Random browsing through the net got me thinking about self-promotion. It's an unfortunate truth that publishers most often don't spend that much (if any) money on promoting authors, so when I stumbled across this essay by sf writer Robert Sawyer, it started wheels turning in my head. Mind you, I can't see Tor doing anything but completely spazzing out at me if I did actually go ahead and make up my own advance copies of my books. But that's not to say it isn't tempting.
It's a minor example, but when Angel Stations came out, I asked Tor to send a review copy to a Scottish magazine called The List. It's the same kind of publication as London's Time Out - local listings, reviews of bars, events and gigs, interviews with writers, politicians and artists of all kinds. A general local entertainment guide. I didn't really expect a review - but not only did I get one, it was one of the best reviews I ever got (see the bar to your right). That quote turned up on the back of the mass market publication of Angel Stations. So there you go.
3 comments:
If I remember rightly, you were amongst the Glasgow contingent several years ago at Jack Deighton's launch event in Edinburgh for A Son of the Rock - which was organised by Andrew J Wilson and Andrew C Ferguson at the late, lamented James Thins in George Street - because his publisher certainly didn't bother! You do wonder at publisher's apparent lack of faith or interest in something they've already spent what - to most people - is quite a lot of money to buy, publish and distribute.
On a completely different subject, I'm finding that the "word verifcation" security system that gets you to type in random letters is actually coming up with some really great "skiffy" words. To get this message to you, for instance, I've had to type in "slalik". Now, is that a place name, a character name, verb, adjective... etc?
Hey, why not write up a short entry on yourself for the Wikipedia online encyclopedia? Or the BBC's H2G2 website?
Maybe I should do a thing of getting people to give me made up names from the word verification thing and I could make up stuff about what they mean ... oh no, wait, I just remembered, I have a life! Scratch that one.
Actually, the thing about Wikipedia etc is a good idea. I think I'll give it a go. Thanks, Paul.
PS - my word verification message for today is 'orggxu', which sounds either like an underground Polish hardcore porn movie/rubber monster feature from about 1958 banned by the Soviet authorities for decades, or a very minor comic book bad guy, probably from out of the Forbidden Dimension or wtf it was called in the early Fantastic Four.
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