Storytellersunplugged

As I said earlier, the most basic purpose of book promotion is to let people know that your book exists, why they might want to pick up a copy, and where they can get it. Some authors aren't keen on promotion. They might make a brief announcement on their blog, webpage, or mailing list, then put their noses back to grindstone, focusing on The Work. They rely mostly on the kindness of strangers, friends, and their publishers to get the word ... Read More

If you’re like me, you feel that once you have written a story or novel, your job is done except for telling a few friends about it and perhaps floating a note or two on the Internet. After all, the Process and Result of Creation is the main thing and anything else is boring work that belongs in the prosaic, trivial world of business. Let the PUBLISHER worry about promoting your work. REAL writers exist in a rarefied realm far above such ... Read More

Steve:   To be perfectly frank, the very phrase puts knots in my stomach.  No wonder I'm not terribly talented at it.  Part of it's the way I was raised--anything even hinting at a brag was frowned upon.  My discomfort multiplies, however, due to the issue of persona.  We all have them, a face we present to the world.  (Our avatar, in techno-geek terms.)  The healthy thing, I suppose, is to keep it as close to your "real" self as possible.    Writers have a ... Read More

Several years ago, when I first got into this business, someone told me that it is better to be published well than to simply be published. I thought I knew what that meant. But I’ve come to understand that sometimes, you think you are being published well, when in reality, you are not. Case in point. In 2005, Pocket Books published my second mass market novel, HERETIC. It was the first book in a series known as the Templar Chronicles, a ... Read More

In the five years that I have been writing professionally, I have been very fortunate in that all of my novel-length works (4 to date) have been acquired for foreign publication. When this first occurred, I was focused on the fact that it would provide another set of paychecks and another set of readers to help promote my career long term. What I didn’t understand at the time is that it can be so much more than just that ... Read More

We all know the drill. You bust your hump writing your latest novel. Your agent sells it to a major New York publisher. You wait another ten to eighteen months before your book sees print. You’re excited, enthused, ready to take on the world – this is the book that is going to be your breakout work. Big time here you come! Six weeks later your newest “masterpiece” is relegated to the returns bin in the back of ... Read More