Legends of Windemere: Prodigy of Rainbow Tower will be debuting on July 31st. Until then, I need to build up hype. I’m still tweeting about the first book and adding ‘sequel coming soon’ to them. I set up the Goodreads page, so that’s done with only one oopsie. I forgot a ‘.’ after my middle initial, so the system thinks I’m a different author. Already requested a fix on that. If it doesn’t work then I’ll just make a new edition page. I think I have to do that anyway.
Still, I have 16 days to do hype and not a lot of ideas. I’m hunting down interviews and guest blogs, but it’s hard to get these on short notice. The only ideas I have are the following:
- Goodreads giveway on Beginning of a Hero from now until end of August.
- Make a Prodigy of Rainbow Tower related post every day. Character interviews, sneak peeks, a post on each town they’ll visit, and questions on stuff relating to the book. For example, what do people like in a sequel or their favorite female hero.
- Start a discussion topic on Prodigy’s Goodreads page. This was Ionia’s idea.
That’s all I have now and it’s all on-line presence. If anybody has other suggestions or ideas, please feel free to let me know. I’d greatly appreciate the help.
About Charles Yallowitz
Charles E. Yallowitz was born, raised, and educated in New York. Then he spent a few years in Florida, realized his fear of alligators, and moved back to the Empire State. When he isn't working hard on his epic fantasy stories, Charles can be found cooking or going on whatever adventure his son has planned for the day. 'Legends of Windemere' is his first series, but it certainly won't be his last.
Legends of Windemere 
I would suggest adding info about the book to Facebook and Google+ writer’s groups.
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Good idea. I signed up with a few and went inactive, so I’ll try to get back into it. Thanks.
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Good luck to you. May we both experience good fortune in our latest efforts.
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Fingers crossed. I’m either going to be busy getting the word out or frustrated with no ideas.
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You need a scandal. Get your name and picture on the front page of some tabloids, that should build some good buzz.
Wait–you could get caught in a hotel room in Niagara Falls with some questionable female companionship! I bet The Hook could set you up with that and alert the media.
http://youvebeenhooked.wordpress.com/
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Possibly. I assume alcohol will be involved and provided.
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Absolutely.
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Vodka? I’m in. Can we change questionable to beyond my social ranking? College has made questionable a difficult area.
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I hope I get Beginning of a Hero read in a hurry 🙂 so I can best enjoy the new one. Are you doing a “free” day with the new one? maybe not right away but in time. that sure did spike attention to mine. Harry Steinman is big on passing out bookmarks to promote, to do the “word of mouth”. Since I changed my book cover and have the paperback coming out I have had success in carrying around the bookmarks. When the topic comes up, I just whip one out of my purse instead of them having to try to remember the title. is yours going to be eversion only or in paperback too?
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I did bookmarks for the first one with little success around here. Business cards went better and that was for the blog and series.
I’m not going to do a free day because of how Amazon works them. I would have to go KDP Select and it removes the book from the Paid Kindle lists. When it returns, those free books aren’t counted into the totals. So, it would work against my goal of getting on the hot new release list, which I’m only eligible for the first month of release. Last time I did a free weekend with Beginning of a Hero, the sales didn’t transfer to when it was a paid book again.
I think a lot of my hype is going to be on-line because my area isn’t really a hotspot of author activity. God knows I tried with the first one and got nowhere.
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Good ideas. I did mine on smashwords before KDP and don’t do the kindle select. it is kind of tough in that i can’t track the smashwords sales because an independent publisher put that up for me, but I like my promos going through smashwords because so many people have other devices besides kindles. Not so important now with the Kindle app on my phone, but I guess the sony readers and nooks will soon need to upgrade anyhow.
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Ah, those would be post-release stuff too. I’m trying to figure out pre-release hype. I have several website I’m going to advertise on once the book is out and I’ll hopefully get a good reaction like last time.
I used a Smashwords free giveaway early on with the first book. It was the only time I sold anything on there. I tried and marketed, but nothing worked to get me sales on there. I’ve been told that it could be the genre with fantasy being bigger on Amazon. I think I just had bad luck.
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With my book everywhere, I still get more sells on Amazon than anywhere. My amazon sales in month exceeded my sales on all other sites combined.
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It’s usually the case. Amazon has so much of the market.
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Wishing you all the best on the new release!
Maybe you could arrange to offer a copy of your book to someone in exchange for a review that they would post publicly on Goodreads, Amazon, their blog, your FaceBook page that you could then respond to.
Not my idea, I was contacted by a publicist through Goodreads to do this for an upcoming Hunter Lewis book.
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I sent out a few preview copies and got some Goodreads reviews. Got a few reviews already. It’s a 300+ page book, so I don’t know how quickly people can read it since I have 16 days to hype it.
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I don’t reblog Charles but when it does come out I will boost you on Facebook and in the meantime I will try to come up with something I can link to you, maybe to the cover art for the new book…
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Thanks. Reblogging is going to be a big tool. I’m thinking the Prodigy-based blog posts and garnering discussions will be an important factor.
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If you want to do a guest post on my blog I’ll happily facilitate it, Charles. I’m struggling to get any posts up lately but want to keep it somewhat alive for when I get back into the flow. 🙂
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Sure. Let me know what you want me to write about or send me some interview questions like we’ve done in the past. Always happy to help keep a blog active.
