Horses to Water and Other Tricks

by Tricia Dower

Writing the book is one thing, persuading other people to read it, another. If your publisher has a big ad budget and can get you a New York Times review, it’s less of a trick. Most of us have to sniff out our own potential readers and entice them to our literary watering holes.

I’ve sent e-mail pleas to Shakespeare festival workers and professors of literature and women’s studies—all theoretically receptive to a collection of short stories inspired by Shakespeare’s female characters. Stories that touch on feminist issues such as sexual slavery, bride kidnapping, domestic violence, and gender politics. Did any of them buy the book? I have no idea.

I’ve run ads in magazines, done eight readings in six cities and recorded myself reading from the title story. Has it helped? Your guess is as good as mine.

When I began my promotional journey, I swore I’d never go on Facebook, but I’ve got 111 friends on there, now, and numerous other connections through Linkedin, Goodreads, YouTube, Zoetrope, and the Chapters/Indigo authors community. I’ve been invited to Twitter, Yedda, Digg, and StumbleUpon, as well, but my tiny brain can’t hold any more passwords.

I haven’t yet dressed up in an inflatable costume and hawked books on the street as an old high school friend did. (He was a dolphin.)

My latest venture is a two-minute video preview, like a movie trailer minus the big stars. Helping me to put it together was Blazing Trailers, a new venture of fellow Zoetroper Kim McDougall. (Now, that connection paid off.) The images form eight mini-tales, each suggesting a story in Silent Girl. Finding photos that matched my mental image of characters and situations was challenging. Choosing the music even more so.

I'm banking on the video appealing to an audience that wants a fun, painless, Coles Notes kind of way to find out about books. I hope it so effectively communicates the essence of Silent Girl that I can go back to doing nothing but eating bon bons and reading dime novels. Please help me out by sharing it with your Shakespeare-loving, feminist, literary friends, okay? They can watch it on You Tube.

You can watch it here.