JoZebwrites

So, here's how it happened. My aunt and uncle took a signed book over to my uncle'a sister who had ordered one. And they photographed her reading it under a Welsh roadsign. And then, on their joint holiday, they took another, this time in a library in Italy. Meanwhile, in the land down under an online friend was patiently waiting for her copy and I joked we should have followed it on its journey. So when it reached her, she posted an upside down photo. At which point a friend in Canada received his and photographed it. And suddenly a world tour was happening. And that's where we're at. We've had the book at Tower Bridge in London today. It'a going to Portugal later. There are rumours of America and Geordie land. And so, it begins. And if I sell a million copies I'll follow it around the world. :)

Promoting your book - part three: Social Media I took part in an online discusssion around about the time I was starting to seriously seek agents about whether an aspiring author should have an online presence, or could that wait until a book had come out. The perceived wisdom was that a website and at least one strong social media platform was the least someone should set up. Up until then, I had an aversion to all things social media. I'm a reasonably private person, I don't do lots of exciting whizzy-bang things - I had little to write about. But I held my nose, did some research and decided to dive into the whirl of Twitter. I held out on Facebook a little longer but bit that bullet a year or so ago, and I joined Goodreads when Abendau's Heir came out. I don't have a shared platform - I tweet and facebook differently and think it's more effective to do so, but many would disagree with that. So, the pros and cons: TWITTER I find Twitter great for links ...

I'm taking part in an authors' roundtable on the fantastic www.sffworld.com and one of the questions I was asked was, if I was dreaming, what I'd love to see happen to my novel. I suppose best seller lists come to mind, or TV adaptations, or movies. Not for me. My dream is of a rock-opera by Muse. I even have the playlist, which I'm going to share in a moment. But first, here's the whys and wherefores: I've had Abendau in my head for 25 years. I've also quite liked music with good bass for much of that time (I blame having my first crush on a bass player for that). When I came to write my novel, I was listening a lot to the likes of Muse and, being a space loving girl with a conflicted hero who thinks pretty deeply (and isn't that conventional for a space hero) the lyrics and flavour of the music, touched on what I was trying to capture in the book. So much so, that certain scenes in the book play in my mind when I'm listening to the song (especi...

So, continuing the Promo - what works for me season, this week I present: Selling at Cons. This weekend I was lucky enough to have my first experience of a Comic con as a published author. I went with Dept 51, the sff arm of the Easons stores, and had a table to the side for me to sign at and chat to potential victims -- sorry, readers... My observations/tips 1. Find a way to let the people passing know you are the author. For the first day, few realised and that definitely had an impact on interest. Later, I used a business card as a badge and that helped, but a picture of me to put on the poster, for instance, would have been good. Also, some detail of my reviews would have been good, maybe the headlines of them. It was useful saying I had good reviews but the evidence wasn't there. 2. Have a couple of approaches/blurbs in mind. A grimdark space opera was the quickest way in for me, but buzz words like character-led and a description of the Inverted Chosen One concept (...

I wrote a book that I knew was a little dark in places, but considered to be not outstandingly so, especially in this age of Grimdark. I've read my share of GRRM and Lawrence (barely got through the dog scene). I've enjoyed @Lord Grimdark's books a lot, but I didn't consider that I might be writing something that mirrored the darkness of the genre, albeit in a flashy Space Opera setting with zippy space battles and futuristic palaces. Then, I started to get reviews. And there was a theme: "In places this book is dark and disturbing, dragging the reader in to share the trials Kare endures, but I found it impossible to put down." (Miss Moppitt) "This is a dark story, which was a bit unexpected: to me. It's a tragedy wrapped in a dark world." (J.L.Dobias) I'm a big believer in reflection, so I had to have a stop and think about why I'd written something so dark. I'm a pretty bright and breezy person. Heck, I barely even wear b...

Taking a break from my promotional advice - part two, coming soon, I just wanted to let it brew for a day or two - and instead wanting to share something of my world. 1. It's dark. It's not for those looking light stories. Abendau is a world where actions are important. Things are predicted, which might come true. Paths are hinted at but may not be the right ones. Good characters have their flaws and do unforgiveable things - bad characters occasionally surprise and will more in future books. 2. It's epic. I didn't mean to write an epic but it grew and grew and now it is. It has dynasties and politics. Multiple planets. People with histories. Some of it is only hinted at for now, but it's all there to be built on. 3. It tackles hard subjects. What we can do to others. How weak we can be in adversity. How hard it is to shake things off. It's epic with humans in. It's an epic story told from real people's point of views, allowing subjects to be explo...

Today I did a search on Amazon, asking to see books in a specified genre based on average customer ratings. So far, so good. A sure-fire way for me, as the customer, to choose how I selected a book. Just like going to a bookshop and looking through the Top 10 in a section and deciding if they appealed. A way of not having to trawl through reams of reams of books but use a search to narrow that. Then I looked at the search results. The top book was a 3.5 star, followed by the 5 star book. There was a 4 and a no-rating on the front page. Turning to page two, there were more no-ratings, with some 4s and 3s mixed in there. That wasn't what I had asked for as a parameter to make my choice. So, I looked up my own book. It's sitting on a pretty good star rating - 4.75 across 3 reviews on Amazon UK, 4 across 2 reviews on US, and 5 across 4 ratings on Goodreads. Pretty consistent. A good parameter, maybe, as to whether the book is worth picking up. (There are others, of course, man...