Slowly but surely, I am learning new tricks! Following my theme of independence, my entire author journey so far has been done without the help of agents, editors, graphic designers, web developers, or marketing gurus. Only a tiny bit of AI has been involved, and any AI input has been summarily rejected as inauthentic.
Today, I managed to create a “contact me” block, which will allow me to do a number of things that will help me market my book, and myself. First, it should help me create an email list of readers who will be the first to be eligible for freebies, presale copies, and other exclusive content. Selfishly, this email list will also help me sell myself to agents and publishers, as it is evidence that I do have followers.
The “contact me” block also allows me to claim my Goodreads author profile, which I can use to promote my books and have better control over communication and readership. Amazon gives me a few perks, but not nearly enough.
So, what is next? I have such a long to-do list. Polish up the Blood of a Pigeon trilogy, which tells the story of my colonial ancestor Thomas Garnett. Create regular blog posts on this website that highlight the obscure and surprising historic facts that my research continues to discover. Create a YouTube channel that will act as sort of a visual blog on the same topics. Pick one of the dozens of possible story topics from my inspiration sheet to use as my next novel. Perhaps use an online poll to help me choose? Do more genealogy research to find even more interesting characters and themes.
Stay tuned! I’ll get better at this, I promise.
J. Ann Snook 
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