23 Nov 2016

Promotions & Christmas

Hello readers!

It has been awhile since Alex updated the Magical Realm—and for this Alex is sorry. You see, yours truly has been rather busy as of late: with the release of the new Necromancer, he has been highly preoccupied obtaining reviews (he is still looking for more!), promoting the book, and of course he still has academic commitments to assuage.

In any case: the topic of this post will, alas, be relatively brief—but I hope informative. I will speak primarily of my efforts in promoting the Necromancer, and some remarks about the process as a whole. I will also touch on the Ark—for some progress has been made there as well—and on other, more miscellaneous matters.

So without further ado...

Promotion, Promotion, Promotion...

Promoting a book is no easy task. There is a reason why many an author is keen to attract the attention of a publisher—and why professional markets can charge significant sums of money for their services. Alas, Alex does not at present have the resources on hand to buy full-page ads in the New York Times, or to hire high-end professionals. Therefore: Alex employs his creativity in other guises.

An important part of promotion is reviews; they are taken into account by retailer algorithms (such as Amazon), they’re used as a measuring stick by promotion companies, and they help the reader decide whether a book is worth their time. It is no surprise, then, that a book needs reviews—and while those reviews should be mostly positive, even less positive reviews can sometimes be to a writer’s benefit.

Alex therefore re-iterates: if you are interested in helping him promote the Necromancer, then please do review his books! Every little helps.

Another key part of marketing is exposure. Now: exposure is a complicated thing, with many different elements. Alex will address two here. The first is categorisation; this helps readers discover your book when they seek out particular kinds of books.

On Amazon, the Necromancer is filed under Dark Fantasy and High Fantasy, and has several pertinent keywords (e.g. ‘Elves,’ ‘Thrones’ and ‘Magicians’); on Goodreads, the book appears in lists like Schools of Magic and Necromancers (duh).

Speaking of which: Alex would appreciate it if you could vote for the Necromancer on the following Goodreads lists: Schools of Magic; Fantasy & Scifi Books with Strong Female Characters; Necromancers; and YA Epic Fantasy 2016.

Another important part of exposure is Amazon rankings. The mechanics of this are a whole technical topic in themselves; the abridged version is that Alex benefits from you reading and reviewing his book on Amazon, and that he benefits increasingly more the more his book is read & reviewed.

I must therefore ask one more favour of you: if you know friends who are interested in fantasy—then please do direct them towards the Necromancer!

What About the Ark?

Although very busy, I have not been entirely inactive with regards to the Ark. For one, I have found another beta reader: she has read the book and is extremely supportive so far.

I have also been thinking, in great depth, about where I want the Ark to go—and what kind of story it is that I’m trying to tell. You may remember that this is a topic that I discussed with the editor; indeed this is a topic that has troubled me since the inception of the book.

I will reveal the results of my thinking at a later date.

Final Thoughts

It has not escaped me that Christmas is approaching. So, I’ve made two plans for the future. Firstly—the Necromancer will be featured on another blog! (Likewise, I shall be hosting other Indie authors here on the Magical Realm.) The event will run from the 1st–24th December; do keep an eye out!

And of course, I will be heading home to my parents. We have not seen each other in, I believe, four months; you can imagine that this is somewhat overdue. There I shall discover Glasgow, our new house, and perhaps I shall also have the opportunity to questions some Yes voters.

Until then—keep following. Much is will be going on...

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