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In my pursuit of a million sales for my books, I’ve read quite a few other books about marketing and most of them are full of…it.

Today I downloaded one that says I know a hundred people (I don’t) and all I have to do is email them all a simple message saying that I’m writing a blog and will they sign up to follow me. They will all say yes. They all know a hundred people too and will joyously contact them about my blog and soon I will have millions of followers.

Er…no. I know some people but none of them are interested in my blog which is mostly about self-publishing because that’s what I’m doing. None of them want to follow me. None of them are SF or fantasy fans and none of them want to read my books. Therefore this entire brilliant marketing strategy falls down at step one. Millions of followers, I shall not have.

The writer advises against emailing strangers with spam and I agree with him there.

There’s another one about getting reviews which begins with the assumption that everyone you know – even vaguely – is gagging to review your book. They are not. The only people I’m in touch with in the SF community are fellow reviewers at SFcrowsnest.co.uk who have too many books to review already, same as me. I am a member of some local writing groups too. They want me to read their books. We’re all in the same boat. The internet is awash with people who have books out shouting for attention, including me. Ignore those other people! Read mine! Consarn Christmas and Other Stories is available at all good ebook retailers. So is The Brigstowe Dragons and so is Five Little Horrors which is ABSOLUTELY FREE.

I’ll be quiet now.

 

 

 

I’ve updated my book covers. The word from the wise (Mark Coker of Smashwords) is that a book cover can make a lot of difference to sales. He gave a couple of examples in his marketing guide and I was convinced. The main reason for this is that readers skim through book catalogues on screens nowadays and the eye will flit past any that don’t have a bit of Ooomph.

 

Previously I made my own using FreeImages.com and Canva.com. They were okay but I checked artist Laura Givens website and found some good pictures. I e-mailed her a query and the prices were very reasonable so I bought a couple. Laura does many covers for Alban Lake Publishing so I was aware of her work. Here are the new covers.

 

The pictures I chose are generic, not purpose made, but the JCB spaceship seemed especially appropriate for Consarn Christmas which is about an Irish starship. The one I used for Five Little Horrors is a standard evil skeleton pic but striking. I should mention that I’m half-Irish and my dad was a builder – as was I – before the PC crowd leap on me for ‘totally unacceptable’ stereotyping.