How to Beg with Dignity

Leslie Esdaile Banks has recently done a blog about self-publishing over at Black Enterprise.com.  As I am also in the throes of promoting my own self-published book, I thought I'd look at each one of these steps and see how I compare to someone obviously more financially successful than I am.

I actually thought a bit this marketing even before I began writing my novel.  I didn't come up with a blasted thing as far as comprehensive strategies go, but I wonder a whole lot about how I was going to get people to buy my stuff.   My biggest problem was, and often still is, how to describe what I do to other people.  Back in the day, I'd just show somebody my work, say "check it out; see what you think" and let it go at that.  When you need a few thousand strangers to shell out good money for your stuff to make it worth your while, I'm not sure saying "Look, I don't even know what I just wrote but you should check it out anyway" is a sound marketing strategy.

All I'd really done was tell people back on my blog back on the late great MySpace that I was writing a novel and posting up chapters of the rough draft for a select few people to read and let it go at that.  This is when I learn a harsh, but valuable, lesson about putting up free reading material:  making something free to reading isn't often a guarantee that people can always afford it.  If you write lengthy material (and if any of you read my old blog, you'd know I can get serious long-winded), people may not just have the TIME.  And I've already gone on record as saying that my Latrina Emerson story is looking to be a long one.

So I haven't come up with a marketing strategy as much as adapted to the one that evolved around me.  I tried to stay in contact with people on a regular basis.  I comment on their pages whenever I can come with something remotely worthwhile to say.  I try to make my promos as interesting and frequent as possible and hope I don't annoy too many potential readers.  And I try to make sure my books are worth people's time and money.  I've also been fortunate enough to have friends help me with various aspects of getting my book in shape and getting the word out there.  I suppose that's the best I can do.

That and work on the next book.

So After a Long Time Away, I Get....

A follower?  You mean, somebody out there is actually READING these things?  Oh great, now I gotta actually write something.

"ALL THE BLOG'S A PAGE" FEATURE

Shon Bacon has kindly given me some space on her blog to talk a little about my book and good books in general.  Those who find amusement in me stumbling over my words can click on the following link.

"All the Blog's a Page" hosted by Shon Bacon (1/17/2011)

Update on "The Vile, Sinister, and Most Utterly Diabolical Account of Latrina Emerson"

Well, someone besides me bought a copy so I'm taking that as a good sign.  Plus, it's the Christmas season, everyone is busy, and I suppose I'll have to be patient.  Right now, I've been trying to come up with way to promote myself via the Internet and my brain is so fried from trying to come up with clever and/or amusing thing to say to convince people to buy my novel; that I am now unable to recall my name, address, and closest friends and relatives.  I do, however, have this pretty button from Lulu.com.  I have been assured that it won't bite if you click on it gently enough.

Introducing: The Vile, Sinister, and Most Utterly Diabolical Account of Latrina Emerson

Okay, here it is.

The Vile, Sinister, and Most Utterly Diabolical Account of Latrina Emerson

Volume 1 of a tale I put a large chunk of my life into. 

SOMETIMES YOU JUST NEED A HELPING HAND

All right, so my blog haven't been up to snuff lately.  Much of my creative energy has been devoted to working out some kind of campaign promotion for my novel.  This morning over at Jonathan Medina's blog, however, I turned what was supposed to have been a simple comment into one of my usual bouts of prattling.  Those of you prefer me when I'm all long-winded should follow this link or paste this URL.

http://sprsncyth.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/sex-addiction-pornography-and-the-modern-man/#comments

And while you're there, show Mr. Medina some love too by checking out his other blogs as well.

UPDATE

Okay, there's a glitch with the link but here's how to get past it.  When you that "404 Page not found message", click on the banner "Supersonic Youth" and it will take you to Jonathan's blog.  Go to the blog titled "Sex Addiction, Pornography, and the Modern Man", read the blog, and then find my comment which should be the eleventh one down.

 

MEDITATIVE STATES

This is based on a blog I previously posted on MySpace Feb 23, 2009.  This form is slightly different as I've been able to get around some technical issues that plagued the original.   The result is something a little closer to my original intent.  I also did a little more research on the history of the Alaskan Flag design since I first posted it and edited a change in the first paragraph.

