Flood-the-market campaign
So what is this promotion I have been talking about anyways? It is allowing readers to get the hardcover of FotU for below printing costs in our flood-the-market campaign. The printing costs are already taken care of so now it is time to have fun and get more readers ready for book two. Hopefully Barnes & Noble will get back to me soon. Because I did promise something, what I have did for any blog visitors that visit today, I have posted a few copies on Amazon.com of the Hardcover version of Faith of the Unforgotten for .99 cents. This covers their .99 cent commission and the shipping costs. Everybody would take a free book if I shipped it, but if a couple dollars are spent, then there is more of a chance that the book will actually be read. The books are under Amazon's "Used and New" section.
My Journey:
The first year of publication I pushed rather hard on marketing. Barnes & Noble took a bunch of copies national and did some BN book signing around the Michigan area. The eBook version of FotU one the 2006 EPPIE Award for the Children/Young Adult/Tween division, and we are currently working on a teen-friendly, Christian 3D online game for the series.
I figured with all that under my belt, it was time to approach the other publishers again. Before publication I originally approached the more mainstream publishers since that was who I was used to. The last year though, I have focused on the Christian publishers. Originally fantasy in the Christian publishers was pretty much unheard of, now it is getting better. But unfortunately, it is still going rather slow. Either the publishers are already booked up or I don't even hear back.
The original release of book two was planned for April 2006. I wanted to spend the year to take that chance of getting picked up by a larger publisher. Plus add in life, work, a 1 year old, 2 1/2 year old, and a 10 year old, and well book two isn't totally finished yet. Now I have readers and libraries e-mailing me asking about book two. I finally have decided that it looks like that the larger publisher path is not going to happen, so I need to get my head back in the game and start preparing for the launch of book two.
Originally FotU was marketed to a wide spectrum. Mainstream fantasy readers, young adult readers, and Christian YA readers. We are going to refocus everything on the YA and Christian YA readers now. So if I am to compete against the top names out there on those shelves, I have I am going to have to flood-the-market with a lower priced book one. If this means lowering the price just enough to break even, that is fine. I will go back for as many print runs as it takes. If anybody has read FotU, it is pretty clear why this is such a marketing ploy for book two. You know the ending :-) Every reader that reads FotU says, "Where is book two?"
Next year we will launch the paperback versions of FotU and Into the Darkness. There are also a couple top Christian YA authors that have been willing to checkout FotU and possibly give a personal endorsement for the back covers of the paperbacks. I can't wait to hear what they have to say. I have only known what reviewers and readers have had to say about FotU. It is actually really scary to know the book is in the hands of these authors. Will they think the story and writing is worthy to put their name on the back cover? Man, I can only hope so.
My Journey:
The first year of publication I pushed rather hard on marketing. Barnes & Noble took a bunch of copies national and did some BN book signing around the Michigan area. The eBook version of FotU one the 2006 EPPIE Award for the Children/Young Adult/Tween division, and we are currently working on a teen-friendly, Christian 3D online game for the series.
I figured with all that under my belt, it was time to approach the other publishers again. Before publication I originally approached the more mainstream publishers since that was who I was used to. The last year though, I have focused on the Christian publishers. Originally fantasy in the Christian publishers was pretty much unheard of, now it is getting better. But unfortunately, it is still going rather slow. Either the publishers are already booked up or I don't even hear back.
The original release of book two was planned for April 2006. I wanted to spend the year to take that chance of getting picked up by a larger publisher. Plus add in life, work, a 1 year old, 2 1/2 year old, and a 10 year old, and well book two isn't totally finished yet. Now I have readers and libraries e-mailing me asking about book two. I finally have decided that it looks like that the larger publisher path is not going to happen, so I need to get my head back in the game and start preparing for the launch of book two.
Originally FotU was marketed to a wide spectrum. Mainstream fantasy readers, young adult readers, and Christian YA readers. We are going to refocus everything on the YA and Christian YA readers now. So if I am to compete against the top names out there on those shelves, I have I am going to have to flood-the-market with a lower priced book one. If this means lowering the price just enough to break even, that is fine. I will go back for as many print runs as it takes. If anybody has read FotU, it is pretty clear why this is such a marketing ploy for book two. You know the ending :-) Every reader that reads FotU says, "Where is book two?"
Next year we will launch the paperback versions of FotU and Into the Darkness. There are also a couple top Christian YA authors that have been willing to checkout FotU and possibly give a personal endorsement for the back covers of the paperbacks. I can't wait to hear what they have to say. I have only known what reviewers and readers have had to say about FotU. It is actually really scary to know the book is in the hands of these authors. Will they think the story and writing is worthy to put their name on the back cover? Man, I can only hope so.
posted by Leathel at 11:20 PM
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