Tomorrow is book launch day (sort of, the paperback appears to have launched early in some territories? Congrats Japan, Italy, and Estonia)... and I think I have everything sorted?
Needless to say, there won't be much in the way of fanfare or celebration in this post, because I'm saving that for tomorrow, and because I think it's valuable to hash out these last few steps. Mostly for my sake, but others might appreciate it a little.
Amazon says it needs up to 72 hours on a paperback push, so I was arguably a bit late hitting the "Publish" button yesterday afternoon, and it's still early in some territories, and completely or partially missing in others.
Speaking with some other authors an early paperback launch isn't necessarily a bad thing, as Amazon treats both editions separately for the purposes of rankings, but allows their reviews to be combined. That could translate to a big boost for day 1 of the e-book if there are already reviews in place.
With that in mind, book 2 will likely have it's paperback published a week in advance, so my ARC reviewers have an opportunity to weigh in.
I've set up a mailing list. It's over there on the right, and currently has 3 subscribers: me, myself, and I, with different email addresses as I sorted it out. I hear that's a good way to build a community and keep people interested in future books informed (that's also the purpose of this blog).
There's a short story featuring characters from The Blood of Crows that I'm cleaning up as a nice little give-away for signing up to an email list that will likely hit people 1-2 times a year. Will it help? I dunno, but I've got the story already.
Then there's the advertising side of things, which is 100% experimental for me. I've watched videos (by both the ad platforms and by external users). I've consulted with other writers. I've even played with a simulation campaign for the past six weeks. I can only hope the real thing is 1/100th as fruitful (narrator: it won't be).
The best advertising I think I can do is getting book 2 done and out there, so I'll be shifting into a higher gear there, though it would be a nice little bonus for The Blood of Crows proceeds to fund the editing and cover artwork if at all possible.
Book 2 is slowly fleshing out and cleaning up. I've written a few new scenes this past week, and hammered a few pointy bits off some of the existing scenes so they fit where The Blood of Crows ended up. I'll be putting in some time with it tonight in a likely fruitless attempt to not think about tomorrow being launch day and all of this becoming that much more real and tangible.
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