10 May 2013

This Month's Writing Challenge - May and June






 Available at amazon.com for Kindle


This month was always going to be tough. The weather has become warmer, nicer, more enticing, the beer garden is now open and ice cold bottled beers are calling my name. Temptation is all around. Add my birthday to this mix. Double temptation. How to deal with it all?

Take time off from writing, one day off will not damage any credibility I have as an author. Go for it. I went for it, and it was a wonderful day, great sunshine, lots of ice cold drinks and fun with family and friends.

Back to writing now.

This month I have already completed two out of three stages of promoting my new novel. Perhaps you need to read this sentence again:

I have already competed two out of three stages of promoting my new novel. 

One thing you need to do when you are planning to publish a new book is let people know. Use social media but bear in mind sometimes one of the rules is not to self-promote products on your social media profile. Check before you do anything, and avoid being banned by the platforms you use. 

Weeks ago, when I planned my novel from start to finish, I also planned my marketing strategy to create interest in this book, PRIOR to my novel being published. 

This works well no matter the genre, and once you have a plan you can add to it or change it as much as you like. Things you can do to create interest in your yet to be published book includes tweeting out a link to preview copies, asking questions and providing the answers for prospective readers to comment on, and participating in forums in advance so that it does not look like you are sending spam by constantly commenting on your posts with endless links to your new book. 

My final challenge for May and June included publishing on time.

This has been a real challenge for me given all the distractions this month has presented. 

Once I had advertised the publication date I was pretty much tied to it. This is one of the advantages of pre-selling your new book by marketing pre-publication, you can create advance interest in the book, and carry the momentum through to the publication date.   

Now it's published, I'm ready for the next writing challenge!


Ruby Binns-Cagney is a successful self-published Author at smashwords.com and at Amazon.com for Kindle.