STEAMLUST: Steampunk Erotic Romance
Coming to a bookstore near you in October 2011 and available for preorder on Amazon right now! Isn’t it gorgeous?
Meet Violetta and George. Aren’t they beautiful? They are the creation of the amazingly talented Nikki Magennis. Violetta and George are destined to be the stars in the book trailer for The Book Formerly Known As Corsets and Clockworks. (New title coming soon...)
Can I tell you how excited I am about this project? I mean… wheeee… over the moon in my very own steamship excited!! When Nikki first suggested that she could create a book trailer for TBFKA Corsets and Clockworks, I was thrilled. I have seen some lovely book trailers and I thought it would be great fun to have one made for one of my own anthologies, but my creative talents don’t lean toward film making and I didn’t even know where to begin. And then Nikki said she’d made a book trailer for her book The Rakes and could create an animated film for my steampunk anthology and I said yes, yes, yes. Oh yes!!
Not only is Nikki going to make the book trailer, she is going to chronicle the entire process on a new blog steam * lust * animation. How awesome is that? Even if you’re like me and have no artistic abilities whatsoever, you can marvel at all the various elements that combine to create an animated film. The paperdolls of Violetta and George are just the beautiful beginning of what promises to be an exciting six-month voyage into the world of steampunk erotic romance! Do stop by and marvel at Nikki’s talents as she takes us on a grand adventure!
As the release date for Dream Lover approaches, I’m contemplating the benefits of different types of promotion and I thought I’d throw a few questions out there for you (all four of you-- clearly I’m not good at promoting even my own blog).
As a reader, what type of promotion makes the biggest impact on you? (Which can be interpreted as: it makes you buy the book, it makes you remember the author or name of the book or it makes you share info about the book either through word of mouth or social networking.)
--A blog dedicated to the book with excerpts and interviews, a la Fairy Tale Lust
--Blog posts about the book with excerpts on a personal blog (like this one) that don’t overwhelm you with all book all the time promotion
--A Tumblr featuring subjects related to the book, with excerpts from the book interspersed like the Corsets and Clockworks Tumblr I’ve set up for my fall release (And does something like that only work with a theme that can be visually fetishized?)
--A Virtual Book Tour on different blogs (Follow up question: Do you like a one month tour or something shorter? A week? Ten days?)
--A dedicated Twitter feed or Facebook fan page (I don’t personally like these as I already have enough things to read, but maybe others find them helpful?)
--A Book Giveaway (Buy the book that’s being released, get another book by the same author.)
--Book signings/readings where you get a chance to hear the author and get a signed copy of the book
--Getting a free book in exchange for a review on Amazon or your own blog
--Bookmarks, buttons, postcards, other promotional items
--Something else?
And for the writers out there…
--Which of the above do you most like doing and/or find the most productive? (Not necessarily the same thing, I’m assuming.)
Thanks for your feedback!
So I’m laughing at myself for bragging on Monday about the fabulous review Fairy Tale Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women received. I should know better, right? That lovely upbeat review (#51!) was followed by one that was… not lovely and upbeat, let’s say.
Sigh.
You’ll have to go read it yourself if you’re interested in seeing what reviewer #52 thought of my precious Fairy Tale Lust, but he concludes with this zinger:
I felt dirty reading this book. It was not pleasurable.
Ouch. However, I like that he was clear about the distinction between “good” dirty and “bad” dirty. Because when you’re reading erotica, sometimes you feel dirty in the best possible way… right?
You win some, you lose some, right? But it would’ve been sweet if I got to crow about one fabulous review on Monday and not get knocked down a notch on Tuesday. I know it’s the nature of the industry and that reviews are personal and arbitrary, but still… sheesh!
I did honestly laugh and shake my head when I saw that review, though. It figures…
What’s it all about?
Life. Love. Writing. Editing. Sex. Books. Romance. Movies. Friendship. Photography. Teaching. Coffee. (Lots of coffee.) Travel. Feminism. Academia. Insomnia. Memories. Experiences. Rants. Raves. Reviews. Babies. Pregnancy. Motherhood. Insanity. Musings of an insomniac writer. Want to know more?
