Publication - Speaking and Teaching

21 January 2012, Publication - Speaking and Teaching

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.  Gifts.
13.  Book signings.
14.  Book trailers
15.  ...

One of the best and most effective means to get out information about your writing and to sell your novels is through speaking and teaching.  You need to prep for this.  You need to be ready mentally and with material.  The most obvious material preparation is you need to have plenty of copies of your book to sell.  Any time you speak or teach, bring copies of your books and offer to sell them.  Second, you need to be able to actually sell your books.  You need the ability to sell your books and that means you need to be able to pay state taxes.  You can either get a license to sell, or if you have a friend with a license you can pay them.  The point is that you need to work this out.

Third, it isn't wise to under cut your publisher by much, but you should obviously make it advantageous for people to buy from you.  What I do is to charge one price for all the books.  My price is $15 per book.  I also offer a discount for the purchase of three books of $40.  Since I have three historical fiction novels and three science fiction novels, this makes a lot of sense.  I also pay the taxes from the total cost.  So basically, the cost of my books including tax is $15.  This way I make it simple for change and for sales.

I'll write more about speaking and teaching 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/.