Hey Space Cadets, today I wanted to start a series of articles tackling an important, yet hated aspect of writing life.  That’s right, marketing.  I can hear your collective groans from here, but hear me out.  We know that the wall of books out there can hide your diamond amid the fool’s gold.  But even fool’s gold has it’s uses…okay, if it does I’m unaware of it but work with me people!  So, we KNOW we need to market, but we like to plug our ears and sing “la la la” like we’re back on the playground.  Well, those days are done so rip the band aide off and jump into the deep end with me as we learn to swim together.  And remember, I’m no expert so this is just what I’m doing and it seems to be working for the moment.  As things change, I’ll adapt which is a major key to success in many of life’s adventures.

 First, let’s address the 800-pound gorilla in the room. I started my journey by reading and loving the Human Legion Series by Tim C. Taylor.  I loved them so much I corresponded with the author, as a fan worked on his Wiki page.  Then taking it a step further, I suggested some ideas for a new story, from which the Sleeping Legion was born.

Obviously, since I was working in another author’s world I walked into my first novel with a built-in audience.  Having a built-in audience is part of the contractual perks for me as an author – the downside was giving the primary series author, Tim C. Taylor, a share of the profits.  All jokes aside, I’ve no regrets, and I’m deeply indebted to him for giving me my break. 

Will this work for everyone?  Probably not.  However, for me – a disabled Vet with brain damage – this gave me a lot of help finding my voice.  I had many hands molding the wet clay that was my novel – anyone wanting to follow my path would have to accept that molding. This can be hard for us creative types, but you must be willing to accept changes to your story for this to work. 

For me choosing this path was the right choice – the Boss Man had the mailing list in place, followers of his novels and the Human Legion Universe – there was plenty of room for me to plant my flag and claim a slice of the pie for myself.  Dang, now I want pie.  Pie counts as diet food, yeah?  Won’t hurt my dieting for the new year?  Anyway, I digress.  I’ve been up front about all of this on my blog, but it’s important to note that I was a fan of Tim’s castles before I was an author in his sandbox.  I don’t want to beat a dead horse anymore, and ignore my wife and mother snickering in the background at the idea of me being concise, but my initial success was because of his built-in audience.  If you choose this path, know that while the main author and their audience is the key to starting the car, you still must drive.

 

Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry.

JR

–>As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are videos used by JR Handley for use under fair doctrine.