If you follow me on socials, you may have seen quite a few posts about my new novel, The Talking Cure, over the past few weeks, particularly the past few days. I’m sure (at least I hope) the media blitz has been more oppressive for me, the instigator, than it has been for you, the target. Y’all can scroll right past the tenth graphic of the book cover you’ve seen in a day; I have to check that everything is spelled right and the links work. Perhaps (again, I can only hope) the message turned into subliminal awareness without annoyance. For some reason I’m reminded of The Boxtrolls.
The Boxtrolls
I say these things about overpromoting because a few years (2014? Okay then, over ten years) back I was watching something via On Demand. Whatever this show was, they sold ads, but apparently didn’t get a lot of different takers. So every commercial break was the same ad for the movie The Boxtrolls, shown several times back to back. While this seems like the sort of movie I would like, the sheer repetitions inspired a deep loathing for a film I hadn’t even seen. And I have yet to watch The Boxtrolls.
I don’t want to be “that guy” in my own promotional efforts.
Striking a Balance
Yet I know that generally authors, including myself, under promote their books. The story is so front and center in our lives that we are constantly surprised when people (that we’ve known either IRL or online forever) say “Really? You published a book? Several books? Over the past five years. Seriously?”
Right now I’m aiming to shout into the void daily about The Talking Cure’s availability; these early days after a book is first published are so important for getting any algorithm help. My recent blog tour involved over a dozen different websites featuring information about The Talking Cure, sharing it with new audiences.
Boxtroll Fun
As I’ve mention before, having fun during this process is important. Writing and publishing won’t help your cash flow, improve your health or charisma stats, and while it is therapeutic, emotional support best comes from relationships with real people.
My The Talking Cure book boxes arrived this week, and so, with the goal of having fun in mind, I’m ready to put on the bookseller hat and share my story with real shoppers this weekend. Refining a sales pitch is a whole other promotional task! Maybe I’ll sit down and relax with The Boxtrolls first. You’ll notice I’m still aware of the film, ten years later. Their annoying promo blitz did have quite the impact.
How about you? Do you think authors and other creatives over promote their work? Or are you only vaguely aware of stories becoming available? Comment on the blog. Navigate to my website, click the blog title, and complete the dialogue box that will open at the end of the post.
If you enjoyed this journal entry, you might like to read an interview with me (by me) about writing the book.
Sean Joye Investigations, Book 2
Haunted woman claws her way back to reality by reconnecting with her magical powers in The Talking Cure, a supernatural Yuletide follow-up to The Big Cinch.
Committed to an insane asylum, Violet Humphrey is isolated on the Illinois prairie with only her own thoughts and a persistent new voice in her head for company. When she is accused of murder, Violet suspects her road to both freedom and recovery lies through confronting her painful past and solving the crime. Magically summoned, Sean Joye skids through an ice storm to help Violet, but can they catch the killer and defy an eldritch horror before Violet loses her tenuous grasp on reality?
“The Talking Cure is a marvelous story—an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery infused with a strong sense of the Weird… and a hearty dose of magic on the side. It’s ideal for all fans of the sinister, the surprising, and the strange.” —Cherie Priest, award-winning author of Boneshaker
And now is an excellent time to read the first Sean Joye Investigations novel, The Big Cinch from Montag Press. In this award-winning supernatural noir adventure by Kathy L. Brown, Sean Joye, a fae-touched young veteran of 1922’s Irish Civil War, aims to atone for his assassin past and make a clean, new life in America. Until he asks the wrong questions…
I started this blog thread on the gritty details of the writing process over on my Facebook Author page, @kbkathylbrown, but think I might be better served putting it over here. If you’re interest in following my writing process in an informal way, you’ll find a few posts on Facebook that might interest you. You can subscribe to the blog from the website landing page (scroll down).
And Now a Word from Our Sponsor
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Wolfhearted is also available as an Audible audiobook, here.
St. Louis Writers Guild just published Weird STL, an anthology celebrate the strange, spooky, and just plain wonderful stories of our hometown. This volume of short stories, poems, a play, and essays includes a Sean Joye universe short story, “Big Magick.” Joseph Arwald, one of the baddies from The Big Cinch, tells us what really happened to the Ferris Wheel from the St. Louis 1904 World’s Fair.
Reviews, even a line or two, put the books you enjoyed in a more prominent position on Amazon and are vital for independent and small-press books to find their audience. Remember your most recent read? Leave a review for it on Audible, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Goodreads.
The direct link to review Wolfhearted on Amazon is here, The Resurrectionist, here, and Water of Life, here. Thanks in advance.