Guest Post: 5 Marketing Ideas That Gather In Readers by Kathryn Elizabeth Jones

If you've ever tried gathering weeds without a bucket or flowers without a basket, you'll know that keeping all of the goods in your hands until you get to the final destination is a difficult feat.

The same is true with marketing.

You can put the feelers out, gather in all of these wonderful ideas, and yet, if you forget to house them, keep them in a place as you gather them from place to place you may find your ideas misplaced, or worse, lost.

When I began writing Marketing Your Book on a Budget 2012 (we're now at the 2013 edition) I began to gather ideas from websites and to try them out. The best ones I copied on sheets of paper. These sheets began to pile up on my desk until I had to do something with them.

Short Story Sale: "Live from Arcona" to Azure Keep Quarterly

Earlier today I received word that my fantasy short story "Live from Arcona" has been accepted for publication by a new publication, Azure Keep Quarterly. It's slated to be in their first issue, release date not yet specified.

Quick March Goals Update

It's still basically mid-month and I have time to keep working on my goals for March. So, with that in mind, here's a quick status check...

1. Submit three stories for the first time. - DONE!
   
2. Read thirty short stories. - I am way behind the pace on this one. I hope I can still get a decent number read before the end of the month, but 30 is unlikely.
3. Reply to all Kazka Press flash fiction submissions by the 25th. - Barring an absolute flood of submissions in the next couple of days, I should be able to do this without a problem.
   
4. Make fifteen submissions of non-reprint stories. - On pace for this.
5. Outline and get at least 4000 words written on a novelette for general submission. - I haven't gotten off to a good start on this goal. I need to put some thinking time in on it because I'd like to at least get an outline put together before the end of the month.

Two Short Story Sales & Two Anthology Releases

I got a double shot of good news a couple of days ago with short story sales to both Nature ("An Alien Named Tim") and InterGalactic Medicine Show ("Small Creatures and Large"). I'm looking forward to the release of both of these stories later this year.

Also, this month, two anthologies in which I have stories have been released.

First was the Sidekicks! anthology, edited by Sarah Hans and featuring, among others, Alex Bledsoe. My fantasy con-artist story "Learning the Game" appears in this anthology. There's also a print edition of this book and if you'd like a copy signed by me, hit me up on my contact form and we'll get it worked out.

Second is The California Cantata anthology, released by Kazka Press. My fantasy story "Counting it Up" was accepted for this anthology before I came on as editor of the monthly flash fiction contests for Kazka. So this may well end up being my last story released by the press, and I'm glad it's available for purchase now alongside stories by other writers such as Beth Cato.

"Getting By" is Live at Roar and Thunder

My dystopian science fiction short story "Getting By" is live today at Roar and Thunder.

"Martha watches out the window as she cleans the dishes. It’s half past moonset. Craig will be coming home soon.

She hears the young ones, the twins, arguing as they play in the back room. It’s the bickering kind of arguing, not the harsher kind that escalates into shoves and kicks. She lets it go, thinking of the times she and her sister Stacy fought as children. Thinking, too, that it’s been over a year since she and Stacy talked. Communicating between the colonies and home isn’t cheap.

Craig is coming down the path towards their homestead. His shoulders are hunched, his suit is coated in grime. But when he comes through the door, he has a smile for her."
(read the rest at Roar and Thunder)

There's a little interesting nugget of information relating to this story. It was the last story I wrote in 2011 and, very specifically, it was written on New Year's Eve. This fact may take on additional relevance after you have read the story.

March Issue of Kazka Press is Live

The March issue from Kazka Press is available now. I selected one story for this month's issue on the theme of Spring Training.

With a new month having started, that means I'm also reading for the April issue. The theme for this month's submissions, appropriately enough, is "Changing Seasons." Please submit stories along those lines for my consideration on or before March 20th.

