Skip to content Skip to navigation

Promotion

Blog entry

I'm a numbers geek. I like tracking and trending things. Crunching data is one of my self-soothing mechanisms. Twice a year, I get the cold hard feedback on how my books are selling. There are indicators I can follow on a more day-to-day basis: review numbers at Amazon and Goodreads, sales numbers at Amazon (though I can only approximate them based on fluctuations in the sales ranking). But in the final analysis, there's data that's only available from the semi-annual royalty statement.

Things move very quickly once we get into discussions of cover design! What do you think?

(I confess I do feel left out of "cover reveal culture", which doesn't seem to be a thing among lesbian presses. I always find out what my cover looks like when it pops up online.)

ETA: Almost forgot -- I also have cover copy!

Sometimes you send a query out into the universe and the universe says, "We'd love to have you on our podcast!" Check out this episode of the Smart Bitches Trashy Books podcast, where I talk about the Lesbian Historic Motif Project, the current field of lesbian historical fiction, and many other things.

I finally have the projected publication date for Floodtide (by virtue of simply asking about it). It's on the Bella Books schedule for October 2019. My mind immediately goes to thinking about where that falls with respect to conventions and whatnot. It won't be out for Worldcon (which in some ways is easier, because I can talk it up without the anxiety of having actual books in hand), but it should be out in time for Sirens (which I hope it's a good fit for in terms of readers, though not an event where I'd feel comfortable holding a launch party).

I’ve gotten in the habit of doing a year-end summary of my creative output, if only to convince myself that I really have accomplished something after all. It’s funny: people have a tendency to react as if I’m boasting, or making the lists to try to make other people feel bad. But for me it’s an emotional survival tool. What have I done? What do I have to show for all the time, energy (and money) I’ve poured into the projects of my heart? Am I putting those resources into things that bring return? The intangible returns are the connections and friendships I make.

It wasn't quite meant as a direct exchange, but December's LHMPodcast guest is going to be Carrie Pack, and I'm appearing on her podcast show BiSciFi. Check it out!

It is that time of year in writingdom: the time of reminding people what fiction we have put out into the world in the current calendar year. Purely for people's curiosity and amusement, of course. Not at all with any expectation or pressure for people to consider our works for award nominations.

I am relieved to be able to report that I succeeded in having one work of fiction published in 2018:

The deadline is fast approaching, but here's another guest post from a LGBT SFF Storybundle author!


Tenea D. Johnson writes:

It’s a good time to read Smoketown. A place that’s given in to its own fears to the extent that its people are living an unnatural life in a restricted place doesn’t seem so extraordinary at the moment. But even in such places there’s still magic, and when enough people pursue their goals in spite of restriction they can change anything. They can change everything.

Only 2 more days to take advantage of the LGBT Science Fiction Storybundle! Although I'm not a contributor to the bundle, I offered to host promotional posts from bundle members to help spread the word. Here's a post from Geonn Cannon, who has been a regular in the Storybundles that Melissa Scott has put together.


Geonn's post:

It’s literally been a full year since I blogged, which is a shameful thing. But it makes what I’m posting today more important! Right? Maybe. We’ll see.

I offered to host guest-blogs for the LGBT+ SFF Storybundle that Melissa Scott organized this year -- only a little over a week left to take advantage of this great bundle! -- and she sent the following along for me to post. (It previously appeared on her own blog.)

Pages

Subscribe to Promotion