre-order.
On June 15th, The Great Lenore will be in bookstores.
What's the quandry?
We're short on time. I don't just mean the 83 seconds I told you this post would take. I mean, we're close to the release date of the book. And I want people to know that the book exists.
I have told you before that I will never tell anyone they will love my writing - maybe some people won't love my writing. Everyone has different tastes.
I will never tell anyone that they should buy my book.
My goal is only to let as many people as possible know that the book exists. My goal is for those who know the book exists to read the 6-page sample that I have made available, and to decide for themselves whether they like it or not.
The problem is: How to ensure that as many people as possible know the book exists!
There is only so much I can do to spread the word on my own.
I need your help, Dear Reader. What suggestions do you have? What grassroots-type ideas can you give me for helping to spread the word of the existence of The Great Lenore?
If you're feeling generous, you can help out right now by doing one simple thing: copy and paste the underlined words to your Twitter or facebook - You can save a writer's life with one click and 83 seconds of your time: http://bit.ly/hgnrui
That's an incredibly quick and easy way to pitch in; that will lead readers here...and hopefully, some of you will be feeling both generous and creative, and you can use the comments section to give me suggestions of ways by which we can continue to let people know, quite simply, that The Great Lenore exists.
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Time's up.
Click on Lenore to take a 6-page sample out for a spin.
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If you enjoy, please help by spreading the Lenore love to friends.
Play nice and share with others
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Posts
Robert Jordan convinced Tor to give away 2000 ARCS of "The Eye of the World" to bookstores and fans. Since then "The Wheel of Time" has gone on to sell 45 million books. Of course, the series will end with 14 novels, and Jordan had made a name for himself with the two or three Conan books he'd written.
ReplyDeleteThis idea might not work as well for a debut novel.
Brandon Sanderson has a portal on his website for his novel "Warbreaker." Here's a link to go directly to the portal http://bit.ly/fc5k2q . During the writing process of the novel he posted each draft on his site. Doing this he allowed his readers to see what the art of the craft was like for him. He has deleted scenes that never made it to the novel. He also has an annotations section. Basically that's like the director's commentary on a DVD.
I was thinking that possibly you could post an early version of "The Great Lenore" on your site. That would entail risks. Financially it might not be profitable. Maybe you'll feel like you're compromising the final draft. Personally I think it would be cool to see the evolution of the novel from early draft to masterpiece. If you get readers who are anal like me. They won't be satisfied with an early draft, and will want to buy the finished copy. That's what I did with "Warbreaker." I read the prologue and decided I wouldn't be satisfied reading a draft version only. I happily paid $7.99 for the paperback. I then went and wasted a few hours comparing draft to published version.
These are the first two ideas that popped into my head. I don't know if they're really helpful. Well, I know the first one isn't. The second is pretty unique. I don't know a lot of writers who do these like that. I figured it wouldn't hurt to throw the ideas out there regardless.
Interesting use of words. It's funny, to get myself writing sometimes I literally tell myself, "Do this. It will save your life."
ReplyDeleteGood luck with promotion! No tips, only wishes for happy things.
Hi, I've bunny-cyberhopped my way over here, from Bekah's Stories to Guinevere's This Is Not My Day Job blog. Nice to meet you! I've definitely bookmarked your agent query post, good stuff.
ReplyDeleteOoo, and I love these lines from The Great Lenore excerpt:
The Atlantic stretched out behind her like an angry black sheet. The rain chased itself into the water.
I am enchanted by the name Lenore (I use and collect unusual names, myself)! I write YA; I'm assuming your Lenore novel is adult? Anyway, howdy. ;o)
Carol - Thanks so much for the words. You are right: The Great Lenore is not YA - it is (one would say) mainstream literature - but I have noticed a swell in YA traffic due to the "Query Mistakes" post, and I'm thrilled to be able to help the YA writers who are toiling toward the same things every writer is toiling toward: Publication, An Audience, and The Dream Of Writing For A Living.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I wrote a post way back in February called "Why YA Lit Matters." Check it out if you'd like, and spread the link around if you think it might help anyone in their struggle to find their place in the Universe De Literature.
Here is the URL: http://www.jmtohline.com/2010/02/why-ya-lit-matters.html
Thanks for the linky! Yes, YA does matter, and amazingly, more adults are reading YA now than ever before. I definitely do, but then, I enjoy that group of literature--and I'm "researching" at the same time. LOL
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to let you know that I (like quite a few other people) stumbled across your blog while researching querying tips. (I liked your tips)
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I usually don't spend a lot of time reading blogs, it was either that or work on my synopsis. lol. So, of course, I ended up reading the first six pages of Lenore.
Very impressive. I love your use of language and--although the genre is far out of what I normally read and write--(another YA writer)I'm interested to see how the book turns out and I'll be picking up a copy when its released.
I'll also be posting your link on my facebook. As far as getting the word out, maybe you could host a first six pages blogfest? Generally you'll get a lot of people participating in stuff like that and that means a lot of people that will be reading those first pages you have up.
I also thought maybe you should host some sort of contest--word seems to get around on those. If you have a decent prize a lot of people will enter and there's more people that know about Lenore. Anyway, hopefully these ideas weren't too amateur, or things you have done before. I haven't looked around your site too much...
I did, however, notice that you're a fan of The Gunslinger Series. Those are some of my all time favorite books. You know they are making it into a movie? Anyway, this was rambling. haha. Sorry. Nice to "meet" you. Good luck with Lenore!!
P.S. I can find a million things on querying, but do you know of a resource for writing a good synopsis? Most of the ones I've found are just stating the basic how to's. They're pretty vague. Also, is a query way more important than a synopsis? Is that why there is so much more info. on them?
ReplyDeleteCallie - First off, thank you for the words, and for the ideas. You sparked some thoughts, which is awesome!
ReplyDeleteAs for you question regarding synopses, it could be different in the fields of YA Lit, but generally speaking, the synopsis is far less important than the query. This is simply because every agent requests a query. And only some agents request a synopsis. In fact, when I had 28 agents request The Great Lenore, I had maybe 2 or 3 who requested a synopsis along with the manuscript.
It definitely sucks that there are not more resources for writing a good synopsis, but I would say - if it's all you can find - take the basic "how to"s, and then just apply some good writing. As long as you write a great query, you should still be fine!
Thanks Jim...In that case, fingers crossed that my query is good! :)
ReplyDelete