@Amanda Orneck If it's helpful, I find people do too much at home (online) promotion. If someone wishes to emulate my success, they should be focusing on getting out the door and physically in front of the people they want to buy their book--then you have to actually pitch and sell it to these people. This, however, takes a very specific personality and type of presence. You also need to find the correct physical forum to promote/sell your book.
Selling a book in person that does not physically exist yet is a VERY tricky business. Despite this, unless you already have a previously established online network which is receptive to a call to action, getting out there in a receptive location and pitching person to person seems to be the best way to get pre-orders.
I will be honest with you though, the personal effort required to do this is astronomical and I do not believe most people fully understand what it is takes to be successful with this method. If you have questions please PM or directly link me @Jamison Stone Good luck!!!
@Amanda Orneck Here's my take on it; find your niche. Jamison had tremendous success going to cons and leveraging his in-person presence. Brian Guthrie had similar success by pushing his massive Facebook following and a knack for communicating online. Like Jamison says; it takes a specific personality to do what he did and that can be said of any kind of successful endeavour. You might not have it in you to do what he did, or what Brian did, but you may very well have something completely different yet equally as potentially successful. Look to your strength and find out how to use them to find new readers.
The one thing both Jamison and Brian, and anyone else who's found success in these campaigns, have in common is perseverance and an ability to find and engage with new groups of people. If you can do that, you can probably sell your book.
I really like what I see so far about DHM, too. I'm offering Amanda my very first attempt at graphic novel-style art by illustrating a page for her. It may end up terrible, but if she likes it it could turn into something to offer as an incentive for her readers.
We could try to line up some posts on different blogs with potential interested readers. There's also reddit, too, though I haven't ventured there much.
@JF Dubeau we're definitely going to all pull together and promote The Life Engineered when it comes out!
I'm really hungry for Deus Hex Machina to make it in the Sword & Laser contest. I know we have the JOHN'S LIST, but how about a little JOE'S LIST this time? Does anyone have an audience they can reach out to get more support on this book? I've sent some Twitter and Facebook posts, but I don't think they brought any returns.
I feel like there is a richness to the world of Deus Hex Machina I'd like to explore and I feel like it should be something shared to a wider audience.
