The Arid Lands promotion update: (May 2024)

Here is my latest update on the various promotional activities I have undertaken to try to spread the word about my self-published books, and how successful or otherwise these activities have been.

1. Social Media

I continued to be active on social media promoting my books. I’ve pretty much dropped Twitter/X and increased my engagement on threads. I don’t just promote my books there, I try to interact more but have a pinned post with my book details. My author IG is however nearly all book promotion. Social media doesn’t appear to sell books but is useful for spotting opportunities.

2. Review blogs

The review blogs I approached resulted in one review but that review was posted across many platforms. I had approached 16 review blogs. Two asked for money so I didn’t take things any further. Speaking to other indie authors who have tried this one out of 14 is pretty much to be expected. It’s quite a time-consuming endeavour but will be worth doing again.

3. Indieverse awards

This was an opportunity I spotted on Threads. There were a number of free to enter categories as well as paid categories, but I only entered the free ones as I didn’t want to pay for something which is pretty much an unknown. The awards ended up being massively oversubscribed and the organiser implemented some sort of vetting/screening process which is very opaque. However as organiser it’s up to her how she manages this. Nominations were announced on 18th March and unsurprisingly The Arid Lands didn’t make the cut. She has promised opportunities for vetted authors who were not nominated. It remains to be seen how this pans out.

4. Collaboration with other authors

I started looking for ways to collaborate with other authors. The first was with a group of SF authors I knew through SPSFC3. We set up a discord and looked into ways to try to promote our books. I made some group graphics on Canva which we shared. We discussed various ideas such as group sales and largely decided to share opportunities as these arise. I’m not sure how this will evolve. We shall see.

I also joined a readers/authors group being run by someone on threads and entered The Arid Lands into their database. Again, I’m not sure how this is going to evolve.

So in conclusion, of all the activities so far, it still looks like free deals and participation in SPSFC3 as discussed in my December 2023 update have been the most worthwhile

The Arid Lands and Red Rock promotion update:

Here is my latest update on the various promotional activities I have undertaken to try to spread the word about my self-published books, and how successful or otherwise these activities have been.

1. Social Media

I continued to promote Red Rock and The Arid Lands on Twitter/X, IG, my Facebook/Meta page, Threads and Discord. I did pick up sales of The Arid Lands on preorder and downloads of Red Rock from my free promotions, as well as the occasional sale of both outside of promotion.

2. Red Rock free kindle deals

The first free deal which ran for 3 days to coincide with the ten-year anniversary of Red Rock first being published resulted in a modest number of downloads but at least I was reaching potential new readers. I will have to wait and see how many of these translate into reviews.

The second 2 day free deal for Red Rock was run to coincide with the launch of The Arid Lands and produced a similar result.

3. SPSFC3

This contest (The Self Published SF Competition) will run for a year and the first phase, where I fully expect to get culled judging by the quality of some of the other contestants in my group, will run for 5 months. Initially there was no uptick in sales but it is likely that this is where my new downloads during the free offers came from. However, the contest did enable me to gain more visibility for my writing, which is always a good thing, and may well have contributed to those sales I did gain.

4. Review bloggers

I started approaching reviewers with The Arid Lands as soon as it was live for preorder on Amazon and I had set it up on Goodreads. My first observation was how many are asking for money for reviews. I’m not interested in paying but it’s clearly a lucrative industry. I passed over these guys and pitched the book to anyone who looked as if it would be a good fit. It takes a long time to thoroughly check out each review site so I sent these out in dribs and drabs throughout the preorder period. At launch date I had pitched/submitted to 20 reviewers. It is impossible to tell how many, if any, will result in reviews at this stage.

So in conclusion, of all the activities so far, it looks like free deals and participation in SPSFC3 have been the most worthwhile. I will have to look out for more opportunities like this.

Twitter Pitch Contests

Every so often twitter fills up with people pitching their novels in twitter pitch contests. I watch these with interest and sometimes take part. There are a whole raft of contests that run, the main one being #PitMAD but others like #SFFPit and #DivPit crop up at regular intervals.

Over the course of following several of these contests I have made a few observations which I thought I would share with you on the pros and cons of these types of event.

Pros:

1. Distilling the essence of your story into a single tweet is a really good exercise. It makes you think about what your novel is really about and what makes it unique.

2. Looking at the pitches that get a lot of love can help your develop your own pitch, and it’s useful to be able to pitch your book in a single sentence. You never know when that might come in handy.

3. You get a sense of what is popular, both within the US market and in what people are writing. This can fluctuate a lot as the market changes but seeing what’s popular gives an idea of what’s hot right now.

4. I’d never really thought about comparison titles before, but again, it’s a good thing to think about. Where does your book fit with the market? Where do you see it on the bookstore shelves?

