This is my first blog for quite a while. For various reasons, over the last year or so, I haven’t been able to do much writing so, what time I did manage was concentrated mainly on ‘My Epic’, a three book (so far) historical fantasy series.
Book 1 has been written, gone through the editing process and been reviewed by various people. It’s still with one or two Alpha readers as I write this. I’m pleased to say the reviews so far have been very encouraging.
The writing of Book 2 is finished, it is being edited just now and I have a detailed outline for Book 3 the writing of which will start soon.
‘Eaglerune’ is a story of a boy from the Clan of the Sea Eagle who develops a mystical bond with the Clan Totem.
The writing of ‘Eaglerune’ has been long, sometimes neglected, but always returned to. Now with Book 1 finished and Book 2 being edited, the fun part of ‘making stuff up’ is more or less past — until Book 3 starts in anger) — and the absolutely essential hard graft starts … now comes the planning for ‘The Book Launch’, dah dah dah.
After writing my first novel, Baggywrinkle and the Harlequin Hippo (click here) I taught myself the mechanics of publishing an eBook then a paperback. Although time consuming, it all went fairly easily and, initially sales were quite good. I even enrolled on a course on how to market eBooks — more of which in later blogs — but, despite 5-star reviews across the board, it still didn’t make it as a best seller.
Now, having done a reasonable amount of research I’ve come to the conclusion I didn’t put enough time and effort into the Pre-launch, Launch and Post-launch stages of the process of publishing Baggywrinkle.
So, I’ve started on a three-month campaign while I finalise Eaglerune for ‘The Launch’.
What I’ve seen so far has suggested the following stages and I intend making this the basis of my ‘Eaglerune Launch Campaign’. There may be other things I need to take heed of and some of those I’ve included might not be relevant, I shall find out as I go.
The suggested stages are:
1. Produce a launch plan:
2. Edit the manuscript:
3. Create a book cover:
4. Bring my website up to date:
5. Bring social media accounts into line:
6. Write a book description for Amazon/Goodreads etc:
7. Decide on Amazon book categories:
8. Research the best keywords:
Things will not be exactly in the order shown but, as much as possible, I intend this to be the backbone of my passage through the process. If I find there are other, more optimum tacks then I’ll try them.
My intention for this blog is to produce regular views of my progress and offer the odd insight as I see it. I’ll credit sites where I’ve found the information useful and insert links to helpful stuff.
I’ve already started working through the process and I’ll let you know how it goes..
Sandy
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