Mood:
not sureTopic: Self-publishing
I've done a few things over the two weeks.
First, I had a flash of inspiration and created a marketing e-flyer, nicely embellished with photos and color. I thought the endeavour to be quite professional, if I might say so myself :)
Then, in a blaze of pride and glory, I sent it to the forum for Writers' Guild ... and had my first lesson... Ouch! Never, never assume that everyone has broadband. Keep the file small to avoid unpleasant reminders. Gun for the pictures, for they are the main culprit, hogging the most mega'bites'. LOL. Prune these by recreating them in lower resolution. The effect is still good and blessedly, the file size cut down, in my first marketing pitch that became a hiccup, from 1 MB to a decent 0.4 MB.
And then, I had my second brain-wave *grin* Why not try a new model of channel e-marketing. So, I created one and announced it to selected parties. One publisher responded in candid terms saying that the idea is actually some sort of an affiliate program which needs to be automated. The positive side of things was that he committed to getting an affiliate program running in two months. I'll definitely link up with him then. I've yet to hear from two others that I've approached. Needless to say, my friends just took it in good faith and became channels to publicise my book. Bless them!
With the pilots behind me, I have now announced the book to a slightly wider audience, including friends from a writers' class, SWCO, BookCouncil and also a fan forum. Keeping fingers and toes crossed :)
Su Yin
http://gentlecloud.tripod.com
