Adventures in Marketing CITY OF HOPE AND RUIN

It’s been almost a month since City of Hope and Ruin was released, and guys, I’m discovering that the marketing phase of a book can be pretty intense. I’ve been doing some sort of promo (or networking for future promo) just about every day, while trying not to annoy my social media friends and followers too much. That’s a lot of brain cycles. Especially because it’s all new to me. I’ve been learning about book marketing for quite a while now, have done some already for Turtleduck Press, but this is a whole ‘nother level.

Of course, it helps immensely that there are two of us — our marketing power is doubled. Or even more, because Kit and I are in vastly different parts of North America, so we can each hit our respective local bookstores/libraries/conventions. We even managed to co-host a virtual launch party on Facebook. (We had lots of Q&As and some fun discussion, which you can still read at the link.) It felt surprisingly festive, and was a great way to celebrate our release date together despite the best attempts of geography to keep us apart.

I also held a local launch party at my favourite bookstore — one of those “dream come true” moments (except that Kit couldn’t be there). How did it go? Here’s the short version:

What do you MEAN I have to speak in public?

What do you MEAN I have to speak in public?

Well, if you insist...

Okay, if you insist, maybe I can do this with my nose buried in my book…

Hey, I survived and the audience didn't eat me!

Hey, I survived and the audience didn’t eat me!

In actual words: I did a reading, then a Q&A (and people asked great questions), and finished off with a signing.

I have also had not one but TWO people tell me that they missed their subway stops while reading our book. I am not sorry in the least.

On Thursday we’ll be doing this:

MediaKit_BB_CityOfHopeAndRuin_Banner copy

What is it? It’s called a blog tour! For those of you who aren’t steeped in book-marketing terminology, that means we’ll be featured on 30 different book blogs on the same day. Some of them will have reviews of the book, others will have excerpts and then foster discussion in the comments. Kit and/or I will be dropping by every single blog to say hi. Did I mention we both have dayjob responsibilities that day? Whew.

Want to support our tour? Click on the picture to see the list of blogs where we’ll be appearing. The bloggers would be thrilled if you’d leave a comment.

In all this whirlwind and excitement, it’s easy to lose track of the thing it’s all for — writing. I don’t intend for City of Hope and Ruin to be my only published novel. In fact, I’ve already got a deadline looming for a story in the next Turtleduck Press publication (an anthology set for November) and hopes of editing a previous novel into publishable shape. So starting next week, I’ll be easing off on the marketing push, not to drop it completely (we’ll be popping up here and there for months yet) but to refocus on what really matters.

Wish me luck.

4 Comments:

  1. Love your short version. I imagine that’s how I’d feel. ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Marketing can be exhausting, but it’s so worth it.

  2. Oh! A blog tour. I’ll definitely have to check that out.

  3. Erin — I hope you get the chance to find out one day!

    Heather — Please do, I expect it’s going to be fun. ๐Ÿ˜€

  4. Pingback: New Marketing–How’s It Going? | Where Landsquid Fear to Tread

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