To Promote Yourself Or To Promote Your Book?
That Is The Question.
There are definitely two different schools of thought for promoting books. There is the first school, which is to “brand” yourself and sell your personality. Basically, it’s the theory of promoting “yourself” as opposed to directly promoting your book. The second is straight up tweeting, facebooking, you name it, just advertising the crap out of your book.
Which one is the right way? Should you have a combo of both? Or just pick one or the other?
This was a serious dilemma for me. I mean in theory, being clever and funny and cool would be an awesome way to sell yourself, but I can never think of a single clever, funny or cool thing to say. This is an actual skill. It’s not easy to tweet or facebook in a way that endears you to the public. That’s why it’s mostly comedians that do extremely well in this category. I honestly, wish I had this talent. It would make promoting myself and my book so much easier, but I don’t, so what’s a girl to do?
So far, I use what others have said about my book in reviews and quote them in a tweet. Yes, it’s straight-up advertising, but I find that having others speak for my work as opposed to me speaking for my work is much easier for me. I’m not the kind of person who can comfortably sing myself praises. It’s physically impossible for me to compliment myself because I always think it sounds conceited and as I write this I realize that I should probably be nicer to myself.
So which is it? Me or my book? I think writers should try both. It may take time, but ultimately people want to connect and being personable seems like the best way to do that, but in the mean time promote your book as well. Ultimately, writing is about sharing your stories and any way you can make that happen is a good thing.
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Book Description:
Kala Hicks is part of a covert elite
military team that answers directly to the President of the United States. But
during an emergency mission aboard Air Force One, Kala is shocked to discover
that the real threat is none other than the President himself. Defying her
commanding officer, Jack Norbin, Kala takes the shot, and her life changes
forever.
The moment the President is killed, a
supernatural force speaks to Kala, telling her that she has to commit one act
of atrocity every four days… or the world will end. Thrown into a reality she
never could have imagined, Kala faces off with creatures of legend; from demons
determined to make her fail and plunge the Earth into chaos, to angels who
don’t trust her to do the job and are willing to kill her to claim it for
themselves.
Pitted against the forces of good and
evil, Kala must choose whether to save the world by doing the unthinkable, or
sit back and let it burn. And four days later, she’ll have to do it again.
Excerpt
End of Chapter 3:
Very carefully, Jack
opened the door that led to the President’s office.
What awaited them was
terrifying.
President Jareth Wilton
stood behind his desk. He was wearing a vest that held five grey bars of C-4
wired into a bomb. Wilton was a tall man, well over six feet with stark black
hair and a long face. He was a young President, only fifty years old, but he
looked like he’d aged twenty years since the last time Kala had seen him at a
press conference, with dark rings under his eyes and worry lines on his
forehead.
But his smile was what
made the scene surreal and horrific. His thin lips were grinning as if he’d
just climbed Mt. Everest.
President Wilton stared
directly at Jack as the door swung open the rest of the way. “I figured it out!
I figured out how to break it! No one will ever have to do what I’ve had to do
again! Do you realize what this means?”
Kala knew then and there
that the man was cracked. Figured what out? Break what? He was rambling like a
mad man.
But the more frightening
moment came when Jack responded back to Wilton. “Killing yourself is
impossible. People have tried that in the past.”
Not only was President
Wilton talking crazy, but apparently Jack knew his language and was responding
accordingly.
Kala noticed that Wilton’s
eyes lit up when Jack spoke. “You’re the one they sent to replace me.”
Jack nodded.
What?
Kala was seriously confused.
Kala spoke up, “What’s
going on Jack?”
Replace him for what?
Jack didn’t acknowledge
Kala or the rest of the team, which was shifting uncomfortably behind him.
Wilton shook his head,
serious. “You can’t do it. You have to let me detonate this bomb. We have to
crash the plane! It’s the only way to stop it!”
“You can’t stop it!”
Jack yelled back.
“I can and I will!”
Wilton talked into an earpiece. “NOW!”
The plane nose-dived.
Everyone jolted forward
and stumbled from the force of it.
Jack barked orders,
“Lali get up to the Flight Deck and by any means necessary take over this
plane!”
Lali paused for a
second, she looked more confused than Kala felt, but after a moment to gain her
bearings as the plane was falling fast, she managed to high-tail it out of the
room and up to the Flight Deck.
Kala was sure they’d hit
ground at any moment.
Jack aimed his gun at
the President’s head.
Wilton was frantic. He
ducked behind his large oak desk that was bolted to the ground.
“You can’t kill me!
You’ll ruin everything!” Wilton yelled.
Jack turned to Kala and
Derek. “No one shoots him but me!”
Kala kind of nodded, but
she was in shock at the fact that they were about to flatten a part of the
capital with Air Force One. She really didn’t care what Jack was saying. She
couldn’t let President Wilton set off that bomb and kill thousands.
Jack shot at the desk,
trying to hit the president, but he didn’t come close.
Only Kala could make a
shot like that and not get them all killed from shooting a hole through the
plane.
Kala and Derek made eye
contact. Kala could tell Derek was thinking the same thing. He whispered so
only Kala could hear, “Do it.”
Kala’s nod was barely
perceptible.
Jack saw her and his
eyes went wide. “Kala STOP!”
Kala shrugged. “I can’t
let him do this, Jack. I’m sorry.”
Only the top of Wilton’s
head was showing.
It was enough.
Kala took her shot.
About the
Author:
Becca C. Smith received her Film degree
from Full Sail University and has worked in the Film and Television industry
for most of her adult life. In 2010 Becca published her first novel, Riser
followed by the sequel, Reaper, in 2011, and the finale, Ripper in 2013. In
2012 Becca wrote the children’s novel Alexis Tappendorf and the Search for
Beale’s Treasure. She is also the co-author of the teen graphic novel Ghost
Whisperer: The Haunted.
Becca currently lives in Los Angeles, CA
with her husband, Stephan and their two cats Jack and Duke.
Website: http://www.beccacsmith.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/therisersaga
Tour Wide Giveaway
5 print copies Atlas by Becca C. Smith
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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