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Facebook page for THE QUEEN OF MAGES

Let the marketing juggernaut begin in earnest!

My first novel, which is nearly ready for publication, is titled THE QUEEN OF MAGES. I expect to publish it in the next couple of weeks, as soon as the cover art and final editing pass are both done.

For now, check out the (admittedly limited) Facebook page. And if you're willing, do me the grand favor of liking the page and sharing it to your friends. I guarantee it'll be worth the absolutely minuscule amount of effort it takes, or your money back*!

[sup]*[/sup]Since liking the Facebook page is free, that would be $0.
 

robertbevan

Troubadour
i really like those sketches on the cover and profile pictures. are those leading up to finished works? or are they going to remain just like that? either way could be cool.

good luck with this.
 
i really like those sketches on the cover and profile pictures. are those leading up to finished works? or are they going to remain just like that? either way could be cool.

good luck with this.

Those are sketches by the lovely and talented artist who's doing the cover. I don't have any other artwork to stick on there because, well, I have zero artistic ability myself :) It'll be replaced with art depicting the *actual* cover as soon as it's done.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I liked the page and you're a good guy, so I'll likely buy your book when it comes out if it's on Kindle. See, being a nice guy does pay off! Support your fellow Scribes!
 
I liked the page and you're a good guy, so I'll likely buy your book when it comes out if it's on Kindle. See, being a nice guy does pay off! Support your fellow Scribes!

In fact it'll probably only be on Kindle at first, and then I'll deal with putting it out for (at the very least) Nook and iBooks. Once it's actually available, then I need to go into serious hardcore marketing mode and beat the hell out of this thing until it becomes popular ;)
 

robertbevan

Troubadour
forgive me if i'm saying something you already know, but if you put if up on smashwords, they'll distribute it out to just about everything that isn't amazon. it takes a while though. i published mine nearly two months ago, and it only popped up on barnes and noble yesterday. i'm still waiting on kobo, apple, and the others.

just out of curiosity... what is your "serious hardcore marketing mode" going to involve? i put a link up on facebook once every time my book opens up on a new platform (for example, i posted yesterday because it went up on b&n), but beyond that, the only marketing i do is keeping links in my forum sigs. that's pretty much all i've thought of so far that straddles the line between making sure i'm visible and not annoying people.
 
Don't forget to start writing the next one, too. ;)

Looking forward to reading it!

Already started book 2 :D Well, story structure/planning and so on. Actual exploratory prose writing probably won't commence for a week or two.

forgive me if i'm saying something you already know, but if you put if up on smashwords, they'll distribute it out to just about everything that isn't amazon. it takes a while though. i published mine nearly two months ago, and it only popped up on barnes and noble yesterday. i'm still waiting on kobo, apple, and the others.

You know, I've looked into Smashwords a bit... it might suit me later on, but for now I want to keep things simple, so I'm going to stick with manually handling Kindle, Nook, and iBooks. Maybe later on I'll use Smashwords for other platforms, or for future books.

just out of curiosity... what is your "serious hardcore marketing mode" going to involve? i put a link up on facebook once every time my book opens up on a new platform (for example, i posted yesterday because it went up on b&n), but beyond that, the only marketing i do is keeping links in my forum sigs. that's pretty much all i've thought of so far that straddles the line between making sure i'm visible and not annoying people.

Any new information about what you're up to or what's going on with your work is something that can be part of a status update. If it's not more than once every few days I don't think most people would get annoyed, especially if it's something interesting. As far as what I'd actually post on the book's Facebook page, I'm not entirely certain, but obviously any announcements about availability, or anything else that can possibly be related to it. Cross-promoting with other authors is part of my plan as well. "Hey, you should also check out Soandso's book 'Sword of Eternal Destiny' on Amazon, it's a good read!" and so forth.

Aside from aperiodic Facebook updates and tweets to remind people who liked it but maybe haven't bought it yet, I'm going to continue writing on my blog and doing everything I can to promote the book individually -- "hand-selling" I believe is the term of art from the bookstore realm. I'm also planning on sending out free copies to a number of well-known names in geekdom (e.g. a friend of mine is sorta-kinda-friends with Wil Wheaton, for example) as well as a circle of friends and acquaintances who are into fantasy and, assuming they read it and like it, will probably help promote it (at least as far as Liking it and recommending it to friends of theirs who are into fantasy). I might go for a handful of dollars' worth of Facebook ads just to see if anyone bites.

I've also got $100 on AdWords ready to go as soon as the book's done. (Thanks for the free ad credit, Google!)

There's other avenues as well, such as getting involved with other communities who are fans of the same kind of fiction, and trying to promote the book among that crowd. I also considered printing up some business cards that are essentially just ads for the book, and then leaving them surreptitiously at Barnes and Nobles. ;)

It's going to be a lot of individual recommendation, and probably a lot of rejection, but that's okay. If you don't want to face rejection, don't be a writer.
 

