Cheap Ways to Promote a Book

By Cyci Cade

There are many ways to promote a book; some are very expensive and sometimes inefficient. Good and expensive advertisements aren´t equal to success, as well cheap forms to promote a book. I believe that what really works is quality.

Everybody knows that it is very expensive to publish a book. The fact is, authors and publishers don´t want to waste money, this isn´t the objective. Therefore, it is necessary to look for economical alternatives to get good results.

Honestly, I believe these five alternatives are more efficient. These ways demand more work, but you´ll get involved in the process, you´ll have control over it, and you´ll have a better feedback. 

Remember, first of all, you´ll need a website or a blog. 

1- Guest posting: writing articles, posts and flash or short stories for other blogs and magazines is a great way to divulge your name and work. People will have opportunity to know you and your work. If they like it, they´ll visit your website or blog and look for more information about you.

2- Bonus material related to the book: after editing a book, there are deleted scenes, or a different ending. You can publish them as bonus material. Colleen Houck, author of Tiger´s Curse series did it. She had written a different ending for the last book and she posted it on her blog.  

3- Flash / short stories related to your book: you can write flash or short stories related to your book to publish on your blog or other blogs and magazines. Recently, I posted a short story, The boys and the dragon; I wrote it to promote my book Dragon´s Curse. I also wrote Son of Egypt to promote two new books.  

4- Literary contests: they are a good alternative too. Writer´s Digest offers many contests during the year, as well other magazines; Southern Writers Magazine is one of them. You´ll gain a great exposure; if you win the contest, it´ll open new doors. 

5- Social media: you can use social media like Wattpad  and Goodreads to promote you book too. On Wattpad, you can publish flash and short stories, or an entire book. Many writers started publishing on Wattpad. The problem is, to get followers, you need to read, vote and comment other writers´ stories and it demands time. I confess that I´ve failed a little in this part due to my lack of time.  On Goodreads, you can create an author profile, join groups, follow authors, and get reviews to your books… There are many options.

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Cyci Cade is writer and blogger. She´s the author of Dragon´s Curse, flash and short stories like Perhaps Love, The boys and the dragon, and Son of Egypt. Blog Facebook Goodreads Pinterest Wattpad

Keeping Ideas Flowing

By Cyci Cade

Do you want to write a book but don´t have any idea how to develop the story? Or have you already started it but, suddenly, the ideas disappeared and you don´t know how to finish it? Maybe you think that it happens to everybody; after all, who had never problems to write a chapter? It may be true, but the question is, how to solve this problem? I tried some things and they helped me very much.

I won´t talk about reading books, watching movies, looking pictures related to the work you´re doing or observing people and places, traveling… because these tips everybody knows. They help a lot, but sometimes, it´s necessary something else.

1- Imagine yourself in the place of the character – Close your eyes and imagine yourself facing the same problem; then, ask, “what  would I do, say, feel in this specific situation? How would I feel?” When you have the answer, then type the ideas. After that, it´s much easier to turn those ideas in a chapter full of emotion, action, or whatever is the intention of the chapter.

2- Eliminate all negativity – Negative beliefs, feelings, and emotions block creativity. I´ve used EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) to get rid of all negativity and it´s impressive the way my creativity improved. Ideas just appear in my mind and it´s easy to accomplish all my tasks, to execute them.

3- Write in the morning – It´s proved that from 8:00 to 12:00 a.m. is the best time of the day for test-review, problem-solving, report-writing, and math-oriented work.  It happens because there are two types of memory, declarative and semantic – differently throughout the day. In the morning, our ability to recall exact details, like names, places, dates… is bigger, it´s working the declarative memory. In the afternoon, predominates the semantic memory and we have more ability for tasks like to integrate new information with what we already know.

4- Meditation – It diminishes anxiety and stress that are negative emotions and block creativity. It improves memory and increases the gray matter in the brain that contains most of the brain´s neuronal cell bodies. The gray matter also includes regions of the brain involved in sensory perception such as seeing, hearing, memory, decision making… To experience the benefits of meditation, it´s necessary regular practice, just a few minutes a day or a week.

Well, this is it. Just four tips will help you to improve your creativity and keep ideas flowing easily. 

The results will appear soon, and, with the practice, it´ll become natural. Try for a month and see the results. If it works for me, it´ll work for you.

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Cyci Cade is the author of Dragon´s Curse the first book of the series Dragon Princes.  She is a Brazilian writer and started her career writing articles for magazines, newspapers, and blogs. She has books published in Brazil and she accepted a new challenge recently, to start an international career. She writes urban fantasy and fiction novels for young-adults.  When she´s not writing, she´s in the gym. She can be found: www.cycicade.blogspot.com  https://www.facebook.com/cycicade  http://www.goodreads.com/cycicade  https://www.wattpad.com/user/cycicade