Publication - Advertising Ideas, Blogging Value

17 December 2011, Publication - Advertising Ideas, Blogging Value

Introduction: 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, and 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.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, go to my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

Here is the list of ideas for advertising--there are more and I'll add to the list as we go along.  I'm certainly not an expert in all these, but I've dabbled in all of them.  I'll try to relate my experience and the degree of that experience to you.

1.  Have a website for your novel.
2.  Write a blog.
3.  Advertise.
4.  Literary awards.
5.  Book cards.
6.  Contests.
7.  Interviews.
8.  Blog tours.
9.  Press releases.
10.  Speaking and teaching.
11.  e-mailing.
12.  ...

My chief purpose in blogging is every day to give something of value to my readers and visitors.  I'm trying to be informative and share ideas with the writing and reading community.  Most of these ideas and this information comes from my experience as a writer.  Some of it is unique but much of it is common knowledge gleaned through experience and working with others. 

The world today offers wonderfully greater information and available knowledge than any time in the past.  The fact that a simple search of the Internet can bring up disparate information and sources on a single topic is astounding.  The ability to check this information and the sources is very powerful too.  As I tell my students all the time, don't trust anyone's teaching or information until you check it out yourself.  If the teaching or information makes sense and can be validated to a reasonable degree, the data is good--use it.  If the opposite is true, don't trust it.

For my engineering students, I call this type of validation your spidey sense.  In engineering science, most everything is cut and dried--you can prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.  A good engineer needs to recognize when the decimal point is off a magnitude, or when the equation is off, or when their conclusions are not supported by their data.  That's the point of engineering after all and an error can result in people's deaths.

Writing is similar (not in terms of death), but remember, your readers all have their spidey sense going all the time.  They are looking for everything in your finely crafted world to make sense.  If it doesn't, they are out of your world and back to the world of their own.  So, in your blog and in your writing, give value and make certain you are correct--your readers will stick with you.

I'll write more about blogging tomorrow.

I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.