Updated: Jul 25, 2022
Safe Harbor's back cover. Pretty classy, eh?
Safe Harbor is now on Amazon! Shortlisted for Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association’s Debut Dagger in 2010, my baby has finally arrived, thanks to Imajin Books.
The ebook can be purchased here, and read on a Kindle reader, PC, laptop, tablet and Smartphone.
The paperback will be released April 15. At the left you can see its back cover. Pretty classy, eh?
This is one fabulous day!
Updated: Jul 25, 2022
Hey, fellow authors on Twitter and Facebook. You know what really bugs me about some of you?
Incessantly posting “Buy my book” with links to where I can purchase it. I’m supposed to buy your book because you’ve flooded my feed with your advertising? Yeah, right! You’ve just turned me in the opposite direction. Every time I see your name, I automatically scroll down.
Another turnoff is constantly begging for reviews of your book. Jeez!
Don’t you understand that all this energy you’re expending is counterproductive? It’s like going on a date with someone you’ve just met who pulls out a wedding ring an hour into the evening. Your first thought is to run.
Why not advertise your book once, maybe twice or three times, then keep your name at the top of my mind by posting something interesting? A post about how you came up with your book’s title. A blurb about what real-life person inspired you to create your protagonist. A contest with one of your books as the prize. A review of another author’s book, an interview with an author, or news about the publishing world and your take on it.
Then plug your book again.
There are so many things you can come up with that would make me want to read further posts from you. And, down the road, when I feel I know you, I might want to buy your book.
And, better still, why not spend some time reTweeting some of the more interesting posts in your Twitter feed? Make some friends. They may return the favour and RT your posts to their 20,000 followers.
All this takes time, I know. But everything worthwhile does.
Clue into the fact that social media is about giving, not just getting. It is about building a community.
Updated: Jul 25, 2022
I’m going piggybacking with friend and fellow journalist Al Emid.
Al’s second book, Financial Recovery in a Fragile World, which he wrote with Robert Ironside and Evelyn Jacks, came out earlier this month. It’s an advice book that tells readers how to survive and thrive in uncertain financial times.
Safe Harbor, my debut novel, is a murder mystery with a financial advisor as its central character.
The two are clearly quite different. But they’re also opposite sides of the same financial coin.
Al, whose articles have run in the Globe and Mail, the National Post and the Ottawa Citizen, and a slew of other publications, suggested that we do a joint book sale and signing when Safe Harbor comes out in paperback. We could split the costs, which would mean savings for both of us.
Then we realized there could be many more advantages, such as tapping other markets. I will hopefully benefit from introducing Al’s friends and colleagues to Safe Harbor. They may buy it. They may talk about it as well. And people I know can buy Financial Recovery and learn how to get their financial houses in order.
It’s called piggybacking: teaming up with a non-competing partner to our mutual benefit.
And because our books are so different, there’ll be a humorous side to our venture that will help build the buzz. Maybe we can come up with a catchy slogan to promote our sale and signing. How about Markets Can be Murder?
Once again, it’s about people sparking ideas off people. About networking and building communities.
I’m now counting the days till Safe Harbor‘s debut. Fifty-three to go for the e-book. Eighty-four for the paperback.
And, yes, I’ll be having my very own book launch too!
More on that later.