Thursday, August 26, 2010

The NaNo Post, a Shameless Plug and a Plea for Advice

dI guess it's not that time of year again yet, but August is always the time when NaNoWriMo is foremost in my mind. I didn't participate last year and I've been regretting it for 10 months. This year, I'm definitely going to take part.

My problem, as ever, is deciding which story I want to write. With Aigaion Girl, I picked the story that I thought was least-marketable, which I liked least of all the appropriate-length* ideas, which I still thought was worth writing.

This time, the story I've picked (or at least mostly picked) a story that is actually among my favourites (of stories I haven't started, at least). It's (loosely) based on my own experience, and I think I've got two of the three main characters nailed down. The only reason I'm not sure about it is because it promises to be a research-intensive story and the library here would fit in my living room at home - so I'm not sure how much help it will be. I'm writing this while at work; that should give you an idea of the situation with the Internet at my apartment (non-existent). It's mostly a drama, with a touch of the supernatural (of course) and a bit of romance (double of course). Also, I've decided to go with a style that's a bit different, and switch between 3rd Person Omniscient and 1st Person... um, nonomniscient.

I'm not sure if I'll post this one up on FictionPress. Part of me wants to, just to keep people reading my stuff, but I think (*knock on wood*) that I might actually have a chance of getting this published through an actual publishing house and having it available for free would severely reduce my chances of that.

*as in, which would, once complete, be an appropriate length for the contest.

Now, as for my plea for advice... I really wanted to have a book signing/release party for Aigaion in the fall, but there was no way I could get the money together for that at the time. Even though it would have been better for me to do it right after the book came out, it's not like it's famous, or like most people would have any idea that it existed before this party anyway. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go ahead with that for sometime in the winter, in my home town, and maybe have a similar sort of thing here, sometime around my birthday.

What I wanted to ask you guys is, what are your thoughts on blog tours? I don't know how many people actually go searching for book reviews online before buying a book. Is this common, do you think, or do people just buy based on word of mouth, bookstore displays and TV? Basically, my marketing budget is approaching $0, and I want to spend it as wisely as possible.

I think that's everything for now, except another friendly reminder to invite all the writers you know to check out Devereaux Court, and to join if they're interested :)

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