While I'm here, since I've put a bunch of posts up in recent days, here are links back to some recent news from me:

• My 2013 Convention Schedule
• Short Story Sales: "Three Times a Killer" to Plan B Magazine and "Private Memories" to Daily Science Fiction
• February Goal Results and March Goal Setting

February Goal Results and March Goals

Here were my February goals and how I did with them.

1. Submit three stories for the first time. - I made zero progress on this. Got to get better at this..
   
2. Read twenty-five short stories. - Done.
   
3. Develop a convention schedule for the year. - Basically done in February. I had to wrap a few things up on it tonight. But it's done now.
4. Reply to all Kazka Press flash fiction submissions by the 24th. - Done.
   
5. Make twenty submissions of non-reprint stories. - Done.

So, other than not getting new stories out the door (which is, I need to acknowledge, a big part of what I should be doing writing-wise) this was a good month. Now, as for March...

1. Submit three stories for the first time. - I probably should set this at four since I'm zero-for-two-months, but one of the issues I'm running into is not having enough markets to submit to for some types of stories, so I'm going to leave this at three for now and make accomplishing this a very high priority. 
   
2. Read thirty short stories. - Bumping this up to a slightly higher number, since I hit 25 last month.
3. Reply to all Kazka Press flash fiction submissions by the 25th. - Pretty straight forward, get responses out quickly allowing time for contracts to be signed, etc.
   
4. Make fifteen submissions of non-reprint stories. - Bumping this down a bit since I've got most of my stories out at the moment and if replies don't come in quickly enough it might be hard to get to twenty again in March.
5. Outline and get at least 4000 words written on a novelette for general submission. - This ties in to my goal for the year to get four novelettes and/or novellas submitted.

My 2013 Convention Schedule

Note: I almost got this convention schedule put together in February like I had planned. All I had to do was finalize one bit of information, but I got sidetracked while I was in the middle of this and never really got back to it. But I'm keeping the stuff about having gotten this done in February just because...

One of my goals for February was to create a 2013 Convention Schedule for myself. Since I'm in the middle of a hyper-productive Tuesday morning (Yes, that's actually a serious statement, no sarcasm at all!) I figured that I should check off another thing from my list and publish said schedule.

So... Here's where I plan to be in 2013. Note that with multiple kids, potential for weekend work hours, etc. any of this could change unless I've noted that I'm committed to be a panelist in which case I'll be there at least for my panels barring a major life issue.

• Millennicon 27 (March 15-17, Cincinnati): Very tentative. If I go, it will most likely only be for one day and to participate in a release event related to the Sidekicks! anthology in which my story "Learning the Game" appears.
• Marcon 48 (March 29-31, Columbus): Definite. I am going to be a panelist at Marcon; currently I am signed up for two Saturday afternoon panels. If you're in the area, I hope you'll come by!
• Confluence (July 19-21, Pittsburgh). Fairly likely. This is a weekend where my current work schedule looks like it wouldn't cause a conflict and it's a fairly short drive. If I can't make this one, I might try to get to something like DucKon or Libertycon.
• Pulpfest (July 25-28, Columbus): Very likely. This is one I'll be attending more likely than not, though as an attendee, not as a panelist/presenter.
• Context 26 (September 27-29, Columbus): Very likely. It's here in my hometown, it's a great convention, and a ton of people I know will be there. If I miss this convention, I'll be very disappointed. I intend to sign up to be a panelist here.
• Philcon 2013 (November 8-10, Philadelphia): Fairly likely. I went to Philcon in 2012 and had a very good time. I'd like to have a chance to catch up with folks like Alex Shvartsman, Anatoly Belilovsky, and Fran Wilde in person. If I can manage the cost and time of a trip that far, I will want to go.

Short Story Sale: "Private Memories" to Daily Science Fiction

I received word a couple of days ago that my short story "Private Memories" has sold to Daily Science Fiction. I am very pleased by this sale; it will be my second story to run with Daily Science Fiction and it represents my first pro-rate sale for 2013. I don't know yet when it will run, but most likely sometime in the May-June timeframe. I'll post the link here, as always, when the story is available.