Focusing My Social Media

The past year, and the past month in particular, has been a watershed time for me.  I released the two books that I felt had the best chance to be successes which could launch my career into being an author who doesn’t need a day job on the side.  They were Two Gun Hart and the second Relic Worlds book.  (It’s not this second one alone that I’ve felt has such a great opportunity, but the Relic Worlds series in general; and this was the first book that was going to show what Relic Worlds could be as a series.)

I’ve also finished the Command Combat: Civil War game series, and launched my gaming channel, Bandwagon Games, which more or less takes the place of the war gaming channel I had, Command Combat Battle Reports.  I had hoped one of these would launch some sort of career.  What they’ve done instead is simply teach me what an independent media producer/publisher/writer/creator needs to do.

One of those things is to streamline, and to focus on what works.  I’ve been spread out for a while now trying to catch every audience member of every type of work I want to do.  I had social media platforms for every one of my projects, and I never entirely kept up with any of them.  I had some fans, but not enough to truly build upon anything.  So I had to focus.

My primary focus is going to be on Relic Worlds, and I’ll make another post that explains more about why later.  I’ll build my platform on that, but I don’t want to remain limited to it.  So even though I’ll be posting a lot on Relic World’s social media platforms, I’m going to maintain a presence as an author in general.

Therefore, I’m going to retain this blog as a general location where I post about things of which I have an interest.  It will deal a lot with independent publishing and producing, as well as what I’m doing as an author.  A lot of it will involve Relic Worlds and Bandwagon Games, as those are the two projects I’m going to focus more on, but there will be other things that aren’t relevant to science fiction or gaming that I want to place somewhere, so they’ll go here.  In fact, most of my posts will have their birth on this site, and will then be sent out to other locations, so you’ll see a repeat of them in other locations.

For instance, when I post about something regarding independent publishing, I will repost it in the Bandwagon Books blog.  When it involves gaming, I’ll repost it to Bandwagon Games.  The big difference between what I’m doing now and what I did before is that this blog, and the social media platforms for Relic Worlds and Bandwagon Games will be regularly kept up, while my other platforms, such as Bandwagon Books and my personal Twitter will be done irregularly, based purely on when I feel there’s something relevant to say about a specific subject.

I'm also going to be placing Tales of a Failed Filmmaker on a separate blog, and I'll be reposting there every time I put up one of those stories.  I got to thinking that people who are interested in those tales may want a blog just about that, so it's the one exception I'm making to the whole idea of consolidating.

So these are the various platforms I’ll be covering and how often I’ll be covering them:

Jeff McArthur Author

Blogger – Weekly

            Tales of a Failed Filmmaker - Irregularly

Facebook page – Irregularly

Twitter – Irregularly

Relic Worlds

Mail Chimp – Monthly

Tumblr blog – Weekly blog / Daily reblog

Facebook page – Daily

Twitter – Twice daily

Youtube – Irregularly

Bandwagon Games

Youtube – Daily

Tumblr blog – Twice daily

Facebook page – Daily

Twitter – Twice daily

Google + - Weekly

Bandwagon Books

Blogger – Irregularly

Twitter – Irregularly

Pre-Sales Have Begun

I have now been in phase 2 for almost a month.  This is the phase where I try to get people to purchase the book through pre-order.  This is a difficult task as people have to pay for something they don’t get right away; something I don’t like to do, let alone people in today’s instant gratification society.  I would normally agree with them and not bother with pre-orders, but, as I mentioned in my last entry, all sales in pre-orders go toward one day, and are more likely to put you in the bestseller list.

This isn’t so much of a prestige issue as it is a practical one.  Books on top 10 lists typically get far more sales.  Plus, when mixed with the fact that a lot of people are talking about the subject when it releases, others who then see it in the top 10 list feel like they have a history with it, and are more likely to buy.

So the way I go about achieving this goal is by appearing on as many media outlets as I can.  I made a huge list of radio, television, and newspaper locations, focusing primarily in Nebraska, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Austin.  (I’ll probably add Florida to that, now that I think about it.)  I’m sending out a general press release, then emailing them afterward so they hear about it through the release, then are reminded through the email.

