Keep Moving Forward-

The past month or two have been busy. I have been committed to editing, formatting and uploading my novels to Barnes and Noble through their Pubit program. Along with continuing to move into a new home, with all of the chaos and the yard work and this and that and the other.

Marcus of Abderus and the Inn at the Edge of the World, the first novel in my Edge of the World series of Fantasy Adventure novels, is on sale. So are the following two titles. Plus a little set of rules for a super simple war game I wrote up.

So, I have been away from blogging. It is time to turn that around, now. I am pretty much on my own for promoting my novels, and every source I come across focuses on Social Networking. Blogging is a part of that. Most of you blog readers already know that. Indeed, most of you are far better at this social networking thing than I am. This is going to be work.


Not that I mind the work. Indeed, this is the best thing I have done in the way of work. Granted, my revenue from these efforts has not been sufficient to buy a cup of coffee, but I have made a few cents already. Income that can be measured in actual dollars lies at the other end of some serious promotion. That, and continued writing.

I recently visited our local Barnes and Noble book store and talked with the people there. Though supportive and encouraging, they had nothing to offer with regard to promotion other than the social networking thing. There are no in-store promotions for ebooks, and that is quite understandable. The brick-and-mortar book store makes money selling physical books, along with a lot of reading related items.

Some ideas are percolating in my cogitator, however. Ideas that will allow me to use their venue to a mutual advantage. I have signed up for Twitter and am expanding my presence on Facebook to prepare for this very low budget promotional tour. It may net only a few readers, but every reader has friends. With social networking that makes for potentially viral expansion.

I visited a local game shop, as well. Astral Games of Medford, Oregon. I talked with Aaron, the owner. We have a shared audience, in that many of the games he sells and promotes in his store are Fantasy Adventure games. My Edge of the World series is a Fantasy Adventure. Somehow, I feel that at least a few of his customers will take some interest in the novels. At least, that is my hope.

It is quite likely I will frequent his store for "meet the author" events. Indeed, I am also considering little "meet the author" events at coffee shops and other locations. Probably just an hour here, an hour there, as time permits and opportunity provides. Chat with people and invite them to read my works.

With my desire to travel I can see incorporating informal "meet the author" events in any travel adventures I might take in the years to come. I don't imagine the return on these little events will be particularly great, but over time I hope that at least a bit of traffic will come back to my Barnes and Noble offerings.

Whatever the case, I must keep moving forward. Come along with me, won't you?