5. There’s a lot of camaraderie among participating authors, retweeting the pitches that catch their eye. If you want to connect with other authors on twitter this is a good opportunity.

6. Going to an agent’s profile and looking at what sort of pitches they’ve liked gives you a good idea of what they are looking for. If they’re liking stuff similar to yours it’s probably worth submitting to them, even if they haven’t liked your particular pitch – they could quite simply have missed it in all the noise.

Cons:

1. The feed is public and there’s nothing to stop people picking up on that brilliant idea you just tweeted and going away and doing their own thing with it, so if this is something that worries you, best not to pitch yourself.

2. Not all agents and publishers are made the same and there are definitely some dodgy ones that follow these contests. So if you do get a like from someone you haven’t heard of spend a little time on research. You’re under no obligation to actually submit if you don’t like the look of them.

3. It’s very US focussed. That doesn’t mean International authors such as myself can’t submit but most of the participating agents and publishers are American so they’ll be looking for work that fits the US market.

4. The feed is incredibly busy so don’t overthink it if you don’t get any love. Concentrate on the positives you can take away.

Analysis: Maximum Ride. The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

My daughter’s friend introduced her to these and the series turned out to be a huge hit. She’s read the whole lot and is hungry for more. So of course, I read the first one to see what this was all about.

Now as you have probably already gathered I am particularly fond of thrillers. I’ve enjoyed the James Patterson’s adult thrillers that I’ve read – including ‘When the Wind Blows’ which is the book in which the character of Max first appears – albeit in a somewhat different guise. So I was eager to see what his Young Adult fiction was like.

Well this is one rollercoaster of a ride. It hits the ground running and the pace picks up speed from there. There’s no let up – one thrill after another. Whereas in most books the pacing varies between fast and moderate this one varies between very fast and extremely fast. I was almost breathless reading it.

However the disadvantage of this is that there isn’t much room for character development and I never really empathised with Max. I didn’t feel that the other characters had much depth either.

But I don’t think that matters here. What kids relate to best with these characters is their alienation – after all – you can’t get much more alienated than being a mutant kid with wings. And for your average teenager this is going to be a big part of the appeal.

When the book ends it’s very obvious that the story isn’t over by a long stretch. The plot is left hanging. You feel like you’ve only read the first chapter, so it’s not surprising the daughter was champing at the bit to get onto the next one.

Analysis: High Octane Thrills

http://www.maximumride.co.uk/

A Round up of Reviews

I’ve been catching up on a bit of Children’s and Young Adult reading recently. It’s a good idea to keep up with the genre in which you write and since I’m writing thrillers for a younger audience this is what I’ve been reading:

I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
Teenager John moves from town to town, always on the run, always desperate to fit in. But he has a secret. Once there were nine, three are dead and he is next – he is number four.

Blood Ties by Sophie McKenzie
Theo and Rachel think they know who they are, but when Theo finds out that the father he thought was dead is in fact still alive they discover a truth about their identities that will change everything for ever.

Ice Shock by MG Harris
The second instalment in The Joshua Files - Josh’s search for the truth about his father’s death leads back to Mexico and to the discovery of a shocking secret.

So what did I think of them?

First of all I’d like to say that I enjoyed all three of these in different ways. They were all very readable, but not always that satisfying.

I am Number Four has had a huge amount of hype and yet I found it something of a disappointment. It was all just a bit too predictable, and too obviously setting up the rest of the series. Even so it hooked me in and kept me reading. Yes I enjoyed it but no, I won’t be rushing out to buy the next one.

Blood Ties and Ice shock on the other hand are a far more satisfying read. Both have sound central concepts, engaging characters and quality plotting.

Blood Ties reads very much as a stand alone, although I do see there is a sequel. I particularly like the way the author developed her characters, and how they overcame their respective vulnerabilities. It’s a cracking story that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Ice Shock is the second in a five book series and as a result the series arc is more developed. However this in no way detracts from the story at hand. I read the first book, Invisible City, a while ago, but I think this one is much better. The author left me satisfied and yet wanting more. Now there’s a skill I hope I manage to master one day. I’m pleased to see that books 3 and 4 are already out and the final one will come out next year. Off to the bookshop for me.

Does anyone have any other recommendations in this genre?

Analysis: Invisible City by MG Harris

Apart from the fantastic neon orange cover sleeve, I was drawn to this book because the author is a member of a writing forum I belong to and I had been reading about her success with interest.

So I bought a copy and gave it to the daughter to read.

However this is one that she put down part way though and when I asked her why she told me that one of the characters had died and she didn’t want to read it any more.

Interesting. So I read it myself.

