Ballyhoo

Posted by: Lisa Hendrix

Current project: IMMORTAL CHAMPION

Mood: Is overheated a mood?

It seems we're writing about promotion this month. Promo is a favorite topic of authors, though most of us would rather it wasn't even on our radar. But the realities of the publishing industry dictate that we must be all over it, doing blog tours, running contests, buying appropriate ads, visiting chat rooms, doing more blogs, getting bookmarks and bookplates done, arranging for tchotchkes imprinted with our names and websites, posting book trailers, more blogs, blah, blah, blah.

But are you really interested? I mean, this particular blog is supposed to be reader-oriented, and I keep asking myself why readers would be interested in what we writers have to do to promote. I mean, I'm only interested because I have to be, but why would you care?

Readers, after all, love the books, not the hoops we authors have to jump through to get ourselves noticed. Readers are happy to enjoy the story and leave the boring or agonizing bits to those of us who can't avoid them. If you're one of those readers, thank you. You are our life-blood -- not just the money part but the emotional part. You're the person who pats us on the head and says, "Yes, honey. You wrote a book. And I read it."

And occasionally, you're the person who says, "Let me make you a book trailer." Fran Lee is a writer, but she was wearing her reader hat when I met her online at a chat recently and she offered to do not one but two book videos for me. Here's what she came up with for IMMORTAL OUTLAW -- my very first book video and one little bit of promo I'm thrilled to be able to share here for the very first time:

Thank you so much, Fran. And thank you to all those who've bought books this month. I love you.

Now, you readers, come out of lurk to tell us what you would like to read about here on the blog. Do you have questions? Do you want recipes? A hunk of the week? Think of your favorite author blog and tell us what keeps you going back to it? Or have we been doing just fine all along? We're all ears.

(The video Fran did for Immortal Warrior is here.)