 Here we go! We're kicking off another book launch. Please welcomeThe Second Mouse Gets the Cheese: How to Avoid the Traps of Self-Publishing, now available on Kindle for just $.99. Hope you'll stick around this week for book excerpts, bargain prices, reduced pricing on related books, a freebie or two, and a drawing for some nice prizes. Book launches come in all shapes and sizes. When my first Civil War book came out, there was no fanfare involved. A Scratch with the Rebels was a curious mixture of academic footnoting, with just enough personal touches to appeal to a popular audience. The publisher didn't know what to do with it, and neither did I. I was just relieved to be finished with it. But Beyond All Price was a different story, on many levels. It was historical fiction, so there was not a footnote in sight. I self-published it, so I knew I was solely responsible for publicizing it. I've written about the virtual launch party I threw for that book here on the blog and in my new book. Because I was trying to build my own community of writers, I reached out to writers I knew and admired. Some were newbies, like me, and some were experienced. Some were elderly (also like me!) and others were very young. Some wrote and some wrote about writing. But we all shared a love of good books and enthusiasm about the internet and the new trends in publishing. These were the literary-minded people who influenced the nature of that launch. Later this year I'll be launching The Road to Frogmore with a much more traditional launch party. That book will commemorate the 150th anniversary of Laura Towne and the founding of The Penn School. On such an occasion, I will want to honor those people who own histories are tied into Laura's story with something more formal and personal. But what to do with The Second Mouse? It's a "how-to" book and a memoir of sorts. It's an anecdotal account of my own venture into the world of self-publishing. As such, it is directed toward all those people out there who secretly want to write a book, those who have a story to tell, and those who are hesitant to start writing. Just recently, I received an e-mail from a retired gentleman who simply asked, "Can you tell me how to write a book?" He is my intended audience. But how do I find that audience? They are the people who lurk behind this blog, who read but don't comment, who surf the internet hoping for answers to those unspoken questions in their dreams. Obviously, the internet is the path to finding them. So here's what I have planned. I'm taking a 10-day period to hunt down my next readers. This blog is only the first step. On the following days, we'll talk about my Facebook Fan Page with its new WIK design. We'll focus on other social media, too. I'm hoping to come up with a post directed at business people on LinkedIn, for example, and another exploring the uses of Twitter. We'll look at different venues for self-publishing. We'll talk about building a website. And I'll be offering links to places where you'll find low prices on books you've been wanting to read, a couple of free offers, and a give-away drawing.  I hope you'll be able to carry away from this launch a piece of cheese or two, a tidbit that will meet you own particular needs. Please poke around his blog and my website. If you don't find what you need to know, leave a comment and I'll try to answer your question. |
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