Frankly? The crickets are worse. Posting a book blurb or an excerpt and hearing absolutely. Nothing. is worse to me. I hate that.

I try to put my money where my mouth is, but I'll often add authors to my TBB list where they stay for a long time.

And if they ARE lying, it's only to "support" you in other ways. Keeping buzz going maybe the only way they CAN support you. I ought to know. I had several years where the only thing I had to offer an author was pimpage. I didn't have the money to buy everyone I love.

And that meant that I would get on loops, forums and blogs saying "OMG that sounds AWESOME. I can't wait for this." even when I couldn't run out and buy it….then.

Hang in there. Promo is hard work, as you know. The first year is the toughest.

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Hopefully, they can get to working on getting your book out there.

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The internet is a massive fabrication. Trust yourself, trust your words, trust your worlds and then put your head down and write like the wind!! <3 <3 <3

Mary – I knew you'd get a laugh on that. Lisa Troy did too!

Ame – Thank you!

Sheila – Getting the contest copies is a good way to learn about new authors. I do the same thing. However, once I've decided I really like someone, they go on my auto buy list and I try to support them by buying their new releases. Jen Leeland is the author on the top spot of my auto buy list and I never miss her stuff! She always tells me, you don't have to buy it… but I do because she's awesome and she deserves the sale.

Mistry – All very excellent authors whom I buy as well. My first M/M novella will be out in July – Fire Season. I'm writing it now and Ethan and Jason are gonna beta it for me.

Lisa – I love snarky greek goddesses. Oh, wait. There's only one. HEH. That must mean I adore you!

You didn't think you'd get away that easy, didja? LOL I too am a member of many yahoo groups and I have to say that I don't read all the blurbs/excerpts that land in my mailbox. I simply don't have the time. Sometimes, a title may draw my attention, but usually I'll read stuff by writers I already know/have read or writers friends have told me they're good.

So knowing I don't read half of the stuff and seeing how the same people claim they'll buy a dozen books and more, I was sure they were just being nice.

Now even though I haven't published anything yet, I'm very good at daydreaming. (shut up, the innocent kind). And because I know it'd hurt me to expect to sell 200 books (the number of ebooks I need to sell to go print *sigh*) and sell only 20, I never say I'm going to buy an author's book unless I will. I've only said it like 5-6 times and I've been true to my word (except from a horror story by Cindy Jacks and your Darkworld Duo, but I'll get there).

I've no idea why I started writing this post (it flew out of my fingers like flash fiction), I'd just like to say that I hate it when people lie to me. I prefer honesty, preferably not blunt tho.

But that's just me…your snarky Greek Goddess.

As you know, I only read m/m these days, so expect me when your writing turns in that direction.

On the promo thing, I tend to skim through the Big Groups (the excerpts, not the messages, I read nearly all of them), because I don't like spoilers, I really only want to read the blurb/teaser before making a decision on whether or not to note/bookmark for the TBB.

On the contest thing, I really only do them for books I would have bought anyway. I would be concerned if the author asked me if I had enjoyed it and my answer was less than "Yes!". To date, I think I have entered about 7 contests, ever, and I've won 1 specific book, a choice of an author's backlist, a choice of a publishers backlist and a voucher. Not bad going – and I've been able to truthfully say that I have enjoyed all of the books thus acquired.

I have not purchased books merely on the strength of seeing other other people win them, nor have I been moved to buy titles from writers I see popping up in group after group with the same excerpts and promos. I make the call at an early stage (genre/sub-genre) then check out their site, the publishers site, any other purchasing sites … and I might check out a review site or two (although I tend to rely on rec's in the groups I follow before "professional review" style sites.

There are a couple of authors I have read snippets from and I would buy their stories if published (Maura Anderson's Bran's Visions is a an example, it must be the series I most anticipate being able to read – oops, must get her Giving Thanks). So perhaps it is those snippets and the author presence somewhere a reader might happen upon for another reason (I found ZAM's group after I began reading her books, not before) and I'm more likely to post to an a "multi-author" site or blog than on an individual one (ZAM, J L Langely, Ethan Day, Jordan Castillo Price and probably another couple excluded) at least when I first join. Then again, I'm more likely to buy a book from an author than I am to tell them about it or to discuss it with them – Standish by Erastes has been out for 3 years (ack! My copy is not on the shelf!) and I had my first online interaction with the author a few weeks ago.

If I read something in a blog or on a group site and am moved to respond, I will do whatever it was I said (may be an "added to TBB" (which currently has over 200 titles on it, so is not a matter of "Buying It This Minute") but sometimes I already own it so it is a matter of moving it up the TBR, the silent version of these is adding it to my TBM To Buy Maybe, a far more woffly result and not as likely to be bought anytime soon), unless it is a "Congratulations" kind of response. I think it is likely that many readers have TBB lists that exceed both time and money available at any given point, so there may oftem be delays between the "I want this" or "Added to TBB" and the actual purchase. IMHO. *g*

I think I bought Self-Preservation (or at least put it onto my TBB List before it was published), because of an excited message Ethan sent to a group (possibly ZAM's) and then later I read the blurb ..

I'm a major Laney Cairo fangirl (I even have a t-shirt that says so!) but have really only had individual email exchanges with her – I've certainly never told the world that I have 3 versions of one of her titles and that her writing is enough of a reason I would consider getting a monthly subscription to Torquere's Screw (if only I could afford it), Torquere don't know that the reason I found their site (and have stayed a customer, discovering new-to-me-authors) is because of her. So I'm not good at trumpeting out the authors I follow (although my new lj may help with that if I can ever bring myself to actually include anything resembling a rec/review there!), all I can do is follow the groups/lists/newsletters/updates and buy the titles I think I'm going to enjoy.

p.s. Of course I have my cc memorised!

Ame

Awesome post and love your imagry about the anal sans lube and reacharound. You do have a way with words. *grins*

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