Where To Go From Here ~ Advertising

Here it is, Sunday. I need to clean house. But I won't be spending the whole day at it. Mostly I need to hit the bathroom.

Before I do get to that I want to impart some thoughts not on publishing, but promotions. Maybe I should have called this post Gorilla Promotion Tactics--but sounds nasty, so I didn't.

Even if you have a publisher, there is only so much they can do (a small publisher will have some $ to spend on promotions, but after that, it's really up to you). So, my thoughts have been on what to do from here. Sure, I've done the blog hopping, but still, how many people who read our posts are "readers" of fiction, and not just other writers? I love that many of you have gone and purchased a book of mine, and have made reviews. But I know there is a whole big audience out there who still don't know about my book. They might not know about yours either. If you do have $ to spend on your own ads, that's fantastic. But some of us really have a disadvantage as far as getting the word out in a broader area.

Having no budget to speak of really limits me from doing a whole lot. Do I put notes in bottles and send them out? The whole idea of Gorila Advertizing is to spend as little as you can and still get the word out. Putting up little posters on public bilboards, etc. is one inexpensive way to get people to notice. Or do they?

I drive around NIU, and see that people will chalk the sidewalks with everything from "someone loves you" to events going on around campus, etc. Yeah. the thought occurred to me about chalking sidewalks about my book, but a few things sort of prevent me from doing it. One of which is my knees. I'm not about to get down on my knees on a sidewalk. The other thing is I'm not sure how others would like having their sidewalk chalked up and I might get in trouble.

That aside I've been trying to think "outside the box", because Steve Jobs seemed to make that work for him.

I thought about having balloons printed up with my book's title and how to get hold of a copy, or a link.

Why not? I could let loose a bunch let them sail on the winds. They could travel pretty far and wide--mor than a local add would.

Why not? I caught the story about a woman who was looking for a job who sent off balloons with all her contact information inside the balloon, and she actually got job offers because of it!!! Now, that's thinking outside the box!

If I go the traditional route--advertise in a paper--I'd probably reach people, but who knows how many of those people actually look at adds in the back of the paper who are interested in vampire fiction? A balloon catches your attention. Especially if it gets caught in a tree. And when it looses air, someone finds it. Sees what it says, and the chances are that even if they aren't vampire fans, they probably know someone who is.

Anyone out there have a better idea? I'm all out. Chalking sidewalks should be left up to the young crowd.

Also, I'm about to investigate Smashwords. What I'd like to do is put my very first novel (self-published), Spell of the Black Unicorn, on Smashwords as a sort of experiment to see if a). I can do this, and b). whether or not it might pick up sales by offering it as an ebook and at a much lower price.

So, that's what's been bugging me the last few weeks. I'll have to let you know if I'll be able to do the balloon thing. There is a place on-line that will pring balloons up for you, but I know of a local place that might do this, and I'd rather check them first.

Hope your Sunday is going well. It's been a beautiful week, and tomorrow my husband and I are getting away fro the day to White Pines, and enjoy the fall colors, outdoors and a hike.