The Problem

Okay, here's the sitch: I have an entertaining and well-written vampire novel I would like to share with readers, and yes, make some money while doing so. I see no reason to disguise my financial motivation in writing and publishing the book; art for art's sake is all very well and good, but it doesn't buy groceries.

And yes, it really is entertaining and well-written. I've been reading and writing books since I was a child, and I know good from bad or indifferent. Neither false modesty or narcissism comes into this, it's just a fact. Give Me The Night is good, well worth the cover price for those who like traditional paper volumes and very cheap at the price for a Kindle. So far, none of the five or six people who have read the book and commented on it publicly, or privately to me, have had a bad word to say about it.

The problem is, I can't get anybody to read the flipping thing, even when I give away free samples, which is usually a good way to start a sales campaign. I won't go into the whys and wherefores of this, because I do not know the people involved personally and that would involve speculation on their motives and personal situations for which I have no data. The fact remains that I have sent out 18 free .pdfs and gotten four responses. 

That book is my primary asset, my marketing tool, my Excalibur which will eventually triumph--but first, I've got to get people to crack open the pages, paper-wise or computer file-wise. I thought there was this big huge vampire-world on the internet, and there is--but the people involved tend to be more into posting, especially images, and much less into reading long blocks of printed text for content, which seems to be becoming a lost skill in Amurrican yoot. Like our ancestors 30,000 years ago we have lost the skill of writing or reading and we are once more drawing pictures on the wall, although today the wall is Facebook rather than limestone.

Okay, real world calls, so end moan for now.

First Actual Post

Grittings, dewds:

Martin Scanlan here, author of Give Me The Night: An Evil Love Story, otherwise known as the Un-Twilight. Damned good novel if I do say so myself, and right now I can't even give it away.

This blog will detail my marketing efforts for those of you who are attempting the same, since you can A) offer me advice, and B) hopefully avoid some of my mistakes. Once I get the hang of things and can promise to read and respond in a timely manner I will offer reviews of your own work, both here and on Amazon. Nor will I demand reciprocity, since I can see the kind of conflict of interest that might lead to.

I was advised to set up a blog by one of the guys on Facebook. This is still very much an early days, experimental thing. I will try to keep the blog up regularly, with a new post at least once per day. If you're interested you might want to "follow" me, since I get that my posting the link every day on Facebook will get old pretty quick.

Test Post

This is a test post. It is only a test. Booga booga booga.

Okay, I actually rather like this sparse, black and white format. Normally I don't like white lettering on dark backgrounds, but the text here is large enough so it's readable.