17 August 2012

AAtS - Progress and Promotion

Getting toward the end of And All the Stars' first draft - there's around four chapters still to write, which in theory will be done by the end of August.  Since I've been planning a number of these scenes for quite some time, and also because there's a lot of action in the end-game chapters, this should be do-able.  I write action a great deal quicker than transitional and emotional chapters, and conclusions are often more exciting to write (if only because you can see the light at the end of the tunnel).

[Of course, I'm self-sabotaging a little playing a lot of The Secret World, which is a very good MMO indeed.]

After the first draft is done it's an immediate re-read, which is good for identifying changes of tone, and of course massive great inconsistencies and loose ends you've forgotten to tie.  Then beta readers, then editing rounds, copy-editing rounds, I'm sick to death of this book rounds...  In theory I should make my provisional release date of 3 October.

Now that release is getting closer, one of the things I'm turning my mind to is promotion.

I have a comfortably minimalist approach to promotion (ie. it's not something I enjoy so I don't spoil my fun with it).  I've had my Goodreads giveaway ticking away in the background since May, which has at least made the book a blip on some readers' radar.  I ran a single ad on a blog (The Book Smugglers) where I know I gained a few readers, so that any of those readers who don't follow me have a chance to notice it.  I'll run an ebook giveaway on my blog for those who do follow me!

The one thing I'm yet to decide relates to a site called NetGalley.  NetGalley is a review copy distribution site used by many publishers.  It is possible (but rare) for self-publishers to place a book on the site (for a fee of $399 per book), but whether that will translate to any reviews is another question altogether.  It's not something I'd normally consider, but AAtS is definitely the most commercial book I'm likely to write (the female-focused adult high fantasy I usually produce is _not_ a hot genre) and so I'm at least thinking about it.  [It's not that I can't cover the cost - it's that I'm a self-publisher and thus far less likely to get arc requests than the many many many other books available there.]

But, either way, it's exciting to be nearly finished on this one.  I'm very much looking forward to reader reaction to my pure unmitigated authorial evil some of these plot twists.

5 comments:

  1. I read and review books from Netgalley (among other sources,) but I don't know how their rate of review is for small press/self-pub works. Have you looked into BookRooster? It's a cheaper second (or third) tier service just for Kindle galleys, and it's more indie/self-pub focused. I sometimes end up delaying reading the copies I get through them because they don't have a suggested deadline the way Netgalley ARCs do, but all the books I've looked up that have gone through there have seen a notable uptick in their Amazon reviews. You're probably already more popular than most of the authors who roll through that service, though.

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    1. I've used BookRooster in the past - they are definitely one way to get some Amazon reviews (though I gather they've declined in effectiveness and gone up in price). The thing with BookRooster, though, is it aims to get you 10 reviews, and then stops distributing your book. NetGalley is done on a time period, not a review number, and the question I'm mulling is that while most reviewers will be completely disinterested in it when I first put it up, if it builds a tiny bit of buzz then it will be available - hopefully creating a little snowball effect.

      Hard to say, though - as usual I've abandoned every genre convention you might think of. I think some people will love this book, but others might bounce off it.

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  2. The secret world. There are days when I refuse to turn on the computer so I can get other things done. Its possibly the most addictive MMO I've found for me. I'm still figuring out exactly why.

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    1. It has actual stories! Lots of actual, well-written stories! And the quests are very cleverly constructed to make it feel like you're not doing your standard collectx-killx.

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  3. Very good point. I sit back and watch the cut scenes with fascination. You never know what character motivation the NPC's will have...and they behave like normal people. Of course, there's also the highly variable puzzles and the encouragement to use Google searching - I'm not over the novelty of that yet. I mentioned a morse code puzzle to my Dad and he reminisced about the old guys who could listen to it in full speed like it was in English (and thus knew all the police news by hanging out under the morse operators window).

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