Thursday, December 4, 2008

Guest Post - Stephen V Masse - Author of A Jolly Good Fellow

Good day to you, and thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to stop by.

In all my years of writing, I hadn’t realized there was such a large community of people who take books and reading very seriously – until this year when I discovered the book blog!

When my book, A Jolly Good Fellow went to market, a large part of me transformed from author to marketing hound. And judging from the countless emails I’ve received from countless businesses offering their book hustling services, I was in for a roller coaster ride. I’m not crazy about roller coasters.

I learned to judge e-mails quickly, and deleted many.

Unread.

Pretty much the same way publishers delete most of their queries from authors – unread.

But something caught my fancy when I got an e-mail from Pump Up Your Book Promotion. For one, they weren’t offering the ubiquitous “press release.” I’d love to own the recycling company that gets those three or four million tons of unopened press releases. Think of the electricity all that burning paper can produce. Not to offend anybody, but has anybody actually read a press release this year? Not I – although I did read one last year, about my own book.

Which brings me to the book blog, one of my favorite places to spread the word. So far I’ve been to over two dozen, and I’ve met wonderful people I never would have met at book or library conventions. I’ve discovered a few things.

1. Most book bloggers are women. I don’t know why this is, because reading seems to be gender universal. So I’m curious. Any thoughts?
2. Response to A Jolly Good Fellow has ranged from five star review with appropriate backup, to being tossed in the “DNR” pile (did not read). Judging from discussions people have about books and movies, that pretty much fits an expected Bell curve pattern for any work.
3. Blogs are hard work, and each one I’ve been to so far has been a colorful and interesting presentation of books and information, with a distinct personality. I do revisit blogs that have presented my book, and have all of them listed by url on my website www.stephenvmasse.com

Well it’s been fun to drop by and share some thoughts with fellow blog readers. Thanks for having me, and I wish for everybody to enjoy a wonderful holiday season, with plenty of extra time to catch up on their favorite reading!

Stephen V Masse

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