Marketing Materials - My Publisher

11 September 2011, Marketing Materials - My Publisher

I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little.  I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon, the working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel.  Over the last year, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing.  In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, the way I built the scenes.  You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published.  I'll keep you informed along the way.  At this moment, I'm showing you the marketing material I put together for a novel.

My publisher is OakTara.  From their website http://www.oaktara.com/:

"OakTara is passionate about creating a new market for inspirational books,especially with readers who may not traditionally enter a Christian bookstore but who avidly shop the Web. Our goal is to provide readers with something different, vibrant, and new—not “just the same old thing” that they’ve seen, time and again, from other inspirational publishers."

They published five of my novels Centurion, Aegypt, The End of Honor, The Fox's Honor, and A Season of Honor.  They have two of my other novels on contract Sister of Light and Sister of Darkness.  I continue to offer them first dibs on my novels.  So, when I finish writing a novel, I prepare the long and short forms, then I prepare the OakTara information.  That information follows.

Information needed for manuscripts submitted to OakTara

Date:  31 July 2011

Name:  L. D. Alford

Address:  1704 N. Cypress
City, State/Province, Country, Zip/Postal Code:  Wichita, KS  67206

Home and/or Work Phone (only in case needed):   (316) 636-9514

Email address:  pilotlion@aol.com

* Your personal information is considered confidential and for OakTara’s purposes only. It will not be distributed or sold to any third party.

Working Manuscript Title:  Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon

Genre:  Historical suspense

* e.g., allegory, biblical, contemporary, fantasy, futuristic, historical, mystery/suspense, romance, or science fiction

Plot Summary/Marketing Hook:

* 200 words or less. Here’s your chance to “sell” a reader on the plot of your book!

In November 1918, the young sorceress Lady Aksinya Andreiovna Golitsyna called the demon Asmodeus to protect her noble family from the Bolsheviks, but she was too late.  When Aksinya and Asmodeus arrived at the estate, her father and mother, brother and sister were already dead.  Unfortunately, Aksinya conjured a demon, whose only purpose was to aid her in accomplishing evil. 

With the demon at her side, the world for Aksinya becomes one of repeated temptation and fall.  The demon tempts her to call a servant, the Lady Natalya.  He tempts her to travel to Austria and to her relatives there.  He tempts her to sorcery.  He tempts her to take a lover.  Each of the temptations drives her deeper and deeper into the depths of evil and despair.

Asmodeus plans a destruction that will result in the end of Aksinya’s friends, acquaintances, and relatives—a much greater end to everything in her life than she could ever imagine. 

Aksinya wishes to be free from the demon, and she will give up almost everything to achieve that goal.  Will she be able to gain her freedom, and will she be able to face the results of that freedom?

Here is my commentary.  If you look carefully, this synopsis is a condensed version of the long form.  This is why I told you to begin with the long form.  You can easily go from a 500 to a 200 word synopsis.  You will find it very difficult to write a 200 word synopsis right off the bat.  At least it is difficult for me.  I find it easy to cut and hard to add.  If you can make a 200 from a 500 word synopsis, you can write a 100 word synopsis etc. 

There isn't much more to be said, except, if you are sending information on your manuscript to a publisher, you need to exactly follow their instructions.  They likely won't even take a look at a manuscript or a submittal in the wrong format.

You are selling yourself and your work.  That's in the next section.

Author bio:

* 200 words or less. Please include any previous publishing experience (title and publisher); professional credits (degrees, schooling, etc.); any personal experience that relates to plot/characters of this book; and your reason for writing this book. In addition, please let us know if you're planning any sequels of other titles in a series.

The finest escape in literature is an escape into a real and inviting culture—so asserts L. D. Alford a novelist who explores with originality those cultures and societies we think we already know.  He builds tales that uniquely explore the connections between events close and familiar and events of the past—he cleaves them together with threads of reality that bring the past alive.  L. D. Alford is familiar with technology and cultures—he earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Pacific Lutheran University, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University, and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Dayton. He is a graduate of Air War College, Air Command and Staff College, and the US Air Force Test Pilot School.  He is widely traveled and has spent long periods in Europe and Central America.  His writing includes over 40 technical articles, historical fiction novel The Second Mission published by Xulon, and historical fiction novels Centurion and Aegypt and science fiction novels, The End of Honor, and A Season of Honor published by Oaktara.  L. D. Alford is an author who combines intimate scientific and cultural knowledge into fiction worlds that breathe reality.

This is where you sell yourself.  Notice, it is the same bio I use on the long form.  For now, this is way I want to be know and build my market.  If my publisher wants me to change it or vary it--I shall.

The point is to please your publisher.

Tomorrow I'll write about how to use the marketing information in websites.