I was good
Yesterday I sent out e-mails to every newspaper, TV station and radio station within reasonable driving distance, explaining why they should review my book and offering to come in for interviews. My brain feels spongy, but I got it done. And, I paid the bills, too. As a reward, I gave myself a pear and cornmeal scone.
Hmmmm. food rewards are not such a good idea. I am noticing folds inplaces I never used to have places to fold. In future, I should plan yarn rewards. That work was worth a five dollar ball of Jo Sharp, don'tcha think? And if I hit three of the local bookstores and ask what it would take to get them to carry me, THAT should be worth another skein of Cabin Cove hand-dyed silk.
Today, I am earning $20 by doing a Healthy Living survey and letting them weigh and measure me, and check my blood pressure. Should I tell them I learned bio-feedback techniques and can run the bloodpressure down just by thinking about it? Given time, I can take it down to 90 over 60. Is this a thing to be proud of? I don't think it's because my vascular system is so healthy. It's more a function of low blood volume.
While there, I will be knitting on the silk blouse. It's so easy to carry! On the other hand, size one needles don't make for fast growth in stockinette stitch..
The mittens are progressing slowly on their two circular needles. I finally quit fighting the tangles and broke off the yarns in pull-through lengths a-la kaffe Fasset. Four strands of yarn snarling out of two different balls maked a truely gordonian knot.
Hmmmm. food rewards are not such a good idea. I am noticing folds inplaces I never used to have places to fold. In future, I should plan yarn rewards. That work was worth a five dollar ball of Jo Sharp, don'tcha think? And if I hit three of the local bookstores and ask what it would take to get them to carry me, THAT should be worth another skein of Cabin Cove hand-dyed silk.
Today, I am earning $20 by doing a Healthy Living survey and letting them weigh and measure me, and check my blood pressure. Should I tell them I learned bio-feedback techniques and can run the bloodpressure down just by thinking about it? Given time, I can take it down to 90 over 60. Is this a thing to be proud of? I don't think it's because my vascular system is so healthy. It's more a function of low blood volume.
While there, I will be knitting on the silk blouse. It's so easy to carry! On the other hand, size one needles don't make for fast growth in stockinette stitch..
The mittens are progressing slowly on their two circular needles. I finally quit fighting the tangles and broke off the yarns in pull-through lengths a-la kaffe Fasset. Four strands of yarn snarling out of two different balls maked a truely gordonian knot.
posted by roxie @ 7:07 AM
3 Comments:
At 8:46 AM ,
Amy Lane said...
I knit until the tangle can't be resolved anymore, then break the yarn and start again. It's probably the LEAST effective way to fair-isle, actually... let me know how your campaign goes...I tried flyers, I visited book stores, I carried copies with me in the car...and then I settled down and started watching amazon.com like a demented hawk... your independent book stores are your best bet--I did get one of them to carry copies for me;-)
At 9:33 AM ,
Anonymous said...
Hey, congratulations on getting the word out there. It's a start. I am LOVIN' the story. I'm taking my time because I really don't want it to end. (Unless you have the next installment in the works perhaps?)
At 5:25 PM ,
Amy Lane said...
Sorry about the whole 'comment on the blog' thing--my e-mail is jago_ji@hotmail.com, but I'll go ahead and answer your question now, because it's a neat trick, and I want to share!
Amazon.com has consumer lists that pop up whenever you look at a related product called Listmania--which is just a 25 item list with a comment for each item and So You'd Like To..., which gives you a chance to write about the products offered. When you are looking at one product, lists pop up at the bottom of the product page carrying related products (often, the product you're looking at is on the list too)For example, if you're looking at vampire romances like the ones I write, there will be three Listmania lists carrying vampire romances and three So You'd Like To...guides carrying the same thing. In order to get your book out there into the public eye, you need to make lists and guides with similar books on them that include your books in the list. There are two things to keep in mind when you're doing this:
A. Nobody knows your product yet--you can't put it at the top of the list or the only place it will pop up will be on your own page--that sort of defeats the purpose. I usually put mine about 8th on the list.
B. Choose works that are well known and well sold to go at the top of the list itself--I tried to do this for you but I had no idea how obscure my favorite works of high fantasy really were. (When did Robin McKinley go out of fashion? She's such a beautiful writer!)
C. Choose works from the same general family so you don't alienate your list-reader--you want to give people a general idea of what your book is about.
My name on amazon.com is Teron Angel--if you go to my book sites (Vulnerable and Wounded, both by Amy Lane) you will see my lists--and, yes, my own review of my own books. (You may notice that I gave my first book 4 stars too--it's a kneejerk carry over from grading AP papers...) You want to review your own books--even under your own name. You have a chance to summarize and comment on your text in the review in a way that you didn't have a chance to when you wrote your back-cover synopsis. Get your friends who love your book to log on and write reviews (I know about four of the 10 people who reviewed each of my books...the rest are complete strangers which flips my switch in a way that nothing else can.)
Anyway, amazon does give you some tools to help market (there are some I've been too busy to use.) Let them help you!
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home