Thursday, January 11, 2018

Another Year, Another Book, a Whole New World of Self-Promotion



Donis here,  kicking off my new year. My tenth Alafair Tucker Mystery, Forty Dead Men, will hit the streets on February 6, 2018. You can pre-order here. I am particularly proud of this book, which deals with the psychological effects of warfare on a veteran of the First World War. They called it shell shock back then. Now we call it PTSD. The early reviews have been stellar. Publishers’ Weekly starred review of Forty Dead Men says “Casey expertly nails the extended Tucker family—some 20 people—and combines these convincing characters, a superb sense of time and place, and a solid plot in this marvelously atmospheric historical.”

The official launch party for Forty Dead Men will be at Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona, on February 24 at 2:00 p.m., when Poisoned Pen Press hosts Yours Truly, Dennis Palumbo (signing Head Wounds, A Daniel Rinaldi Mystery) and Priscilla Royal (signing Wild Justice, A Medieval Mystery) for a three author signing party! We will also be remembering another wonderful Poisoned Pen author, Fred Ramsay, who passed away late last year.

Trying to publicize a new book is a new adventure for me every time. Forty Dead Men is my tenth book in almost thirteen years, and just in that short time things have changed so much that I have to re-learn how to do it with each release.



Do you remember, Dear Reader, when authors had hard-copy press kits that they used to give to prospective agents and editors and to bookstore managers? That is a photo of mine, above. This is a left-over from the press kit batch I used to publicize of my third book, The Drop Edge of Yonder, a mere 10 years ago. NOBODY that I am aware of uses a physical booklet like this anymore. No, now it's either promote yourself on line or in person, and in person is becoming harder and harder to arrange. I have a website and a blog. I don't know how much either helps, but it can't hurt, right? This time I’m doing something most authors these days do automatically, and that is set up an author page on Facebook. It’s hard to believe, but Facebook was less than a year old when my first book was published in 2005, and nobody had an author page. I was finally convinced to create one because I can use it to push promotions and announcements. We shall see how this turns out. In the meantime, Dear Reader, if you would be so kind as to visit my Facebook author page, here, and give it a “Like”, I would be most appreciative.

Also, please remember that especially if you like a book, it is very helpful to the author if you write a nice review for it in Goodreads or on Amazon.

This writing game is tough. And when it comes to publicity, you just have to put your head down and go. What works for one may not work for you, so you try everything you can manage and do the best you can. The really important thing, though, is to do the best you can without making yourself miserable. Life is too short.

7 comments:

  1. Congrats! Amazing how fast things have changed. I liked your author page.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Sybil. It's a whole new world for me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm horrible at the whole self-promotion thing. Trying to learn, but it's not something that comes naturally to me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Me, neither, Sybil. I think many authors don't find it natural to self-promote.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My very first post here on Type M (Blowing My Own Trumpet) was about this very thorny subject of self promotion. It seems it's been an issue for writers for centuries. I personally find "bigging up" my books and myself all a tad stressful but if not us, then who?

    Good luck with the new website and blog and facebook page and have fun at the book launch. My son-in-law's brother has just moved to Scottsdale, I will let him know about the three author signing party!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you, Marianne! If he decides to come, I hope he'll say hello.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congratulations on your wonderful and rare starred review. That's wonderful. Can't wait to read your book.

    ReplyDelete

IF YOU ARE HERE TO POST A SPAM COMMENT, PLEASE DON’T BOTHER. It will never appear. All comments on Type M are now subject to review. To legitimate commenters, we’re very sorry for this, but something had to be done. YOUR comments will be displayed ASAP! And thanks for commenting.