Getting Noticed

I'm hardly a shrinking violet but when it comes to getting attention for my work I struggle. I'm great at writing but not so good at self-promotion. It may seem like I am because I'm beating the drum right now for my recently-published e-book, Tiger Lilly. The truth is that I'm preaching to the same choir. You have all heard about my struggle to get published in one form or another for some time. What I need is a much bigger audience for my work—and when I say bigger I mean HUGE.

When I go into a bookstore, be it Tome on the Range here in Las Vegas, or to a major retailer, I'm overwhelmed by the numbers of books on the shelves. It's staggering. Throw into the muddle the phenomenon of the e-book and it quadruples the numbers of writers trying to get your attention. In this highly competitive marketplace you have to practically wear meat to get attention. Oh, right, Lady Ga Ga (gag gag) already did that.

My point is that the job of marketing one's work is more angst ridden and time consuming than writing the book. Right now I'd like to be working on any one of five other projects I have cooking in my pea brain, but that has to be put on hold while I put together a strategy for getting attention for Tiger Lilly. While I have marketing and advertising sales experience the focus has always been on something else or for someone else. This time the spotlight is on me, or at least on my books.

My other books, which are in print, are available locally from me and at Tome on the Range. Hopefully my e-book will also be available on Tome's new website bookstore with e-book downloads.

My publisher for Tiger Lilly is a fairly new kid on the block, fastpencil.com, but I like their model. Basically you sign up and proceed to work on your great American novel, or self-help book, or cookbook, or how-to book, or whatever unique idea you may have. The book formats as you write. If you want print books, those may be ordered as POD (print on demand) but there's an upcharge for that driving up the price to the point of ridiculous. I may opt to go that route, because I've already had folks turn up their noses at the e-book concept, but then again, maybe not. Las Vegas, NM has not entirely embraced the digital age but it's happening, slowly but surely.

The downside of fastpencil.com at the moment is that while they do provide you with an ISBN and shoot your work out into the greater marketplace (Ingram's the premier book inventory publication, Amazon, and others), how do I know anyone will notice my baby among the thousands of others on the shelves? Well, I don't, that's why I have to be ready to hit the streets and get my message out there that I have a fantastic, funny and touching book full of engaging characters and enough drama to keep readers turning pages. Don't get me wrong, fastpencil.com offers publishing packages that help with marketing but again, everything they do increases costs. Like any other business person a writer has to judge how much to spend on marketing and how much is a waste of resources. It's a tough call.

Anyway. Buy Tiger Lilly, it's worth every cent of the $9.99 you spend to get to know this modern-day family with its quirks and chaos. It is available in PDF and as an e-book. Ipad owners will enjoy reading it from their ibook collection.

For more about my other books and about me the author go to vandermeerbooks.com.