It’s a busy time in the offices of Matilija Press and Patricia Fry. This week, we produced a new book and a new version of an older book. I’m also writing a book on contract for a publisher on how to write a book proposal. I got my bi-monthly newsletter out this week. You can view it along with all the other newsletters in the archives here. http://www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog/?page_id=3081
The new book is The Colony Cat Caper, number 5 in the Klepto Cat Mystery series. It’s formatted for your Kindle here: http://amzn.to/1kAI8I2 If you haven’t read any of the other books in the series, check them out on this same Amazon page. This is the order, but each book can stand alone.
Catnapped,
Cat-Eye Witness
Sleight of Paw
Undercover Cat
The Colony Cat Caper
The cover artist for these books is Bernadette Kazmarski. Each time she creates a cover for me I like it even better than the last. The Colony Cat Caper cover is the most charming, yet. Love those cats!!!
The other bit of company news is that Sleight of Paw is now in print (or will be probably within hours). All of the Klepto Cat books are formatted for Kindle. The first 3 are also now in print form for those of you who still like to hold a real book.
Now that the latest book is a reality, how am I spending my time? Marketing, of course. Contacting my email list, reviewers of cozy mysteries and those who like cats; planning another blog book tour (my first one was a smashing success); getting a mention in colleagues’ and association newsletters; setting up a local signing; designing new promo material to include the new book; and so forth.
When you’re in the process of writing a book, you are rather singly focused. You have to consider your story as you write—make sure it flows, makes sense, isn’t repetitive, is believable, etc. You have to stop and conduct research at least occasionally—what is a small handgun called, what flowers in the northwest in the fall, what kind of trees lose their leaves in the south, for example. But when in the writing phase, you are generally alone and all is quiet.
When you shift into the marketing phase, things get kind of wild. You are communicating with a lot of people and there are a lot of details to keep track of—who to send review copies to, which blogger offered you a guest blog spot, who were you supposed to contact about an interview, who reviewed your other books, etc. The research involved in promoting a book can drive you crazy and it’s hard to keep track of who you contacted and who you didn’t. You have forgotten which reviewers hated your last book. You have to visit a lot of sites to find those that relate to your project.
And that’s just day one and two of your efforts to get word out about your new book.
I promote a lot of books in one way or another. I’ve launched over 40 books and spent the first weeks of each launch scrambling to locate as many promotional opportunities as I could. As you may or may not know, book promotion is an ongoing activity. When people ask me how long you have to promote your book, I always say, “For as long as you want it to sell.”
So what I’m doing this week is just the preliminary blast to introduce the new book. Sure I’ve kept a record of those I promoted to when each of the others in the Klepto Cat Mystery series came out, and I have contacted them. But there are always new kids on the block and sites I didn’t notice when I last pursued the marketing activities.
I’d love to hear some of your experiences when launching a book. There are so many methods. I’m sure you’ve thought of something or stumbled upon an idea that I, and my readers, would love to know about. Leave a comment or contact me here: PLFry620@yahoo.com