JCFarnham

Auror
Liked.

The way I see it, having you pop up momentarily on my feed is worth it for Facebook redistributing that to my friends if they care to know (It still does that right? If not ... retweet time!). Hey! Free publicity is alway a good thing and the least I can do for a fellow Scribe.

I've already got a hell of a to read list going (ie, the majority of the works on my Kindle and at least two or three on my book shelf) but I'll certainly look into adding you to it when time (and money) allows.

Networking costs nothing and I'll do my best for you ;)

Not that anyone visits my blog haha but I've been thinking of doing a short review post tailored to helping out published Scribes members (trad or self, doesn't matter). How's that sound to you?
 
Last edited:
Liked.

The way I see it, having you pop up momentarily on my feed is worth it for Facebook redistributing that to my friends if they care to know (It still does that right? If not ... retweet time!). Hey! Free publicity is alway a good thing and the least I can do for a fellow Scribe.

I've already got a hell of a to read list going (ie, the majority of the works on my Kindle and at least two or three on my book shelf) but I'll certainly look into adding you to it when time (and money) allows.

Networking costs nothing and I'll do my best for you ;)

Much obliged :)

Not that anyone visits my blog haha but I've been thinking of doing a short review post tailored to helping out published Scribes members (trad or self, doesn't matter). How's that sound to you?

Sounds interesting. I shall begin perusing your blog as a matter of course!
 

JCFarnham

Auror
I can't say my blog is top notch.. but I do hand over the link with the caveat of it being my "sporadic thoughts".

Take that as you will ;) haha
 

ALB2012

Maester
Hi, looks good. I put a link on my recommendations page on facebook. Feel free to do the same:)
Dark Fantasy-Beyond the Storm | Facebook is my author page
Dark Fantasy- Beyond the Storm-Book Review and Recommendations | Facebook is the facebook page for recommendations from other authors and reviews. Feel free to put a link up there. I don't have a million followers but anything helps and they may share it.

I joined a load of fantasy and writers sites on facebook. Goodreads.com is excellent too, but you do need to get involved. I have to say I love your art work. I am intrigued as it bears a similarity plot wise with my books. Maybe great minds think alike:)

Oh if you put it on Amazon don't use the KDP select as you won't be able to put it on other platforms for 90 days, however you do get the free days if you want to use that. You don't have to use the select though. I assume you know this already.
If you want print on demand that is free to set up I use Lulu.com. It is free to set up and they quote you the price it would cost to print so you can decide what your mark up is. The forums are a bit harsh but Lulu themselves are fine. For free you get it in the Lulu catalogue and also on Amazon (although their mark up is pretty hefty so you end up needing to mark it high to make any come back.) If you pay the global reach fee I believe you get B and N and a few others too as POD.
You can put it as an e-book there as well, for B and N, I books and a couple of others however from what I see it is a little tricky to set up. Smashwords is apparently easier ;)

Goodreads I believe has a store and you can put your e-book there too but you might have to check that.

Good luck and I shall be looking into this:)
 
Hi, looks good. I put a link on my recommendations page on facebook. Feel free to do the same:)
Dark Fantasy-Beyond the Storm | Facebook is my author page
Dark Fantasy- Beyond the Storm-Book Review and Recommendations | Facebook is the facebook page for recommendations from other authors and reviews. Feel free to put a link up there. I don't have a million followers but anything helps and they may share it.

Will do!

I have to say I love your art work. I am intrigued as it bears a similarity plot wise with my books. Maybe great minds think alike

I didn't do the art myself (I have less than no artistic ability), it's a sketch from the artist I've contracted to create the cover art. Everyone seems to really like it, so I can't wait to show off the final cover when it's done :)

Oh if you put it on Amazon don't use the KDP select as you won't be able to put it on other platforms for 90 days, however you do get the free days if you want to use that. You don't have to use the select though. I assume you know this already.

Yeah, KDP Select didn't really sound like something I particularly wanted to do right off the bat. Maybe later. I dunno. I'd rather get some data on how other people fare with it.

If you want print on demand that is free to set up I use Lulu.com. It is free to set up and they quote you the price it would cost to print so you can decide what your mark up is. The forums are a bit harsh but Lulu themselves are fine. For free you get it in the Lulu catalogue and also on Amazon (although their mark up is pretty hefty so you end up needing to mark it high to make any come back.) If you pay the global reach fee I believe you get B and N and a few others too as POD.
You can put it as an e-book there as well, for B and N, I books and a couple of others however from what I see it is a little tricky to set up. Smashwords is apparently easier

I'm not currently planning on doing a physical print run of any kind, alas. Ebooks only for now. :)
 
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