Promoting my book

It's hard work promoting a novel. We were travelling for much of the time since we released the book so I never had a chance to really launch it. We're also concentrating on Alex's new release Self Publishing for Success. He launched it at Books@One in Louisburgh to a small but interested audience in a very nice session. Next week he does a seminar at the Castlebar Library. But me, I'm not really doing much.

My book was on the table as an offering from White Seahorse Press at Books@One. I did post it on Goodreads and amazon.com. I did a book reading to post on our website and blogs. I have signed up to Reader's Gazette and they tweet my stuff out regularly. I did post when I had a chance on Women who sail Facebook group. I do occasionally post something on different sites but I'm not really working at it. Why? because I think this is a trivial book that helped me learn how to write a book. I am aiming for the next one to be the literary novel or memoir that I have to get out.

Book reading from The Naked Truth

The Naked Truth Press Release

Contact: Alex Blackwell
President
White Seahorse
Division of Knowledge Clinic Ltd.
Port Aleria, Rosnakilly, Kilmeena
Westport, County Mayo, Ireland
+353 87 624 3907
ablackwell@knowledgeclinic.com
www.coastalboating.net

For Immediate Release

Announcing the New Release:
The Naked Truth
A nautical murder mystery
by Daria Blackwell

14 February 2017, Westport, Ireland:  White Seahorse is pleased to announce the release of The Naked Truth - A nautical murder mystery. It is Daria Blackwell’s first novel. She is the co-author of several previous non-fiction works.

Alex Blackwell, White Seahorse President, independent publisher and author said, “This novel complements our existing line of self-published works, each of which takes on a degree of a nautical theme, but weaves an intriguing story around adventures on the high seas. It’s not the typical diary of an Atlantic circuit. It has multiple twists of plot that are unexpected but highly plausible. It’s a story that anyone who has ever thought about sailing away will find amusing and intriguing. They may even glean several valuable lessons from the narrative.”

When asked how she developed her story, Daria Blackwell explained, “When we sailed across the Atlantic and through the Caribbean, I kept meticulous notes and wrote missives to our friends and family throughout the trip. But I knew I didn’t want to just tell our story as a travelogue. I wanted to use our real experience as the backdrop to a fictional story, one that would be full of twists and turns. So I just started writing, and one day the idea of stringing together a series of disparate yet potentially connected events came to me, and The Naked Truth was born.”

The story begins with Xander and Jessica anchored in the Canary Islands. They had sailed off in search of adventure. Sailing across oceans on their own boat was exactly the kind of restorative voyage the Lynches craved. They quit their high powered jobs, sold their house, and cast off the lines. When Jessica witnesses a series of murders in exotic settings, their adventure sets her on the course of a murder trail. On finding no evidence – no bodies, no signs of struggles – their quest to answer unasked questions begins.  Tormented by helplessness, Jessica experiences bizarre dreams within which lay the clues that evaded the professionals. They embark on a convoluted course to uncover the naked truth.

The Naked Truth is set in the Atlantic Islands and the Caribbean. The description of crossing oceans as a lifestyle is based on the author’s experience. Everything else is fiction.

Paperback: 418 pages

Publisher: White Seahorse/CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Launch date:  February 10, 2017

ISBN10:  1540793745      

ISBN13: 978-1540793744

SRP: $15.00        

About the Author

Daria Blackwell is the co-author of two critically acclaimed non-fiction books Happy Hooking - The Art of Anchoring, Cruising the Wild Atlantic Way and Onyx, The Cruising Kitty. The Naked Truth is her debut novel, a murder mystery set in the midst of sailing adventures. She has written numerous articles for sailing magazines and websites on both sides of the Atlantic. Daria is a USCG-licensed captain with three Atlantic crossings and a year’s sabbatical sailing in the Caribbean to her credit. In a former life she was a scientist, a science writer, a creative copywriter, a strategic planner, and a top level executive in marketing and communications firms. She is the author of several publications on cultural competence. A dual citizen of the US and Ireland, Daria has taken on a mid-Atlantic mind set. Follow her blogs at http://dariablackwell.blogspot.ie/ and http://aleriasadventures.blogspot.com/.

About White Seahorse

White Seahorse (www.whiteseahorse.com) is a division of Knowledge Clinic Limited based in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland (www.knowledgeclinic.com). White Seahorse is dedicated to providing information, products, and consulting, marketing and communications services to the marine leisure industry. White Seahorse’s publishing arm provides support for independent authors who self-publish.

