Real-time Promotions

indie-author-go-kart-658444_960_720Being an indie author has its perks. One of our advantages over the big guys is that we can react faster to changing circumstances. You could say that while they’re driving Humvees, we’re driving Mini-Coopers; while they’re piloting a hulking Armageddon machine, we’ve got go-kart handling.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of current events. Big publishers who want to take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime event have to start planning a couple of years ahead of time. And they’re lousy at reacting quickly to the big news of the day. Think about 9/11: we didn’t start seeing books about it on store shelves until years after the fact. That’s because publishers first had to find somebody with a manuscript, and then they had to go through all the usual gymnastics required for getting a book into print.

As indies, we can react a lot faster. In late 2011, I started paying attention to the hype about the supposedly imminent end of the world in December 2012. Like most people, I was pretty sure that no world-shattering events would be happening that day. But what if things started small? I was already thinking about trying my hand at urban fantasy for National Novel Writing Month. One thought led to another, and the result was Seized, the first book in the Pipe Woman Chronicles. And when the fateful winter solstice rolled around in December 2012, I was able to promote the first three books in my series with an end-of-the-world countdown.

It helps that I’m a plotter. As part of my outline for this series, I use an actual calendar to keep track of what’s supposed to happen day-to-day in each book.
So I knew that in the third book, the main character was going to go to South Dakota in March 2013 in search of her father. At the beginning of this month, I realized that we coming up on the date when Naomi’s trip was supposed to start. So I dug out the stock photos I’d used for my book trailer, found a few more on Wikipedia, and used them in a daily “vacation photo” feature on my Facebook page. I also put all of the pictures on a Pinterest board.

Don’t think for one minute that I planned the series with these promotional hooks in mind. I’m nowhere near that organized – or that sneaky. My head is firmly embedded in my author’s hat when I write. It’s only later that the promotional part of my brain wakes up and says, “Hey, isn’t Naomi supposed to do such-and-such next week? I bet I can do something with that.”

I’m not sure how much more mileage I’m going to get out of this idea of real-time promotions. But one thing is certain: if I’d dreamed up this series in late 2011 and tried to publish it the traditional way, I wouldn’t be posting a real-time travelogue on my Facebook page for the third book in 2013. Instead, I’d be lucky to have the first book in print at all.

Author: Lynne Cantwell

Lynne Cantwell grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. She worked as a broadcast journalist for many years; she has written for CNN, the late lamented Mutual/NBC Radio News, and a bunch of radio and TV news outlets you have probably never heard of, including a defunct wire service called Zapnews. But she began as a fantasy writer (in the second grade), and is back at it today. She currently lives near Washington, DC. Learn more about Lynne at her blog and at her Amazon author page.

8 thoughts on “Real-time Promotions”

  1. Great post Lynne, and I think you’re right about the advantages we have as Indies. I guess sometimes it’s hard to remember the glass can also be half full.

  2. Interesting and very right. We Indies can react so much faster than Trad publishers. In my Dragonslayer’s Saga, I use dates to keep track of my 13 “main” characters. Does something important happen on a particular date? Am I going to have my antagonists blow something up on a holiday? 4th of July? The UN General Council meeting? And where does it all go from there? Yes, must be organized when tackling a large body of work. The DS series will have the 4th book out this fall, and a 5th is in the works. The same can be said for my “Space” series, although I use what I call “alien time” to keep track of events.

    Excellent and thought provoking post!

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