Recently I have been working hard on the promotion of my debut historical fiction novel, Children of the Ocean God (CHOTOG), which was launched in June 2024. Getting the word out is essential to raising awareness about the book amongst the Garífuna and Caribbean diaspora alike. As I reside in Europe and CHOTOG has been published in the US (and in worldwide markets) via Amazon connecting to the target audience of the book is imperative to drive sales and more importantly readership. Recognizing this I have been striving to find media channels, in particular news outlets, newspapers and magazines which are relevant to this demographic.
My diligent efforts have recently paid off with publication of a press release in a leading newspaper in St. Vincent (the Caribbean island on which the story in CHOTOG is set). I Witness News kindly published the press release in late September to immediate effect. Several readers from the US, Canada and UK snapped up copies of CHOTOG within a day of the article being posted on their website, as well as signing up for my mailing list. This was a very welcome boost which I hope will lead to dividends in the future provided some of these readers leave reviews on Amazon. As you may know reviews are a key driver of Amazon’s algorithm. So every chance to have more eyes on the book increases the chance of getting reviews which can help make CHOTOG more accessible to readers.
My hope is to continue to spread the word in the coming weeks and months through various creative means. I’m currently actively working on some exciting projects related to this which at the moment I cannot share, but which I expect will pay off in the long run. Thanks for stopping by my blog this week and stay tuned for more.
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