“Come on ride that train, and ride it! Woo-woot! Come on ride that train, and ride it! Woo-woot!” An oldie and a… ah, well.
The point is, now you’ve got a dancing song in your head and you’re ready to celebrate the launch of The Night of One Hundred Thieves with me by boarding The Launch Train! Here’s how it works: you click on the links (or icons) below in order, and each will open in its own tab so that you can go on the scenic tour of Launch Day one stop at a time. I’ll be your illustrious tour guide. Hang on for giveaways, events, and just plain interesting information about the book and the whole writing thing. Keep your arms and head inside at all times (and you might want to consider doing the tour on a laptop). Also, keep in mind that this train strongly encourages Liking, Sharing, and Following all along the route. And hang on cuz here we go!
Let’s start simple, with a quick look at the book’s listing on Amazon. As you can imagine, seeing your book go live on Amazon is today’s equivalent to getting the first books hot off the press on publication day. The listing feels like it means we have taken off! Of course, that real moment is deferred for maybe the 10,000th reader but it’s still exciting. You can celebrate indie authors now by purchasing at the click or waiting until the tour is over.
Another exciting moment for authors these days? When their name just starts popping up all over the place with legitimate bios. I have bios on all sorts of pages, from GoodReads to Amazon Authors to who knows. A favorite past time of my husband’s (besides checking my sales ranking) is to Google me and see what pops up. I take up more than a whole page, that’s for sure.
Of course, I’ve done this whole publishing thing once before, so this is the second time that getting my POD copies or gearing up for a public reading has come along. Little-known fact: writers and books get awards when they fork out money. Contest entries require cash, and the cost falls either to the author, the publisher, or someone else. Little-known fact two: many of the contests and awards (and most of the most prestigious ones) are closed to indie authors. No matter how successful or professional a self-pubbed title, it won’t be allowed to win most contests. (The Pulitzer is an exception, but it does cost money to enter.) I won’t be entering The Night of One Hundred Thieves in any contests, at this time, but Benevolent took home a handful of the indie awards and laurels it participated in.
So how does one go about making a book anyhow? How does one get from an idea to a listing, Google-fame, and awards? Hard work, time, and perseverance of course. The Starving Artist is quite fond of writing about all these things, in fact. Among the most popular posts of all time on The Starving Artist are the writing life encouragement blogs (that, and the one about Haven Kimmel). Even when I write for other blogs and sites, my most popular blogs are writing life encouragement, like this one, over here, on the K. M. Weiland blog.
As for how I got from point A to point B with The Night of One Hundred Thieves? Technically, it’s a spin-off from my first novel, Benevolent, although the books are technically different genres. When readers asked for more of the Northwyth legends, I obliged in November 2013 by making a legend expansion my 50,000-word project for NaNoWriMo. A few months and a back injury later and I was whole-first-draft in. Another year while working on four simultaneous projects and Night was ready for its final reads, proofs, and publication. Owl and Zebra Press is a very picky indie publisher. It takes a lot of time, patience, and read-throughs before we are ready to green-light a book.
We are now arriving at the Launch Day section of our tour. If I could draw your attention to the right side of the train, where we have Launch Central. When it comes to virtual launches, a good author will sit at the computer all day, promoting and spouting check-it-out! and buy-my-book! all over the internet. That’s pretty much where the Launch Train came from. And if you are touring any time on March 30, 2015, yes, I am sitting at my computer right now.
But a virtual launch isn’t just about the beginning of a blog tour or anything. One of my most favorite tools in getting people engaged is the Facebook invitation. When used very sparingly, it can be the key to (at least the people that know you) starting a fire of interest and purchases that maybe, just maybe, will spread into a bonfire. Or a wildfire. Or a fire storm!
The Launch stops at Twitter.
At GoodReads.
At Pinterest.
At Instagram.
And you had no idea I was so ubiquitous. Okay, maybe you did. Did you notice all those giveaways? Did you enter some? Here’s a tip for you if you’ve stayed with me on this tour: there will be an Amazon paperback giveaway this evening at 9pm Eastern, first eligible entry wins! Stay tuned to The Starving Artist (right here!), Twitter, and Facebook for further details on how to pounce at precisely 9p. Or if you’re the type who does not enjoy Black Friday, go ahead and purchase your copy at the end of this tour and be watching Kimmy Schmidt at 9pm. Have it your way, as long as you know The Night of One Hundred Thieves will be zooming to you from the nearest distributor.
And while we are in giveaway country, here is a Launch Train exclusive: Sign up for The Starving Artist Newsletter between now and April 12 and you’ll be entered to win yet another copy of The Night of One Hundred Thieves. Or, if you already have one of those, Benevolent. Or if you already have one of those, an Advanced Reader Copy of The Journey of Clement Fancywater. I’m thinking this deal is too big not to leak though, so Launch Train passengers will get the first crack at it, anyhow. The idea is for you to sign up for the monthly (no more) newsletter and receive updates on the writing and indie publishing world as well as Flaherty books and Flaherty news and events.
Now, I know you don’t want this fancy tour to end, but we are nearing the final station. To continue the fun, make sure to check out The Touch on Wattpad. It’s free. And it’s a neat idea, right? Read while the author is writing. Mind blown.
Also, remember that reviews are very important to indie authors and even more important is that if you like the book, you tell your friends. Heck, even better, take it to your book club!
We here at The Starving Artist would like to thank you for joining us today on the Launch Train. We hope you enjoyed the ride and that no one was seriously maimed by sticking their arm out the window. You’ll notice a gift shop on your way out, and the management has asked me to say just how much we truly appreciate all support and every single reader that we get.
the starving artist 