A Quick Thought About Marketing and Day Jobs

I'm amazed that day job wasn't already a tag, given the nature of DevCo and the nature of writing today (as in, skill and perseverance pretty much have to be combined with unbelievable luck in order to get far ahead enough to no longer require a day job), but there you have it. I'm at mine right now.

I came up with a great marketing idea, or at least an OK marketing idea, involving Twitter (I know :p). I thought I would post something every day (maybe first thing in the morning) telling people the best rate for Aigaion Girl and where they can find it. Eventually, the constant posts have to get someone's attention, right?

So that's my thought. How it pertains to my day job: I don't have a computer of my own, so I have to use the one at work - and that one won't let me use Twitter; it has some antiquated net nanny thing on it which I could probably disable really easily, but am not going to because I like my day job bosses.

OK, I think that's it for me. I'd put up a picture of Marco, but the only one I have is at home.

A Thought...

We've talked before about the idea of a DevCo anthology. This idea came to me last night as I was trying to get to sleep. I'm not sure how feasible it is, but I like the concept, and I wanted to know what you guys thought about it.

Years ago, I wrote a story about a vampire who accidentally acquires a human child and is forced to look after her*. Right now, the story is 60 pages, and even once I've rewritten it, I anticipate it will be significantly fewer than 100. So... I want to put it in an anthology... but I don't know if I want an anthology of just my stuff this early in my career. I think I'd rather do something more varied, with really strong pieces from other talented writers (hint, hint).

I would like to put something together with a few interlocking themes. So far, what I've come up with for themes is: vampires, werewolves, masks and dark fairytales. There are a couple of stories you guys have written that I think would be perfect.

My plan would be to self-publish, and to donate all the proceeds to a charity. I'm thinking, since blood factors into most of the themes, a charity that supports resarch into a blood disease or the blood bank or something like that. I'd like to have it ready for release in September of 2012, in time to be purchased online for the Xmas season.

I'm happy to do all the design and layout stuff, and if everyone's game, we could do a mass group-edit.

Anyway, what do you guys think? It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment random idea, so I just wanted to get a feel for your reactions.

*It sounds like the making of a bad Disney comedy, I know, but it's not terribly funny and the parts of it that are are quite dark.

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 :)

A Message from Alison Strobel

Hey, guys. I have a message here from Alison Strobel, author of The Weight of Shadows, whose book I reviewed a little while back. She sent us this message back in July, but, because of a combination of unreliable Internet and my forgetting to check one of my inboxes, I just found it today. Anyway, this is what Alison has to say:

Hey there! I just wanted to say thanks to my fine blog hostess and to her readers. I have been really excited to see how many people are thinking of picking up the book because of the reviews they read during the blog tour. And thank you to everyone who entered the contest! I'll be drawing a winner on July 18 and posting it on my blog. If you haven't stopped by my blog or website yet, I hope you'll pop over sometime and say hi in the comments or on the guest book.


Also, if you're interested in hearing about my next releases and any other exciting news that happens to come up, please sign up to receive my announcements--the sign-up is on my website. I have another novel coming out in September, two more next year, and two children's books that my husband and I wrote (the first of which comes out August 1), so there will be plenty of news coming, and I try to host contests now and then on my blog, too.


Thanks again! And if you do decide to pick up The Weight of Shadows and give it a read, please come tell me what you thought of it. I mean it. :)

~Alison

Awful

Last night, I had the worst dream ever. Among the things one generally faces in a horrible dream (inability to escape, plans being continually thwarted, people attacking my dog), I dreamt that someone was trying to take my stories away from me. My dad had found out that if I don't write for extended periods of time, I'll start to hallucinate (this actually happens to me; I'd literally go crazy if I couldn't write), and in an effort to preserve my mental health, decided to remove from me all means of writing until I got over my insanity. Because this was a dream, and subject to dream logic, he was also taking away the stories I'd already written, gathering them up on hurridly-written, ink stained pieces of paper - and as he took them from me, the stories themselves winked out of existence; he wasn't taking the physical stories, he was taking their very being, past and present.

I should mention that my dad is a writer as well and would never do this in real life, even if it were possible - but that's not the point, as far as my relating my dream is concerned.

I just find it interesting, and further proof that I've chosen the right profession, that my worst nightmare consists largely of my not being able to write - not not being recognized for my writing or having my writing scorned and criticized, but simply having my writing taken away. It reinforces my long-held belief that my intentions, when it comes to writing are, and always have been, pure.

An Interesting Article

Some People Just Need To Be Kicked In The 'Nads

It's the 'e-book vs. real book' thing again, only some tit has gone and made a deal with Amazon to sell all of the books he represents on nothing but kindle. Naturally, this has the publishers annoyed, especially since it cuts them right out of everything to do with the money involved. It also has me annoyed, because I don't want a Kindle and I doubt I ever shall. Apart from all of the other pros and cons...magnets can't erase words printed on a page.

Still...I don't think it's the death knell for paper publishing, as the article suggests. There will always be a market for paper books, amongst those with their heads screwed on straight. I do wish they'd come up with more sustainable sources for paper, though.

Oh...and this can count as this week's discussion question >:D

Discussion Questions...?

...Should we have them?

I'm guessing yes.

This week - Song Lyrics. What makes them so damned effective? Or not, as the case may be. Got some favourites?

Come on people - lets get this site moving again. >:D