This book in particular plays well to this specific type of promotion, as it’s a very newsworthy story.  A long-lost Capone hardly anyone knew about has finally been discovered, and he was one of the most successful lawmen in the country.  Headlines mean the most in this step.  I want to attract the producers and editors first so they’ll have me on their show.  Then the public will hear me.

I’m following this up with sending bits of information to bloggers and podcasters to get them to pick up something about the story.  During the first part of this phase, it’s less important for people to see where my book is available to buy, and more important for them to learn that the story exists.  If everything goes as planned, they’ll have heard about the real person so much that by the time they see the pre-order, they’re already sold on purchasing it.

#Presale #Promotions #independentpublishing #selfpublishing #amazon #barnesandnoble

All My Blogs

I’m going to be brutally honest here.  I don’t particularly like blogging.  Actually, I like the theory of it.  In fact, I love the fact that it gives a voice to everyone to say what they believe; and I don’t buy the idea that it merely creates rumors while “legitimate” newspapers and magazines tell the truth.  They are owned and controlled by corporate backers who tell them what to say, so they’re as much rumor mongering as any blog.  A reader merely has to judge how much integrity a given source has.

For me, though, I’m so busy creating books and games that I don’t have time for a blog.  And you’re expected to write something at least once a week to get noticed.  However, I’ve been told, and have noticed this to be true, that people tend to not notice you unless you have a blog.

And so I write.  And now, in my usual fashion of over-doing it, I’ve created multiple blogs.  I’m a person who’s torn in many directions, and I create projects for every interest.  It’s spread me a bit thin, and perhaps I should drop some, but every time I think of it, it’s like Sophie’s Choice.  Which of my children could I really let go?

And so I keep them, and I have a blog for every one of them.  All but one of them, the Dice Depot, are mine.  I do the Dice Depot for Ric Wickham, who has a fantastic game site.  Here they are listed:

Bandwagon Books

Jeff McArthur

Relic Worlds

Tales of a Failed Filmmaker

I also have Facebook groups for these, and my projects Command Combat Battle Reports and Geo-Hunters, plus, of course, Twitter accounts.  Accchhh!!!

Bloggers Who Have Forgotten Their Roots

As I’ve tried to get my books spoken about and reviewed by bloggers, I’ve come across the same problem so many times:  Signs on the blogging websites that say they will not take any self-published books.  They review or write only about traditionally published books.

I’ve got a little piece of news for all you bloggers who say that.  YOU ARE SELF PUBLISHED!!!!

Yes, that’s right.  As you’re sitting there behind your keyboard all holier than thou, taking only the “legitimately” published books, you are forgetting that one basic fact.  You are not in a magazine, a periodical, or any other “legitimate,” or “traditionally” published manuscript.  You are SELF-FUCKING-PUBLISHED!!!

I have been rejected by magazines, radio stations, and television stations.  While I’m disappointed, I’m not surprised and I don’t hold it against them.  They have a world of their own, and they want to stick to it.  I hope they’ll open themselves up to us independents, (and some of them have,) but if they don’t, they’re merely sticking to their kind.

You bloggers who won’t talk about or review self-published works are downright hypocrites.

If we have to be traditionally published to be good enough for you, why shouldn’t you have to be traditionally published in a magazine in order to be good enough for us?

I have made a determination, and I call on everyone to do the same.  Whenever I look at blogs, even if I’m not in any way considering sending my books to them, I take a look at their submission policy.  If the blogger refuses to have anything to do with self-published works, either for stories, reviews, or whatever, I tag that blog and never return.  I also make it a point to tell people not to go to that blog.

Now, to be clear, this is not the same as being personally rejected by a blog.  If there’s a blog which rejects me, but they take independently published works, I’ll strive to rise to their level and hope they’ll accept me in the future.  I’ll even recommend the site.

But if you reject self-published, independently published books and you’re a blogger, then I’m sorry, but I only read traditionally published magazines.