• High resolution art is available from ablackwell@knowledgeclinic.com .  
• Booksellers interested in carrying any of the White Seahorse titles should contact ablackwell@knowledgeclinic.com. They may also order directly from CreateSpace.com.
• For more titles, visit http://www.whiteseahorse.ie.

https://www.whiteseahorse.ie/publishing/NakedTruth/NT-Release.html

Soon to be released: Self-Publishing for Success, Every book deserves to be published.

https://www.prlog.org/12622784-new-book-release-the-naked-truth-nautical-murder-mystery.html

My book is live on amazon

We uploaded the pdf and approved the proof last night. I checked this morning and, voila, my book is live online at amazon.com. Thrilling and chilling. Will anyone want to buy it?  Will they read it? Will they like it?  It's terrifying to lay yourself out there like that, baring your soul to the world. What will the naked truth turn out to be?

And here it is on amazon.co.uk...

Now to get the Kindle version up and start promoting it. The real work begins. I have just created a page for it on Goodreads. So much more to do.

Final phase of publishing for The Naked Truth

Yesterday, I completed the proofreading of the Create Space printed proof.  I found quite a few typos, so I took the opportunity to fix a few little things I did not like as well. It's interesting how much more you see in print than on the screen. We made a new pdf and I checked that to make certain nothing went wonky, which can always happen. It was fine. So Alex uploaded the revised pdf to Create Space.

This morning we received a new proof pdf to check, which I did again. Despite their indication that there were a few low res images in the book, I did not see anything I could identify as low res. We're going with it.

Final word count: 95,480. Final page count 400. Plus author bio and promotional pages for our other books. We always take the opportunity to promote the others when we can.

So yipee! I am finished with this phase. Now the marketing begins in earnest. Wish me luck.

The Naked Truth proof has gone to print

I reviewed and approved the Create Space pdf and the proof has gone to press. The sales page has been built and we are on our way. Now we wait.

And it's off...to Create Space

The final pdf has been uploaded to Create Space for review today. What a moment! It's finished and gone to the printer. In a couple of days, we'll be reviewing their pdf to make sure nothing has gone wrong between here and there. We did have a little difficulty with our own pdf today. Blank pages, funny pagination, stuff like that. And amazingly, when just scanning through the final .docx file, I caught three more typos. Lord knows how the eye just doesn't see sometimes.

The next step will be to review a hard copy proof. If fine, we post to amazon companies and affiliates and create our own webpage. Then the marketing begins. Alex created an emoticon for me to use promotionally. Very cute. Thanks for all your help my love.

Anyway, I think I can be proud of this work. It won't change the world, but it might entertain a soul or two. In any case, I don't think I have anything to be ashamed of.

Crowd sourced market research

#1 

Social media is a fabulous market research tool. You have many friends, and potentially the entire user base, to ask questions of. So I boldly decided to ask a question before going to print.

After I finished a first draft of the cover copy and design, I posted it on my Facebook page and asked my friends if they would be enticed by the front cover to pick the book up if they saw it on the shelf. Furthermore, I asked if the back cover description would make them want to read it.

Major edit completed

Yesterday, I completed a major edit of my first novel, The Naked Truth.  I like to call it a murder mystery set on the high seas. Essentially, I created a fictional story based on our sailing adventures. I didn't want to just write our story which has been done by so many. I wanted to create characters who experience something unusual, while making use of the experience of sailing through the Caribbean and across the Atlantic. I really didn't know where the story was going and how I was going to resolve it until about 3/4 of the way in.

This was my third edit. In the first edit, I caught many mistakes, fixed prose, converted prose to dialogue, and just cleaned up overall. So now I had a second version. Then I gave it to my editor (husband) to read.  He edited and annotated as well as giving me a page of comments in general. I think every sentence had suggested changes.This was version 3. That was a little hard to take, but I bit the bullet and made most, not all, of the edits he suggested. He was absolutely right.

Back cover blurb

We have the opportunity to promote our books at upcoming conferences at which we are speaking. So I had to stop everything and write the promotional copy for the novel I am editing under duress to finish quickly.  

This is critical. Crafting the back cover copy is almost more important than writing the book itself. It's what's going to make someone pick up the book and decide to read it. Isn't that the point of writing a book?  Then back cover copy must be the most compelling part. Fortunately, my background in copywriting is coming into good use. 

What do you think?  Would it make you want to read the book?