Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Worlds Of Tim

I've been chatting a lot with my agent recently, and he told me some unpleasant truths. Flux is still interested in publishing my novel The Right Hand of Evil, but they are concerned I do not have enough marketing efforts in place to successfully promote my work. If we can show Flux that we can get the word out about my current and new projects, then they will be willing to go ahead.

Step one is the targeting of librarians and library blogs, as I've already posted about. Step two is the creation of a new blog. My agent felt that my current blog wasn't user friendly enough for people who have read - or are thinking about reading - my books. The black background is off-putting, and my posts center around my life as a writer rather than the works themselves. Rather than change the current blog to meet his suggested specifications, I decided to create a new one. I call it Worlds Of Tim, and it will focus on my work rather than me.

I've already written an introductory post, and I imagine I'll play around with the look a bit (I need to add a photo, for one thing). Do any of you have any suggestions for things you'd like me to put there? Please leave a comment, as I would love your support.

Once again, the blog is called Worlds Of Tim. I hope you will all check it out on a regular basis.

6 comments:

Shayne said...

Hi Tim,

If you want some ideas for marketing and self-promotion, you should check out this website: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/
He has lots of good advice, and you might get some ideas for things that you could put on your blog, too, that would get people coming back.

Also, have you checked out Chapters and Indigo for the chance to do some book signings? They like to promote local talent, and with the summer holidays coming up, you'd have a shot at getting a pretty good audience.

Unknown said...

Best of luck with it all, Tim!

♥Miya said...

Tim,

Do you use a Mac? Have you ever thought about playing around with iWeb and creating a website entirely dedicated to your work? They have several different templates ready for you to use, including one for a blog. It's a 'What You See Is What You Get' program, so it's super easy to use and update as well.

It would make your blog easier to find for fans, and be a lot more professional too. Blogspot is great for family and friends but I think it would be great for you to have your own site and blog dedicated to your work.

I checked godaddy.com and timothy-carter.com is available. Just a thought, I use iWeb for my website and then instead of publishing to .Mac (I don't want to pay each year for a .Mac account!) I just publish it to the domain I bought from godaddy, miyaphotography.net

Then you can ask the online distributors of your book to include the website to your homepage in the book description. I know Amazon does for most authors if they have a site, and in further books you can also include the website inside the jacket along with the author bio.

Miya

Timothy Carter said...

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions, guys! It's a little overwhelming, thinking about all this stuff I have to do, but your comments are greatly appreciated.

Saints and Spinners said...

Hi Tim,
I agree with Miya about having your own domain name and having a website about your work and a blog about your life. It is overwhelming to think about all this stuff you have to do, but I think you're at the point where you do need an official website. Congratulations! Let me know if you need recommendattions for web designers, and I'll scout around. I like my own web designer, but she's local to me, and you wouldn't be able to meet easily (no kidding).

FYI, here is an example of a website/blog that I think really works: http://www.robinbrande.com/

Anonymous said...

Hey, Tim.

As mentioned above, the whole domain name thing is important but don't forget Facebook, Livejournal and Myspace, too. A lot of people only like to get their news through one of them so if you're not on it, they ignore you. By utilizing them all, you increase your chances of being heard.