book release countdown

So, only two weeks left until The Clockwork Giant release. I always wanted to publish a novel by the time I was 25. Looks like I’m ahead of schedule.

At the beginning of last week, I started my marketing efforts, sending review copies to book bloggers and advanced reader copies to my giveaway winners. People are reading my book, possibly at this very moment, and to be honest, it’s a bit surreal.

I’m already having dreams (nightmares?) about book reviews, and I know my husband is sick and tired of me asking if he thinks the book will do well. What if I get nothing but bad reviews? What if no one likes the book? What if it’s awful? etc. This all goes with my insecurity as a writer, of course. And I know that if the book was bad, my beta readers would have said something—right? Well, whatever the outcome of this release, it’s too late to turn back now. I queried about thirty book bloggers to consider The Clockwork Giant for review, and already, nine blogs have agreed to read and review it. I gave away eight copies of the book as part of the giveaway. Now I just have to wait for those people to post their reviews and hope that they liked it.

I’m really depending on these reviews to help my book do well. If no one likes my book, then all my marketing efforts will be wasted. On the flip side, if a lot of people like it, then the book will carry its own weight and will likely market itself. Word of mouth is a powerful thing. As are reviews. And they could make or break my book release.

I’m still going to make an effort obviously. I hope to get a few interviews and guest posts going around the book release (so if you want either from me, please let me know) to help generate buzz. I know that they don’t garner sales as well as reviews, but if one person remembers my name and the title of my book, it’s worth it. When you search my name plus "writer", "author", or "steampunk", I get most of the hits on the first page. And my book title actually gets a few hits, though I'm beat by the clockwork constructs in World of Warcraft. I have my book trailer, which has gotten 156 views as of writing this post. My website is also up, though I have no idea how many people have visited it since it went live. I’m as active as I care to be on Google+ and Twitter, but Facebook is sorely neglected. I don’t want to come across as fake—only joining conversations in order to promote myself. It drives me crazy when other people do it. I’ll join a conversation I’m interested in and skip out on everything else. And most of the stuff I talk about on Google+ is not at all writing related. I actually had an intelligent conversation about Twilight the other day, and I only ranted once about my hatred of Jacob Black. So there you go.

As far as the marketing thing goes, I don’t know what else to do. I wish I could put my book up for pre-order, but KDP and PubIt! don’t like that. Anything you guys think would help my marketing efforts? (and seriously, if you would like a guest post or interview from me, let me know.)

I feel bad putting myself out there like that, almost begging people for reviews, interviews, and guest posts. It makes me feel cheap. I know it’s necessary, and if I want people to hear about my book then I have to get out there and make them listen. But it doesn’t make me feel any better. I had a professor in college who had published a book, and at the beginning of every semester he would promote his book to his students. He’d give us bookmarks and talk about his book at any given opportunity. It was rather off-putting, and I don’t want to be that person. Oh, you like Reese’s cups too? BUY MY BOOK, ON SALE NOW. It doesn’t have Reese’s in it or anything, but there’s this one part where the main character eats a potato pasty, and that’s close right? Ugh.

So, while you’ll probably see more promotional tweets and updates across various sites, I’ll do my very best to keep it at a minimum. I don’t want to spam anyone or sound like an advertisement on repeat.

Two weeks and I’ll be a published writer. How cool, right? And also very scary.

Any marketing tips you have to share? Anything you’d like me to do, or think I should be doing?