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I have achieved new werewolf novel! Finally! Blood Moon is available everywhere and, of course, direct from Queen of Swords Press. And as you may or may not know, I've been teaching book promotion workshops at the Rambo Academy and elsewhere, so I thought it might be worthwhile to post what I'm doing out here. This will be updated over the course of the next couple of weeks as things post or come to fruition. It also gives you an idea of what goes into promoting a small press title. Or, at least, what I/we put into it. Since this book comes down on the more paranormal romance end of the fantasy scale and the protagonists are a lesbian and a bi woman, I focused on venues pulling in the audiences most likely to be interested in it, rather than a more general approach like the one we took for Cinrak and other books. Blood Moon is also a Book 2, so it draws on the audience that read and liked Silver Moon.
Unless noted as "paid," all other publicity options were free or involved barter of some kind.
Total spent to date: $350
Graphics for ads and blog tour:
Author A.L. Lester designed a graphic that connected both Silver Moon and Blood Moon to encourage people to buy the books as a series. (Paid)
Announcements:
Queen of Swords Press Newsletter
Lambda Literary Newsletter (appeared in Most Anticipated LGBTQ Books of March)
Lesbian Review (paid ad and announcement)
SFWA New Release Newsletter (paid ad and announcement)
Cora Buhlert/Indie Author Showcase
Queer Sci Fi (Newsletter and Facebook group)
Women & Words (blog)
IHeartLesfic
The Lesbrary (paid ad campaign for April)
IngramSpark's New Release Catalogue (paid)
Reviews:
Out in Print Queer Book Reviews
JudeintheStars
Goodreads
Hannah's Bookshelf (North Manchester FM Radio show)
Several others forthcoming
Blog Posts and interviews:
The World Remains Mysterious (Cat Rambo's blog) - Magical Crones and Adventuring Mothers
My Writing Process - The Horror Tree
Interview, blog tour stop - Joyfully Jay Reviews
Interview, blog tour stop - Once & Books
"20 Random Facts About Becca and Erin," blog tour stop - Matt Doyle Media
"Music to Change By: A Playlist for Menopausal Werewolf Readers," blog tour stop - Valerie Ullmer, Romance Author
Interview, blog tour stop - Love Bytes: LGBTQ Book Reviews
Interview - The Ripple Effect (music blog, with occasional features of nonmusical types)
Upcoming in April - Nerds of A feather 6 Books Interview
Additional interviews being scheduled.
Blog Tour:
Other Worlds Ink - included announcements, plugs, excerpts, a giveaway, reviews and guest blog posts. (Paid). Total: 15 book blogs.
Events:
DreamHaven Books - author reading on Facebook Live
Rainbow Space Magic - I was on a panel, did a reading and Queen of Swords was a vendor - link goes to the YouTube videos.
The Story Hour - author reading.
Speculative Fiction Quick Reads - author reading.
I also have a bunch of things scheduled for April, but most of them are about me/Press visibility rather than this specific title, so direct lift will be harder to evaluate. But so far, Blood Moon has been out for a couple of weeks, has sold around 100 copies, been nominated for a Rainbow Award, requested for consideration for the American Library Association's Stonewall Book Awards, will be a featured book club read for a local book club later on this year and will be included in this year's Pride StoryBundle. Silver Moon was a slow burn book, in terms of sales, but is still far and away Queen of Swords Press best-selling book once it began to find its people, so I'm expecting a similar effect with Blood Moon. But then, we also just got an invite to do an r/Fantasy AMA in June so perhaps it will get out there faster than I think.
More to come as I have it! And we have our first vaccine shots scheduled for Saturday!
Unless noted as "paid," all other publicity options were free or involved barter of some kind.
Total spent to date: $350
Graphics for ads and blog tour:
Author A.L. Lester designed a graphic that connected both Silver Moon and Blood Moon to encourage people to buy the books as a series. (Paid)
Announcements:
Queen of Swords Press Newsletter
Lambda Literary Newsletter (appeared in Most Anticipated LGBTQ Books of March)
Lesbian Review (paid ad and announcement)
SFWA New Release Newsletter (paid ad and announcement)
Cora Buhlert/Indie Author Showcase
Queer Sci Fi (Newsletter and Facebook group)
Women & Words (blog)
IHeartLesfic
The Lesbrary (paid ad campaign for April)
IngramSpark's New Release Catalogue (paid)
Reviews:
Out in Print Queer Book Reviews
JudeintheStars
Goodreads
Hannah's Bookshelf (North Manchester FM Radio show)
Several others forthcoming
Blog Posts and interviews:
The World Remains Mysterious (Cat Rambo's blog) - Magical Crones and Adventuring Mothers
My Writing Process - The Horror Tree
Interview, blog tour stop - Joyfully Jay Reviews
Interview, blog tour stop - Once & Books
"20 Random Facts About Becca and Erin," blog tour stop - Matt Doyle Media
"Music to Change By: A Playlist for Menopausal Werewolf Readers," blog tour stop - Valerie Ullmer, Romance Author
Interview, blog tour stop - Love Bytes: LGBTQ Book Reviews
Interview - The Ripple Effect (music blog, with occasional features of nonmusical types)
Upcoming in April - Nerds of A feather 6 Books Interview
Additional interviews being scheduled.
Blog Tour:
Other Worlds Ink - included announcements, plugs, excerpts, a giveaway, reviews and guest blog posts. (Paid). Total: 15 book blogs.
Events:
DreamHaven Books - author reading on Facebook Live
Rainbow Space Magic - I was on a panel, did a reading and Queen of Swords was a vendor - link goes to the YouTube videos.
The Story Hour - author reading.
Speculative Fiction Quick Reads - author reading.
I also have a bunch of things scheduled for April, but most of them are about me/Press visibility rather than this specific title, so direct lift will be harder to evaluate. But so far, Blood Moon has been out for a couple of weeks, has sold around 100 copies, been nominated for a Rainbow Award, requested for consideration for the American Library Association's Stonewall Book Awards, will be a featured book club read for a local book club later on this year and will be included in this year's Pride StoryBundle. Silver Moon was a slow burn book, in terms of sales, but is still far and away Queen of Swords Press best-selling book once it began to find its people, so I'm expecting a similar effect with Blood Moon. But then, we also just got an invite to do an r/Fantasy AMA in June so perhaps it will get out there faster than I think.
More to come as I have it! And we have our first vaccine shots scheduled for Saturday!
