Promoting my book: Sky Kingdom

[MauEvig]

Anyone have any advice on how I can promote my story?
I would put this under Halloween writing or another part of the forum but it's not really relevant to Halloween.
The story is called Sky Kingdom, likely the working title will be "The Chronicles of Ark'eth: Sky Kingdom" since the story takes place in my own imaginative world.
I have nine chapters written plus a prologue and I'm working on chapter ten. I'm very serious about wanting to get my story published and written and I'm going to work hard at it. I really want this book to be a success and I've been working at it for several years now.
I know there's a lot of kinks that need to be worked out in it though. Grammar, description and such I realize they need work. Right now I'm just trying to get the story out in rough draft.
What I really could use is a volunteer beta reader and maybe someone who could point me in the right direction as far as a publisher goes.
I rather not self publish unless it's a last resort...if I do I'll likely go with lulu.com.

So this is my other project other than College and Career.

It's basically a science fiction/fantasy type of story. I try to keep it appropriate, though there are a few more grown up themes in it. I'd say it's meant for young adults. There's magic, action, advanced technology, and drama all on a world made up entirely of Anthropomorphic animals.

Fast Forward to 2024 Edit: Bumping this topic since I actually have an update for it.
So as I might have mentioned in other story threads that I've posted here that I was working on a book called, Sky Kingdom.
I also might have mentioned that the first draft has been completed and it's now in editing phase.
I have at least two volunteers to be beta readers. But I will say editing has been an extensive process for certain. I've put this book off on and off for years pushing it to the back burner and then forward again. But progress is being made. This summer this project will be my major focus. Well, besides cleaning and studying for the praxis anyway.
I'm planning on publishing with Lulu. After careful thought, I've decided I'd like to keep the rights to the story and characters.
If anyone's interested in the book, I'll be sure to post when pre-ordering is available.

Sky Kingdom isn't necessarily scary, but I suppose some scenes CAN be. Just not scary in a horror/halloween sort of way, so that's why I'm posting about it here. It's more of a fantasy/science fiction/adventure story following the character of Ravine. Ravine's an anthropomorphic cat who's trying to find herself and her purpose. She's trying to figure out who and what she is and finds herself on a journey of self discovery where she must find and save her people from an evil dictator who's trying to enslave and destroy her people.
If you enjoy fantasy and science fiction literature, with a lot of magic, adventure, some advanced technology, anthro animals, you'll enjoy this adventure.

Gee whiz! I posted this in 2015? This has been almost 10 years ago. How long have I been working on this thing!? XD I think I started this project around 2012 or so. Oh well. It's about time I get this thing done and published!

[Murfreesboro]

I'll show this to my daughter. She also writes a lot. And she keeps her ear to the ground about markets, etc. I know she has read lots of self-published and fan fiction stuff, and she says some of it is surprisingly good. It's a new world out there for creatives.

[MauEvig]

Indeed it really is. There's so many venues out there now for publishing, including amazon and lulu.
It's challenging trying to break into the traditional publishing market, and plus I hear they end up owning the rights to some of your published content. I suppose if you aren't THAT attached to your material that isn't a big deal, and publishing companies tend to do more of the promotion/advertising end of that.
But they take a profit and I think you sign a contract and all that yadda yadda jazz, and I don't think you get a choice in what cover they use. That's even assuming they give your manuscript the time of day, and it has to be the exact right length and such.
But I'll be honest, because I don't like rejection and just want to see my book in print, and decided maybe I do want to keep the rights to all of my characters and content, I'm going to go the self-publishing route. But the hard part is going to be promotion.
That said, talking about it and getting people hyped online will help. Then once it's published I'll look into venues for selling the book. I feel like conventions would be a good place to do it.
Is your daughter planning to write and publish a book, Murf? I will say it's quite a process. And often working with an editor can mean taking everything you wrote down and chopping it up and reassembling it. It's a lot of work, I just hope it'll be worth it. I wish your daughter luck though in her efforts! Let me know if there's any advice I can offer, and if I don't know the info myself I'll ask around.

[Murfreesboro]

My daughter has one novel she wrote in high school and early college, then completely revised after college. So far she has not sought to publish it. But most of her writing is plays (theater major), and publication for that means mounting the plays. She's gone so far as to have a table reading for one of them. She did not select the one I preferred for that. We'll see how she progresses.

