It occurred to me that there are quite a few people reading this blog that might have some thoughts on self-promoting. Clarkesworld Magazine has been going strong for eight issues now, recently received a cool little award, and has had a couple of stories picked up for some best collections. Seems to me that I should be able to take advantage of this, do some promoting, and increase our readership. Sounds simple, but I know from experience that it takes some talent and creativity. Anyhow, I’d love to hear what some of you have done to promote your work and if you have any suggestions that might help me, all the better!
horrorofitall
I’m going to be watching this thread cuase I’m looking for some ideas too.
alankria
How about short interviews with the contributors? Ask them about their story — what inspired them, did they have any troubles with it, what’s their favourite part. The writers being interviewed would then link to the interview on their blog/website, and some people on reading the interview might read another interview and then read that author’s story as well, and some more stories, and maybe donate or buy the anthology, and so on.
wyrmadmin
Actually, interviews is something on my list of possible additions. So far, the contributors have been very good about linking to the stories from their blogs and websites.
orrin
I don’t know whether it would help sell the mag or not, but I definitely support the idea of interviews. I always love to read “behind-the-scenes” (as it were) for stories, and I get to do so all too seldom.
marthawells
I buy advertising through Google Adwords for my web site, and I think that’s really helped me get some more traffic. You can set it up so it displays on other sites targeted through keywords, or you can pick specific sites from the list. Though picking specific sites is more expensive, and I’ve actually had better results with just letting it pick randomly through keywords.
wyrmadmin
Hmm. My past experiences with Google Adwords have been very disappointing, but it’s relatively inexpensive and worth a try. Thanks!
experimeditor
You might want to ask your authors to do readings of their stories (the ones that appeared in the magazine) at conventions. Have them read it from the magazine itself.
wyrmadmin
Hmmm. I’ll have to talk to people about that. Normally, they’d be promoting their book, but maybe something similar can be done.
mwbworld
Podcast
Reading of their short stories to be put up as a pod cast.
desayunoencama
A lot depends on who you’re trying to reach with the publicity, and what your goal is.
Do you want to get written about or noticed in the trade? Reach more readers? People who might order the Wyrm books and chapbooks?
Because they’re not all the same sort of outreach. And they don’t all have results that’re immediately codifiable.
But I think you should break down your promotional aspirations a little further, and that will help you figure out how to achieve them. (They’re not incompatible, by any means, but they require a different focus.)
wyrmadmin
The focus this time around is to increase readership and visibility of the magazine. I want more eyes on the stories.