First, update on After Man. I’ve finished rewriting act one and am digging in deep on act two. Unfortunately, I’ve had a rough month or so as I’ve been working through some personal issues. Some of these greatly affect the story that is Rise and her sequels. Some also affect After Man’s narrative. Either way, it’s drained all the creative out of me and I’m just starting to get that groove back. So, stay tuned for more on that front. I will upload a few more chapters in the coming weeks.
Now, on to something else you can help with. Many of you also preordered Rise. Some haven’t and are just getting introduced to it. Here’s a copy of the update I sent there.
We are one month away from the release of Rise into the world wide wild! And Rise needs your help yet again when this happens. Well, really before it happens. Here’s how.
Bookstores! Go to them wherever you see them and request they stock the book. All you need is the book title and my name and they will find it in their system to order. Even if you have a copy coming, doing this helps tell bookstores there is interest in this product and gets them putting copies on their shelves for you to, I don’t know, take friends to get.
Amazon! This is the big one. The number of reviews a book gets is critical in getting it visibility on Amazon’s pages. The magic number for this is 100. Don’t assume everyone else will do this so you don’t have to. Just go real quick and knock it out. And your review does NOT have to be a work of literary note itself. It can be something as simple as “I like this book” with a star rating to show how much. Pro tip: in the subject line put “ARC review” or “Advance Reader Copy review”. That tells people looking at the reviews who see you aren’t a “verified purchaser” because you didn’t buy it from Amazon that you did read it because you had special access early. Second Pro tip: copy pasta! Once you put one on Amazon, go to Goodreads, copy and pasteJ And Bn.com. And Indigo. Anywhere you want. You can reuse the same review on all of them.
Now for the big question. When? Well, with bookstores, now! With the reviews, do them as soon as you can. Amazon won’t open it up for reviews until about 2 weeks before or less. I’ll be sure to send out a reminder once I notice it.
Now for the last big question. The release party. I’m still ironing out some details but Michelle and I will be at Dragoncon. Don’t worry, it won’t happen at con so you don’t have to rush out and get a con badge. When I know more details, I’ll let you know. It’s only meant to be a little deal for all of you who supported this project in GA and who come to Dragoncon to come see me and chat about the book. For those of you in Europe, I’ll have another in Frankfurt after I get back.