[MauEvig]

My daughter has one novel she wrote in high school and early college, then completely revised after college. So far she has not sought to publish it. But most of her writing is plays (theater major), and publication for that means mounting the plays. She's gone so far as to have a table reading for one of them. She did not select the one I preferred for that. We'll see how she progresses.

Oh that's right! I forgot she was a theater major. I think that's really exciting honestly. What's the play about?
Yeah, revisions are common when it comes to writing any kind of literature I'm finding. Even some of the most popular movies have gone through several revisions before we got the final product. (But it is interesting to think about how they could have been different.)
Well I hope she's successful in getting it published and that she progresses, even if it's not the publisher you might have liked. The important thing is that she's successful! But you know, maybe she'll change her mind and go with the one you recommended after all.
I also hope she enjoys the journey that comes with writing a story and publishing. It's quite a journey indeed, let me tell you.
Right now I'm working on character profiles and planning to do a complete overhaul and revision of my own story. But I think it'll be worth it in the end.
And you never know. Maybe one day we'll all be seated at her play being performed on stage. I'll keep my fingers crossed for her.

[Murfreesboro]

Thanks, Mau. Several of her plays are based on Shakespearean plays, like modern takes. She got started this way because she'd heard about a grant for this sort of thing a few years back. Not sure if that grant still exists. And some of them are based on Biblical stories. But the novel she wrote was based more on social/political themes as they played out in one extensive family connection. I can't be more specific than that, because she's pretty guarded about her content.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

I had previously posted advice on how to promote your book, but it was at the bottom of a really long post, so you might have missed it. I have reposted it below for you.

I have a friend that has had her books published, and she told me that even though your publisher will promote your book, that the best way to get attention is to promote it yourself, as long as it's not a breach of your contract with your publisher. She mainly uses social media, as you reach the largest possible audience that way, and she would also print flyers and put them up in local bookstores, coffee shops, and on campus boards to get people interested. She has also sent free copies to various reviewers, and if they liked it they would promote it for her, but that method also has a opposite side, if they don't like the book they can be really mean with their reviews, so you have to have a thick skin and handle the criticism, not everyone is going to like every book, so it's best to pick reviewers that usually review books on the particular subject you have written.

Aside from that, I would suggest that you get your story and characters copyrighted before you go to a publisher, I know that publishing companies don't like that, but since you want to self publish, then it shouldn't be a issue.

Another thing you could do instead of releasing your story as a book, is to make your own comic book series, that way you could stretch out the story over the run of the series and make changes to the story based on fan reaction, or if you change your mind about the direction of the story, and since you are a artist you could do the art yourself. You could go to a publisher like Image Comics, and if they sign you, then you would retain the rights to your stories and characters, and if your franchise gets popular you might land a tv or movie deal with a streaming service, and possibly get a anime series. Hey, it worked out great for the creators of the Walking Dead, so you might want to try that.

[Murfreesboro]

That sounds like really good, pragmatic advice.

[MauEvig]

Right now I think I'd rather just make it a novelization than a comic at this point. But depending on the success of the story, I might consider a comic adaptation. Drawing out panels and putting in word bubbles (which the word bubbles part I'm just not that great at. I might need the right programs to generate the word bubbles for me) would be a lot more work, time and effort. As it stands, I'd rather just have a successful book out and a potential series. Wings of Fire is a good example, it started out as a novel series, but was adapted to a graphic novel.
I know graphic novels are popular, but they take a lot of time to get out there.
As far as copyrighting goes, it's something I'll need to do. But my question is, do I copyright each individual character in a series of copyrights (which to me sounds EXTREMELY pricy with money I do NOT have at the current moment and would likely take me years to get to) or can I just do one copyright that encompasses the entire thing? The latter sounds feasible, the former impossible.
I could see myself go to a copyright office and say I want to copyright the characters and concepts in this particular story and series of stories and pay one fee. But if I have to pay multiple fees for multiple characters...

[Murfreesboro]

I think the copyright covers the entire story. I don't think you have to take one out on each character.

But there's also the "poor man's copyright." You seal your work in an envelope and mail it to yourself. Never open it. The date stamp on the sealed envelope proves when you wrote it.

[MauEvig]

I've never thought of the "poor man's copyright." If all else fails, maybe I'll try that.