Meredith Mansfield, Author

Sorry to be late blogging today. I got sidelined by a power outage.

I have a final draft of BLOOD IS THICKER and a cover. Now the real work starts. I mean to do a better job of it this time. Promotion is where I’m weakest. So, I need to make a list.

1.  Pick a publication date. Right now, I’m leaning towards mid-October, roughly three months out.
2. Now would probably be a good time to get a decent blurb and pitch worked out, too.
3. Line up some fellow bloggers for a formal cover reveal, announcing that publication date.
4. Go through the Smashwords formatting process so I can have e-copies for potential reviewers. I can turn off further distribution until just before the publication date (if I choose). But, at least this will be done and setting it to go live beyond Smashwords will be trivial.
5. Start lining up reviewers. This time, try to work it so the reviews will coincide roughly with the release.
6. Tricky part. I want to make a two-for-one deal available. Buy either BLOOD WILL TELL or BLOOD IS THICKER and get the other free for a limited time (say, oh, I don’t know, through Christmas). But the only way I can see to make this generally available (as opposed to available only to people who have some contact with me on Facebook, through one of my writers’ forums, or through my blog) is to create a sort of omnibus edition of both books and price it the same. That way it’ll be available everywhere. Plus, it’ll be available for reviewers who want to start with the first book. (Some do.) That’s another formatting chore. Plus, I need another cover. Stumped on that one right now.
7. Bite the bullet and try to set up a blog tour. Introvert me believes this will kill me, but I think I can survive it.
8. Go through the formatting for print on demand, too. That way I can schedule a Goodreads giveaway along with the release. (Both books? Or the Omnibus edition?) Decisions, decisions.
9. What else? What else? I’m sure there’s more I need to do that I haven’t figured out yet. 

 Argh! And while I’m at it, I need to order some more copies of FIRE AND EARTH to send out to reviewers, too.

You can read the first two chapters of BLOOD IS THICKER for free on wattpad.