The Neo-Modern Connection - Reaching the Electronic Reader

The small royalty check was delivered to the post office box and deposited into the business account – now what.  Marketing is slow, difficult and sometimes discouraging.  It would be easy to give up but the book is a good story ready for reading enjoyment.  So on to a new way of marketing, a new way of reaching the reading public, a new way to let sales be made.

While being a guest in the bricks and mortar world of books is thrilling and allows for one-on-one communication with the reader, it is also a small part of the market as cyber marketing emerges into the neo-modern connection to page turning on a screen.  Today’s books are in a race to reach a fleeting moment when a finger slides across a display that disappears virtually before the eye is able to notice the cover.  It’s time to connect with the electronic devices that even grandmothers are learning to use.

The answer for me is an on line PR agency to promote Brimstone and Water throughout the United States and beyond.  The internet reaches every corner of the earth making it possible to publicize to a diverse audience using my own writing style as a guest blogger as a beginning.  It also means being ready at an email’s notice to write another blog or answer interview questions.  In the meantime another story begins to form and it’s time to do the research while still trying to negotiate a contract for the previous completed manuscript.

A vicious circle one might say – but then writing is an adventure that waits to appear on the page and marketing is the mountain to be climbed to make the adventure successful.  Cyber marketing goes beyond the email blast, beyond the phone contact, beyond the book store signing event; it means committing to being available each day to do the writing needed for the promoter to successfully present my work to the reading public through guest blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the list goes on. 

While all of this takes place the blog needs to be fed to keep interest going and my writing to be remembered and sought by those viewing the blog.  It’s time for each evening to be devoted to writing, writing and writing.  It’s time to buckle down and write that magazine article that’s been floating around in my thoughts; and then to sell that article and see it appear in print for public appraisal of the article’s worth. 

My goal is to have the reader remember my name and seek out the articles and books because they found one item that caught their attention and search to find more.

Just as I reach out to publicize my work – I encourage other authors to do the same.  Each genre is looking for the next best seller, but without marketing the best works won’t be found. 

Happy writing – and – Happy marketing!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7FnDahiPVA

An Excerpt from "Return to Nineveh"

Prologue

      The fledgling rays of early morning sun shimmered across the still waters turning faded pewter into brilliant translucent shades of opal, silver and bronze.  The strengthening shafts of light stretched across the harbor to a battle scared ship waiting in silence for the sun to warm her decks and playfully dance along shimmering brass fittings.  She came to this anchorage to heal the wounds suffered during a desperate encounter with the elusive Japanese destroyer sent by a merciless conqueror to destroy the last British citizens to flee Singapore.  She waits now in silence to feel the pulse of oil pumping life into her array of pipes and tubing as her engines—her heart—come to life and beat in a steady rhythm.  Soon her human masters will breathe new life into her and she will experience the pleasurable taste of salty spray streaming across her sleek dazzle painted hull. 

       Her name is Mariah.

 

Chapter 1

       Katrin Lee Albright stood alone on the peak of the high tree covered hill overlooking Surabaya Harbor.  Her 22 years on earth had not prepared her for the increasing fear she experienced as the Japanese Army pushed closer to her home.  She brushed the long golden-brown wind whipped hair away from her face while anxiously watching the remaining Allied ships from her hiding place high above the harbor.  Brilliant rays of sun light laughingly danced across the decks and momentarily reflected off guns and fittings as its hot breath seared the backs of sailors scurrying about preparing them to sail.   

 

      Katrin and her father went into hiding when the Japanese began their lightning-quick offensive through the small island state within days following their conquest of Malaya and Singapore.  She and her father, Joseph Albright, an Anglican priest sent from England to build the Anglican presence in the colonies a year before the 1929 world financial crisis, saw the brutal flashes from dueling ships across the horizon during the vicious naval conflict in the distant Java Sea.  The few ships that returned gave witness to the lopsided battle that left only a few to retell the story of failure and defeat.  Now she feared the ships would abandon the war ruined harbor before they could reach them.

 

      Katrin hoped her father would return before darkness fell and relieve her anxiety.  She knew he believed God would protect them and prayed with her to place them in His hands.  He told her to believe it was already so and it would be done – just as Jesus promised so many centuries ago.  She had to trust the lessons of the Bible her father taught her since early childhood, but fear of being discovered made her tremble.

 

      Katrin felt a shaft of fright penetrate her soul and quickly climbed a nearby tree when a sudden rustling in the undergrowth caught her attention.  At least she remembered to make a barely perceptible path away from where she watched like their friend, Colonel Gherst from the Army Rangers, once showed her.  He said it was a way to fool the enemy during one of his many visits to their home.  She briefly wondered if Colonel Gherst was taking part in the current battle to keep the Japanese from overtaking Java.