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Anything in particular you’d enjoy doing a post on? I’m not fussy 😛
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Not really sure. My mind is running around in circle with figuring out hype events and trying to finish my 5th book. One of the big things about Prodigy of Rainbow Tower is the introduction of a powerful female hero and a powerful female villain.
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How about a post on writing characters of the other gender, then?
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Sounds like a plan. I’m writing a guest post about sequel writing, so I’ll write up that one tomorrow or Tuesday. It might be a list that combines serious with funny. God knows how much research I had to do on breast size. Seriously. When use female warriors that move around, you need to know what the limits are.
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When in doubt, make them small. 😛 There’s no rush at all on it so just pop it in an email whenever it’s done. 🙂
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You got it. I’ll aim for mid-week to give some spacing.
They can’t all be small. Apparently, some girls get angry if you make a character based on them too small.
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Quoth my brother: Rob a bank.
Failing that, you’re welcome to guest post on my blog 🙂 Maybe something along the lines of your experiences writing the sequel, and then a big picture of your cover, link to the book on Goodreads, etc.?
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I’d appreciate that. I’ll work on a post tonight about sequel writing. It really is different than the first of a series. Want to write a guest blog about your publishing experience?
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Excellent. As for writing a guest blog … hmm, tempting. I’ll get back to you 🙂
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Great. I’m already working on the one for you. The idea came to me and I couldn’t resist writing it immediately. 🙂
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I have received it! I’ll give it a read through in the near future. Ahhhh excited 😀 Did you want me to post it immediately, or did you have a specific date in mind for your book launch extravaganza?
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If you want to post it on Tuesday that would be great. I have the next 2.5 weeks to do hype every day and I think the guest blog for you would be a great opener.
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Sounds good! Tuesday it is.
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Thanks. I really appreciate it.
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How about sharing a clever poem that relates to your series? 🙂 You seem to have most of the usual bases covered, at least that don’t require more time. Obviously, personal interactions.
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Good idea. I could try to write a poem for each of the main characters. That’s 10 poems if I use villains and Fritz’s riding sheep.
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Planned your book launch party? Booked a cool place for a reading? Signings? (Some fantasy or reading club at a university, maybe would have interest in a cool kind of reading. Of course, students will want deep discounts to buy, but it could help to build buzz, especially if it’s cool enough for them to FB and Tweet about.)
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I keep trying to find a way to do those things when I don’t have a physical product. Keep having trouble finding venues to do them, especially with the signings. How would a book launch party work for an eBook?
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I didn’t realize that it was ebook only. It seems like a paperback may open up some opportunities… Otherwise, you need everyone to bring their e-readers to the event. Maybe you could encourage this with special pricing. The signing is the hard one. The reading is easy. But usually you sell several copies and sign them at the end of the event.
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There will be a paperback option, but I can’t afford to buy bulk books. Not with the high risk of no sales around here. There is authorgraph for signing ebooks, which I’m on. Maybe a blog post blitz on the 30th would be the equivalent.
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Authorgraph. That sounds cool. 🙂 (Is there a demand for paperback from any of your online followers? If you knew that, you could order enough paperbacks for them, and not have to worry about leftovers… But there may be advantages to ebook only, like all sales affecting the sales rank for just one edition.)
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I haven’t had many paperback requests. A few of my friends have gone for the paperback because it’s more money, but most people are going for the eBook. I’ve bought and sent a few paperbacks out for contests and reviews. That’s the big reason I still keep a paperback option.
My paperbacks are an odd size too. In order to keep the price at $10 instead of $20, I made the books the size of printer paper. Plus side, they’re very hard to misplace.
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Reblogged this on The Arkside of Thought by Sahm King and commented:
People, please check out this post from Charles Yallowitz. Any ideas on the book promo tip? Any openings for Guest Blogs and the like? Check it out and let Charles know. He has his stuff together as it is, but every little bit helps.
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I’ve seen some authors do a ‘sneak peek’. Would this work for yours?
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I’m going to do a few. Setting one up for tomorrow. Need to find interesting scenes that don’t contain spoilers.
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Good luck! My fingers, toes, and eyes are crossed! 😉
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Thanks. I’d uncross your eyes. The horses might take advantage of that.
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Good point. Though, I should be horse-free for a long time. *I hope*
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Fingers crossed on that one.
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Thanks.
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My blog is open for author interviews if anyone is reading this message.
And I’d like to feature you on it, Charles, since your book 2 release will coincide around the same time that I’ll probably finish book 1.
Let me know if you’re interested. 🙂
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That would be great. Thank you. Let me know what you need from me. Will you be sending the questions by email?
Sent from my iPhone
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Just sent the email to you Charles, look out for it.
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Thanks. It’s after midnight here, so I’ll take care of it tomorrow. Want any pictures with it? Got author pic and the two covers.
Sent from my iPhone
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Hi – just wanted to wish you all the best with the launch. In truth I don’t have anything to add to the suggestions already made but I’ll willingly reblog for you if you think it worthwhile and let me know what timing suits you. Friday’s are usually my liveliest blog days.
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Thanks. I appreciate all the help I can get. Friday reblogs would be great. I’m not exactly sure what is going up this Friday since I’ll be away from my computer that day. Probably just a character poem and a sneak peek scene.
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