Now I love these sorts of adventure books and I thought it was really very good. MG Harris writes superbly well and Josh has a strong and engaging voice. The plotting is excellently woven with enough intrigue to keep the pages turning and enough excitement to keep you on the edge of your seat. Josh is very much on his own and there’s a lot at stake – two elements that are key to this type of story. I was really rooting for him, and I felt his highs and lows along the way.

I thought it was great and I’ll certainly be reading more of this series. But the question is - why didn’t my daughter?

Well this book is very much aimed at boys. Of course plenty of girls love this sort of thing – I’m one of them – but from what my daughter told me I think she was looking for a female protagonist to engage with. In fact I’ve noticed that all the books she loves either have a female in the leading role or one of the MCs sidekicks is female.

So what I think happened here is that she started to engage with a particular female character who was introduced to the plot, but when that character was killed off she didn’t want to read on any further and that is why she put it down. Interestingly there is another female character in Invisible City, but it was the death of Josh’s sister that stopped her reading. Maybe because Josh was so emotionally involved then she, as the reader, was too.

Shame really because she’s missed out on a good story.

Analysis: Adventure for Boys

http://www.joshuafiles.co.uk/

Analysis: The Thieves of Ostia by Caroline Lawrence

This is the first novel in the Roman Mysteries series. I picked it up in an offer in Waterstones and gave it to my daughter to read since they were doing the Romans in school at that time.

She devoured it, worked her way through all the subsequent stories that were published, and then waited eagerly for each new volume to appear dragging me into town so that I could buy it for her. So I thought I’d better read one of them to find out what it was that gave them their appeal. Actually I’ve read a few of them because they’re really rather good, but I’m just going to concentrate on the first one here.

This is a wonderful book that really brings Ancient Rome to life – you can almost taste the figs and smell the dusty streets. And it’s a good story – an adventure mystery set in the ancient world.

But what I think gives this book its appeal is the characters. We have Flavia, a well bred Roman girl, her slave Nubia, Jonathan the Jewish boy next door (who is really a Christian) and Lupus the deaf mute beggar boy. These are a group of characters that are really well drawn and authentic, that the reader really empathises with and cares about. They have great depth and each of them reflects an aspect of Roman society. They drive the story forwards and when the novel ends you don’t want to leave them.

My analysis: Engaging Characters

http://www.romanmysteries.com/pages/50-Home_Page

Analysis: Frozen in Time by Ali Sparkes

My daughter thrust this book into my hands one morning.

“Mum, you’ve got to read this – it’s really gripping – it won the Blue Peter award for book you can’t put down,” she said, as she dashed off to catch the school bus.

In fact she’d been up half the night reading it. So there has to be something about this book that makes it so special.

I read it, and she was right. It is really gripping. The question is, why?

I think there are a number of reasons that this book works so well.

The obvious ones are pacing, Ali manages to get this just right, and tension - the slow build up of the unanswered questions and suspicious characters – both of which draw the reader towards the story’s thrilling climax. It has all the elements of a good thriller – a brilliant scientist – cryogenics – government conspiracy – Russian spies and the underlying mysterious disappearance to cap it all!

But in my opinion what makes this book special is the underlying killer concept.

Kids these days love Enid Blyton just as much as they did 60 years ago. I loved them and my kids love them. Go into any bookshop and you’ll see at least one entire shelf dedicated to the likes of the Famous Five and the Secret Seven.

So to take two kids from the fifties, who might have walked straight out of these books, and transplant them into the 21st Century is going to be good. We’re familiar enough with the era (thanks to Enid) to enjoy their reaction to our modern world, and this brings in some lovely touches of humour which balance the tension so very well. And conversely we have the reaction of the modern kids to the old 50s equipment and attitudes.

And it is this combination of the old meets the new that, in my opinion, really gives this book its edge.

So in a nutshell, my analysis of this one is: Killer Concept.

http://www.alisparkes.com/

The Books my Children Love

I’ve been reading a lot of children’s literature these past few years. I started off, like most parents, reading to my kids, rediscovering the old favourites and discovering new ones along the way. Then as the kids began to read for themselves I started to read what they were reading – just to monitor – oh who am I kidding – it’s because there are some really good stories out there and I simply couldn’t help myself!!

And of course, since I find myself increasingly drawn towards writing for a younger audience, I’m reading them as a writer - curious to see what I can learn from these other writer’s success.

So it seems appropriate for me to start to review some of the books I’ve been pinching off my kids – the ones they can’t put down – asking the question ‘what makes them work so well?’ and trying to answer it from a writer’s perspective.

I’ll be posting these analyses on this blog, so keep an eye out for them. But I’m also going to look at some of the books that they didn’t get on with, and try to work out why they stopped reading where they did, and what we, as writers, can learn from that!