Four of my books–the Sean’s Saga trilogy and Robin Hood: Wolf’s Head are on sale for a mere 99 cents until September 15th. Head on over to the Based Book Sale and check some of the other authors out as well!
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Hi Eric,
A school-year Bardic contest with a taste of the gods’ magic mead as its prize sounds like an entertaining enough challenge on its own. But having a traitor Bard rewriting history to bring about Ragnarok, while Sean and his friends are sent on a quest to rescue Loki, takes things in a much bigger direction. I particularly like the unusual combination of school life, Norse mythology, and the challenge of keeping alternate timelines straight. It made me think about something that doesn’t get nearly enough attention after a book is published: whether the readers who would genuinely enjoy it are actually finding it.
One of the more frustrating parts of publishing is knowing that your book could appeal to certain readers, yet having very little clarity about whether it’s reaching them. Naturally, the usual response is to do more: more promotion, more content, more advertising. Because if something isn’t working, surely spending more time and money on it must be the answer.
Except, of course, sometimes it isn’t.
I’ve become interested in looking at what happens before another marketing effort is made. A book can have an interesting premise and still be overlooked, not necessarily because it needs more promotion, but because something about how it’s discovered, presented, or positioned isn’t quite connecting with the readers it was written for.
That’s the thinking behind something I’ve been developing called the Invisible Book Syndrome Focus Sheet. I’m Basit, and I use it to examine books from five different angles, looking beyond sales figures to understand what might be working, what could be overlooked, and what deserves a closer look.
I had The Well of Time in mind because its blend of Norse mythology, school-based fantasy, alternate timelines, and a quest involving Loki gives it several distinctive elements that could appeal to fantasy readers. I’d be happy to put together a free Focus Sheet for it. Sometimes, looking at a book from a different perspective can bring up something its author hasn’t had a reason to consider before.
Would you be interested in seeing what that might reveal about The Well of Time?
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