World of Ranger’s Apprentice
Back in 2013, I began blogging to promote Legends of Windemere and the ideas for blog posts came flowing. The monsters, characters, magic system, kingdoms, lore, and everything had yet to see the light of day. I introduced people to Windemere before they stepped into the books. Not only that, but I revealed the inspirations and behind-the-scenes for the whole thing. Talking about world-building is an easy topic to use for blogging because it’s so difficult and immense that there are so many nuances. After 5 years, I touched on a lot.
And that’s part of the problem.
War of Nytefall takes place in Windemere. It’s a couple hundreds years before Luke Callindor set out to become a hero, but the magic, monsters, and lore are pretty much the same. Since the story has a big focus on the evolution of Dawn Fang society, I can’t post much about that. There are only so many vampire topics you can do too. This leaves me struggling to find a way to bring attention to this series and get people talking. The world is old, but the series is new. That’s a conflict that I’m having trouble getting over. It resulted in my first topic list being more comedy than serious posts. This might get easier after the book is out and I have less to hide. Still, I’m finding myself struggling.
So, I’m going to open the floor to see what people think. How do you promote a new series in a world that has already had its core discussed at length for previous promotions? Is there anything people want to know about War of Nytefall? This is probably going to get harder and harder as I progress to series that take place after Legends of Windemere.
Legends of Windemere 
Placing stories in the real world has some of that going on. You have to focus on plot and character in that case. I couldn’t promote Wisp by talking about rural Virginia. I had to point to things that made the story unique. Maybe get into some of the tensions. Maybe share the Ichabod short on your blog that involved the Dawn Fang girl.
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The tough part about the tensions with this series is there is a lot of mystery in some of the books. For example, the main source of tension in the first book involves the characters not knowing who is allied with who and who is really pulling the strings. The Ichabod story is a possibility, but she’s only a side event in the overall story. So, there’s only one section that’s really connected to the Dawn Fangs to draw people into the new series.
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Hmm. One way to work on it is to consider the question, will the new series have a set of new readers? If so talking about Windemere and other information you previously wrote about will be a new thing to them. Maybe there is a way to serve it up in a different way so current readers will enjoy a revisit.
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That’s the tough one. I assume I’ll get some new readers, but others will carry over. That’s only the books though. Not sure how much the blog audience will change.
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Good point
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Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
Charles would like some advice about – How do you promote a new series in a world that has already had its core discussed at length for previous promotions? – please offer your suggestions in the comments under his original blog post 😎
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Thanks for the reblog. 🙂
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Welcome, Charles – hope you get lots of ideas 😃
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Thanks. I’ve cobbled together enough for two months, but some do seem weak.
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Maybe introduce us to the characters? Let the readers get to know them before they reach for the book 🙂
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Starting at the beginning of February, I’m using Thursdays for character profiles and introductions. Two of them have gone live so far.
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I’m wondering if you mentioned anything about the number of books planned for the new series. Are you playing it by ear?
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Eight for now. Probably stay that way.
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Star by fucusing on the new characters, if that’s possible. You could also do something with the locations. If some of the creatures and lore from the old books feature in the new then rehash some old posts. Not many will notice.
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I’ve got the characters and locations, but that isn’t covering a lot. That and I’m not seeing a lot of interaction when it comes to these topics. Can try a rehash though, but I don’t have a lot of creatures making a reappearance. Felt kind of weird bringing in a lot of monsters when the entire cast is composed of vampires.
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How about a few post of general vampire lore, not necessarily ones you are going to use.
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I’ve got those going up in March for pre-hype. Though I think it’s just one. I noticed with vampire posts in the past that everyone has a preference, so the comments tend to descend into declaring the best vampire and how sparkles are not allowed any more. I’m doing a few that shows the original/general stuff and how I’ve altered it for the Dawn Fangs.
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Do you delve into the history of vampires? Not just how they are portrayed in fiction.
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I believe I posted or have a post coming in March that touches on the mythological aspect of them. Vampires or vampire-like creatures show up a lot in lore around the world. Not as direct as dragons, but the fear of getting our blood or soul sucked out seems to be universal.
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Sounds good. You could also look int how they are depicted in art. Since chatting to you I’m thinking I might do the same for magic and wizards. Thanks for the ideas.
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Never thought about the art side. Mostly because I kept finding the classic Dracula look when I searched for images. Didn’t see much variety out there
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I once had a go writing a short vampire story based on a painting that was nothing to do with vampires. https://erick79.wordpress.com/2017/07/10/flash-fiction-my-first-and-probably-only-attempt/
Don’t know if that’s any help
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I don’t know. That kid on the right is pretty freaky. He could be a vampire. 😜
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That’s where I got the idea from
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Don’t blame you. I always felt cherubs were creepy, but this kid is haunting.
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I don’t think it helps the colour has faded. It probably looked more normal when it was originally painted.
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True. People might not have been as critical back then too.
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Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this post from the Legends of Windemere blog on promoting a new series in the same world
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Thanks for the reblog.
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You’re welcome. Great post.
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Reblogged this on Anna Dobritt — Author.
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Thanks for the reblog
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All the new angles, villains, heroes and the details never told before now. BTW, you are welcome to promote in my Fantasy Authors Unplugged…
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Thanks. I can only post so much of that due to spoilers. Where’s the Fantasy Authors Unplugged site?
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Its one of the blog features I have on Archer’s Aim.
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Cool. Good to know for when the next series starts up. Looks like WP stopped sending me your blog posts in email too. Sorry that I didn’t catch that sooner.
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Looks like mine stopped for yours too. Re-followed.
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Thanks. That silly WP gremlin issue.
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