Paperback is Out and It's Promotion Time

The paperback of Redemption on the River is now available through Amazon.  I must admit that it is remarkably satisfying to hold the physical book in your hand and riffle the pages.  Also, it's a bit surrealistic to leaf through it and see the words that you are so intimately familiar with looking up at you from the black and white.

Now it's time to get exposure for the book.  (Why does that always conjure up a mental image of a barefoot, bare-legged man in an old raincoat?)  Another word for it is promotion, which also has a somewhat negative connotation to me—it brings to mind street corner hawkers of strip shows in Las Vegas.

Our initial sales push to friends & family has about run gone well, but one only has so many of those.  (And, THANK YOU, friends and family!).  From now on the book has to make its own way out there in the wild.  I've been submitting it to as many book review sites and blogs as I can manage, and I'll continue to do so.  I'll also submit it for contests, spread the word around the workplace, and hand out Redemption on the River business cards/bookmarks.

Reviews and mentions by folks who have read the book are still the best ways to help out.  These breakdown into two broad categories:  Point of sale and general exposure.

Point of sale reviews are at places like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBookstore, etc.  These are very valuable, of course, once people get to that page, because favorable reviews will help them to decide to push the "Buy" button.  But, as important as they are, point of sale reviews don't do much good unless people are finding the book's page in the first place.

That's where general exposure (promotion) comes in—people have to find out about the book before they ever can decide to go check it out on Amazon.  Reviews on Goodreads, Shelfari, etc,  mentions/plugs on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus, emails to friends/family, and good old-fashioned word of mouth recommendations of a good book to read are the things that will get exposure for Redemption on the River.

Sorry if I've gotten a little evangelical on you.  I've written what I believe is a good book, and I would like to see it reach a wider audience.  If you agree, I'd sure appreciate assistance.  If you have any ideas regarding ways to spread the word I'd love to hear them.