Charlie Finlay Gives Away Books (with a catch)
Filed Under: SF Business, Speculative Fiction, Writing Advice
Charlie Finlay is a great writer who taught me a ton about writing back when I didn’t really deserve it. He has a new fantasy book series launching, set during the Revolutionary War, and the first book is called Patriot Witch. I have really been looking forward to this. Historical fantasy set in this time period is rare as far as I know, and coupling the period with a writer like Finlay is going to be a treat.
CCfinlay: You Say You Want A Revolution?
But what I really wanted to point out to you today was this interesting strategy he’s using to build buzz for the book. He’s giving out free early copies for the book, so long as you go and post a review on one of the merchant sites. Then he’ll send you an advance copy of the next book, so long as you do the same. I suspect he is going to chain people all the way through the series this way.
I think it’s a clever way to get some mentions out there. If I were him, I would have asked for blog posts as well, for readers with blogs, but maybe Amazon.com reviews will have more of an impact on sales. I’m not sure.
Charlie, like most newer novelists, has not much of a marketing budget behind his book. These days, marketing falls on the shoulders of the writer more and more. I collect strategies like these to offer to my clients as part of my web design series. I’ll be watching this one to see where it goes.
I wish I had time to take him up on the offer, but things are getting really hectic around here between looking for a job, freelance, and Escape Pod. And I’m also writing again a bit. Not enough time in the day, damn it.
Comments
04-22-2009
[...] is responding accordingly. ChurchHatesTucker alerts us to the news that author Charlie Finlay is offering a free copy of his book to anyone who promises to review it on Amazon. Basically, he knows that the best way to build buzz around the book is to actually get people to [...]
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