What book marketing techniques have been most effective for you?
So far, it has been word of mouth and using SmashWords as a place to promote. Before I knew of SmashWords, I was just writing my content a research blog that had over 15,000 blog entries documenting my research between 2004 to 2011. It wasn't going anywhere, and I wasn't generating enough of a readership.
I would also find myself becoming repetitive. I had to keep explaining the same content and theories over again. It just made sense to make a book series as a curriculum and learning tool. I also do try to use Twitter to post when I publish a new book so that people can be up to date. Sadly, I've been lax about it.
One thing I do is think about my meta tags and what key words will come to mind. Whenever I make a book series, I use the key words "Applied to" so that if anyone is looking for my series on Cryptology or WitchCraft and Wizardry, they'll be able to seek out those words. I also think unusual or zany titles make a difference. Does the title sound like something you want to read. Having a volume series is also a marketing tool in itself because it shows that the content I'm writing isn't just one book.
There's a whole collection of volumes to show that I've spoken at length regarding a particular topic.
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up in Washington State. I was there for about 25 years until I moved to California. Washington State has evergreens. The Puget Sound is nearby. The temperature rarely gets above 85 degrees during the summer so there's no need to have air conditioning in your house. I lived in a small town that was a bit like Cabot Cove where Angela Lansbury's character lived in Maine.
You rarely heard about crime during the time I was growing up there. People are more down to earth as opposed to the hustle and bustle of the city. It would take 15 minutes to drive into town. You don't have people trick or treat at your door because the houses are on acreage or too far away. I used to play clarinet in grade school. I could wail as loud as I wanted because the neighbors were too far away to hear or be bothered by the sound.
We had a farm at the time where we raised pigs and chickens by my stepdad. My mother would have her garden.
You needed a riding mower to mow the field. That used to be my job. Unfortunately, one day while I was on the riding mower, I wasn't paying attention to how the hopper was overflowing with grass. The dried grass was piling up infront of the exhaust pipe of the lawn mower catching fire. I was driving the mower and my stepdad came running up furious at me because the lawn mower was on fire. If it had continued, it would have ignited the gasoline tank and exploded. I was lucky my stepdad caught it in time. However, after that, he never let me mow the lawn ever again.
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