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Posts Tagged ‘amazon kindle’

Why Should Anyone Read This?

September 13, 2012

“The Writer’s Pen”

I usually try to resist tooting my own horn (and I usually fail miserably, but I do try).

As an indie writer it’s important to get the word out about your work, because there’s no large publishing conglomerate pushing information about your latest-and-greatest literary effort to the public.

No sexy ad campaign. No colorful billboards. No radio interviews or speaking engagements.

You have to get the word out all by yourself.

But, when you do that, where do you draw the line between marketing effort and general annoyance?

A Fine Line
I don’t want to slam “buy my books” all over the place (although there are less-than-subtle links to places to buy them all along the margin of the blog, and frequently here in the text). I hope to actually have folks read what I write here because it’s occasionally interesting.

So I will only mention once that my debut novel “Reichold Street” was chosen as the Gold Medal Winner (young adult genre) in the 2012 Readers Favorite Awards, and let it go at that. Although you really should take a look at it. You might like it. Here’s the book trailer.

‘Nuff said.

Here’s the “Reichold Street” trailer:

Tags:amazon kindle, barnes & noble books, book marketing, gold medal winner, indie writers
Posted in Award-Winning Fiction, Book Promotion, Book Trailer, Branding, Market Your Book, Self-Published | 5 Comments »

What Am I Waiting For?

July 16, 2012

“The Mailbox” © R.L. Herron

I took this picture of a rural mailbox some time ago. I’ve used it before, but it seemed somehow appropriate to use it again today. Why? Because I’ve just been sitting around, waiting, as if there were something coming in the mail I didn’t want to miss.

This morning I couldn’t have told you what it was I might be waiting for. Not even if you held a hot poker to my face and threatened to brand me. I honest-to-God didn’t know what it could be.

I thought perhaps it was that elusive noun called “inspiration” I was trying to find, now that the nine-to-five routine is behind me and I’ve taken to writing full time. But that wasn’t it. My mind is full of stories.

I published my debut novel last March, and completed two different short story collections in May. I tell everyone I’m working on my next novel, but my normal writing routine of a thousand words a day is woefully behind schedule.

For the past two months I’ve been trying to figure out how to get some positive marketing out for those first books. How to drive traffic to this blog or to my web site, Broken Glass. Despite being in advertising and marketing for all those years, it’s hard work.

On the plus side, my novel, “Reichold Street” is one of the finalists for the 2012 Readers Favorite Award and I’ll be heading to the Miami International Book Fair for the ceremony this fall.

I’d much rather be writing, not that it’s easier. It isn’t. It’s damn hard work. It’s just more fulfilling. Not writing feels like giving up. And, as I rediscovered talking to one of my blog followers today, it’s something I promised not to do.

So, I’m headed back to the keyboard for a while to catch up with the number of words I should have cranked out by now. Thanks again for the reminder, Pop.

Tags:amazon books, amazon kindle, Miami International Book Fair, Nook e-books, Readers Favorite finalist, writer
Posted in Award-Winning Fiction, Awards, Book Promotion, Market Your Book | 1 Comment »

Print on Demand

July 8, 2012

I know a lot of people who swore they would never buy an e-Book. “Why would I want to curl up with a computer to read? I like the feel of real books.”

Many of these same people now carry around their Kindle, or Nook, or i-Pad everywhere they go and, guess what? There are an awful lot of books downloaded on these devices.

Publisher’s Weekly announced that unit sales of print books fell 10.2% in the first six months of 2011. In a survey taken six months earlier, PW found that, among the major formats, e-Book sales across all categories had risen 38.9%.

Is this the demise of printed books?

Maybe. Maybe not.

I used to think print was here to stay. As a writer, and an avid reader, I really, really liked printed books. That was until I ran out of bookshelf space.

Last year alone, I donated 175 hardcover and paperback books to charity, because I no longer had any place to store them, and they were worth more as a donation than I could get for them anywhere else.

I bought a Kindle and was amazed – and delighted – at the 30 novels downloaded onto it for an extended absence from home. Simple and convenient, and astoundingly easy to use, it was a most convincing argument for the death of printed books.

Then I recently read a fascinating blog that told me about a new print-on-demand machine sold by On Demand Books that allows you, for about one cent per page, to print and bind a novel in the time it takes the barista at your favorite coffee house to make your double latte.

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