Promotion, Not My Favorite Task

As all writers know, promotion is a necessary part of being an author. Necessary if we are to sell our books. Though I can’t speak for ever author, I know that I’d much rather be spending my time writing.

Because I have a new book out, Tangled Webs, I’ve been working hard on promotion. The first thing I did was plan a blog tour which takes a lot of time: finding hosts and setting up the calendar, writing a new post for each place I’m visiting, and sending it off along with a photo of the cover and one of me. The tour begins on October 26^th here: https://jlgregerblog.blogspot.com and the topic is “Character Development.”

I’ve been doing several in-person events with more to come: book festivals and craft fairs, mystery panels, and speaking engagements. (I actually enjoy doing these.)

In an effort to interest readers in the series, the publisher has made the first book, Final Respects, free on Kindle from November 5-7. In order for this to work, of course it has to be promoted heavily and I found many sites who do this, some for free, some for a fee. https://www.amazon.com/Final-Respects-Rocky-Police-Department-ebook/dp/B078KFKPJX/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1539027654&sr=1-1&keywords=final+respect+by+f.m.+meredith

Of course I’ve promoted on Facebook, Twitter and my own blog. How much good any of this does, I won’t know until I hear something from the publisher. And speaking of the publisher, I’d like to share what he printed in the front pages of Tangled Webs.

“Tangled Webs is the 15^th book in the F. M. Meredith’s  Rocky Bluff Police Department series, and—as you can see on the copyright page—had a publication date of 2018. Final Respects, the first book in the series, was published in 2002, and we at Aakenbaaken & Kent were working on a second edition of that first book just a few months ago. So, we have in effect, been reading this series from both ends. And what stands out are the characters—how real they seem, how they grow and change as real people do, and how—after many books, we realize they are like friends.

In addition to engaging characters, Meredith also delivers unerring pacing, plotting and dialogue. It is no wonder this series has continued for so long and has so many devoted fans.”

Needless to say, I was thrilled.  And with such praise, I will continue to promote as much as I can.

Marilyn, who is also known as F.M.