Friday, March 04, 2011

Kindle Publishing: Baby Steps

So my novel, Learning to Swim, has been up at Amazon and Barnes and Noble for a little over three weeks now. Sales have been very modest, but the feedback has been as good as I could possibly have hoped for.

Now it's time to work on doing what I can to build an audience for the book. Tonight, I'm ordering Moo Mini cards, which are playful, odd-sized business cards that allow for a distinct image on every card. The side opposite the image supports one color (red in my case) with textual information (book title, e-mail address, and where it's available).

The images below were part of my first, abortive attempt at getting a group of them printed.

They failed mainly because the title didn't fit in the 'safe' cut-off box that Moo doesn't tell you about until you've uploaded. The two top images have one other handicap, as well, though I actually love them; neither speaks directly of a distinctly lakeside story.

Anyway, I've reformatted and gone with a different font, this time taking into account the safe area for title printing. I'll post those images in the next few days.



(the photos I took in New Hampshire, where the book is set)

As soon as these things arrive, I plan to start passing them out and talking the book up to anyone who gives me the slightest indication that they might have interest (I have, for example, seen countless people on lunch break with a Kindle). 

I have no idea how successful this effort will be, but I'll let you know. 


A Short Story (and more to come) at Amazon

Agendas: a short story