Some time ago, I was watching this show on the History Channel about the 50 states.  Some of the things I found interesting were some of the state flags.  Instead of just slapping the state seal on a plain background and letting it go at that, some designers decided to make things a little interesting to say the least.
First off, there's Sarah Palin's old stomping grounds ....Alaska.....  In 1927, then 13-year old Benny Benson won the contest to determine the design of the state flag.  Personally, I give kudos for the minimalist effect. 



Then there's New Mexico, a state to which I've been briefly, of which I've always enjoyed the scenery.  Even if I never move there permanently, I think I'd like to have this flag around when I'm trying to relax.



Now the above two states have a lot of open space, the kind of thing that sort of gets me in a meditative mood anyway.  So in my mind their flags are sort of appropriate.  The state whose flag surprised me and has become my favorite, though, was that of ....Maryland.....



And my first reaction was..."Dude."
I thought something was wrong with the television, so I went and looked it up.



Nope, that's actually the state flag.  DUDE. 

Now, the New Mexico flag I'd probably save for meditation but if I ever try acid I have GOT to go with the one for the (appropriately enough) Free State hanging on the walls of my "mellow out" room.  Yes.
Seriously, though, the flag is based on British heraldy which in of itself distinguishes it from the other 49.  Now I'm not much up on British heraldy and I can respect the history, but...



Oh, Duuuuuuude, the colors.  THE COLORS!
Okay, sorry, I need to stop that.

This blog is dedicated to my old friend "R", a Baltimore native and fellow Obie at the time I attended Oberlin College.  Wherever you are now, R, I wish you more happiness than is neurologically possible for me to imagine.

  

DEBRE DAMO

Previously posted on MySpace April 2, 2008

 

As I was doing research for a novel, I ran across a reference to a 6th Century monastery atop Debre Damo in Northern Ethiopia. Debre Damo is a flat-topped mountain called an amba.

It’s a four hour drive from Axum until you get to a place where the road stops.  From there, you’d have to hike up a hill for around two hours.  And, finally the only way you can reach the monastery is via a 25-meter climb up a sheer cliff.  In short, you better be pretty serious about visiting this place.

Drawing some of the heartier tourists, scholars, and believers, the monastery at Debre Damo is built around Ethiopia’s oldest church with its intricate carvings on the beams and ceiling. The monastery is also known for its collections of ancient manuscripts and paintings. Now, a lot of this info can be gleaned from the Wikipedia entry, so I’ll just stop blathering for now and let the pictures speak for awhile.



In addition to Wikipedia, I also derived my information from this Naty Tours description and from Dinknesh Tours.

Maybe I’ll get there myself one day.  I just thought one or two people might be interested.

THE FIRST CASUALTY OF WAR

There's really not much I can say about the Shirley Sherrod situation that hasn't already been said or couldn't be predicted from what I've written in earlier blogs.  So anything I'm saying here amounts to little more than a typing exercise.

If tolerating race-baiting idiots in the ranks of the Tea Party weren't enough, Biggovernment.com (not FOX news, by the way) flushes more credibility down the toilet by editing that video of Sherrod's speech to leave out any parts that undermined their point.  One would think that an organization with ".com" in its name would remember that there's this thing called "the Internet" and that people would actually use it to do a little research and FIND THE UNEDITED VERSION OF THAT VIDEO.  Yeah, some people jumped to conclusion without checking all the facts, but not everyone is that gullible.  Allowing for the stupidity of some people in your strategy can sometimes be a good idea; counting on everyone to be stupid doesn't seem to me to make much tactical sense.

Speaking of idiots jumping to conclusions, the Government and the NAACP shouldn't get off the hook too easily either.  Their whines about being misled impress me not one bit.  Again, the relevant people involved in these groups should have followed the leads of some of more ethical people and done a little more damn research before rushing to cover their political asses.  I couldn't blame Sherrod for being ambivalent about getting her job back.

Most annoying of all to me are people who continue to ignore all the inconvenient details of this story and bash the "other" side while playing down or completely ignoring how much "their" side screwed up as well.  Apparently, Sherrod was one of the few people who had stopped to take a look at her own worldview and same something akin to "Oh, my ideas are the ones that need fixing here."  Alas, that seems to be the main thing too many people are intent on not hearing.