I’m fine-tuning a low budget marketing campaign for Arcane, my debut fantasy-adventure novel from The Arinthian Line series. The aim is rather simple: gather 50 core people that enjoy the book enough to talk about it.

This is a fluid list as I come up with more / better ideas, and will take into account suggestions from others.

What I have so far, in order:

1. Cover + blurb reveal on kboards (with release date?)
2. Cover + blurb reveal on facebook / twitter / myspace / my music website / this blog / my email list (with release date?)
3. Post a 50 page sample (at end of sample give link to buy rest of book – if logistically possible, give discount for buyer)
4. Announce release date on all relevant social media (and update gravitar / widgets / connect blog to google+, etc. The key is uniformity of message.)
5. Respectfully solicit reviews on Goodreads / Amazon / twitter / LibraryThing / relevant blogs (emailing a free copy of book). Or maybe just email the book and not ask for reviews; if it happens, it happens. Choose either Goodreads or Librarything (I don’t have energy for both).
6. Find influencers (regular people, not industry pros) in my genre and give them a free copy to read. Look for ordinary people who can’t help but tweet about their favorite fantasy books. [EG: Search for “fantasy reader” on twitter and add them]
7. Politely ask other Fantasy authors to contribute an endorsement tagline
8. Reddit: Been a redditor for 2 years. Only post to r/fantasy after months of spending time there, and only then — so this is a maybe right now, depending on time constraints. For anyone else even thinking about posting on reddit, read THIS first. I’ve witnessed plenty of crash and burns, so tread at your own risk.
9. Small Blog tour (maybe 2-4 a month). It has been suggested I do more. (Oh, and I still have to learn exactly how to do a blog tour, hehe).
10. Print business cards of book and give them out like candy
11. Go to this board and ask these guys where to get the word out. It’s a java based irc applet, but those guys know fantasy.
12. Paid advertising: ENT, BookBlast, KindleBooks, Bookbub (with enough reviews that is).
13. Go to the Kboards Tips & FAQ and carefully read and implement all points.
14. Possibly do a small print run of 50-100 copies and hold a physical book launch in ONE local store and invite ALL my goo friends. I could offer said bookstore exclusivity to sell it in town. (Opinions?)
    
15. RELEASE THE BOOK! (oh God, what do I do for release day — get drunk?)
16. You may post one thread about your book, in the Book Bazaar board (again, kboards). You can use that thread to introduce your book, include a brief review, etc.
    – Price: $2.99 for a 98,000 word ebook (and when three in series are released, make 1st one perma free)
    – Should there be the demand, release a print book and an audio book (will use funds from sales).

The Russell Blake rule: After release, spend 75% of my time writing book four in the series, 25% on marketing.

That 25% will consist of the following:

1. 90-95% of the time tweeting about my indie publishing journey / things I’ve learned / fantasy / writing how-to’s / advice columns / advice blogs; the remain 5%-10% on my personal book and blog. Tweets scheduled using Hootsuite (I love that app!).
2. Blog tour / commenting on other blogs I find interesting
3. Be a little more social on facebook (sigh … I hates FB)
4. Post photos of the writing life in all it’s glory (don’t read into that you)
5. Be creative — come up with a video for book (and if you haven’t seen my last video for my music, it’s HERE)
6. Build email list, only emailing for releases
7. Blog Once a month (I’m a convert of slow blogging, as introduced to me by Anne R. Allen in this post).

So did I miss something? Have a trick to add to this list? Let me know! And of course, use what you like for your own campaign :)

Thanks to the following for throwing in ideas for this specific post:

Cindy Johnson
Kathryn OHalloran
Pamela Kelley
Joe Nobody
jtbullet
Sandra K. Williams