…that author promo is so bloody important.
“This is why building the buzz for your book is so important. You want them to want your title so badly that they’ll keep looking, or special order, or even go on Amazon. Hemmingway and Capote and others didn’t have to worry about this problem, they weren’t competing against titles from e-publishers gone print, or editors who churn out 20 to 25 new titles a year. You have to get your name out there, be remembered, so some bookseller like me decides to keep you when it comes done to deciding who gets stripped or returned today. You want your titles to be restocked from overstock, not left up there to yellow.
“…you are vying with thousands of other people to get your name out there and be heard, so be heard, think outside the box, and get the word out…”
Check out the entire Bookseller Chick post. Really. Go read it.
This IMHO strengthens my assertion that you need to be reaching the 90% of romance readers (which includes booksellers) who aren’t online. I think sometimes authors become so familiar with the online reader community that they don’t realize what a miniscule portion of readers are net savvy. I’m not knocking online readers. I LOVE online readers, and I promo to them, too. But I think authors who neglect the non-net readers are really missing something. But again, I’m a newbie author and that’s just MHO. 
I think it really gets the name of a new author out there, and isn’t that what you want? Think about the reaction to Bad Boys Ahoy: while not a bad cover, it just didn’t convey what your deliciously sexy stories were about, but seeing the book being promoted caught my eye, and that’s when I learned what the stories were about and it got me to buy the book. By the way, I did find your book actually in the bookstore and didn’t have to order it on-line *g*
on June 23rd, 2006 at 4:14 am
Considering they’re online to read RTB, they’re not part of the majority of readers who aren’t online. *g*
on June 22nd, 2006 at 9:40 am
Interesting, though, that in most of the responses to your post at RTB, readers said they didn’t shop anywhere BUT online anymore because they couldn’t find what they wanted elsewhere. Not all, I know, but it is a conundrum.
on June 22nd, 2006 at 7:44 am
Totally agree with you, though I’m not necessarily sure the statistic is totally correct. That being said, it’s just as important, IMO, to promote in person if at all possible.
on June 21st, 2006 at 10:42 pm