Fan Forums on the Net
We looked into joining science fiction message forums on the web as a way to getting the word out about the release of the book. Unfortunately, all of them have policies against self promotion, or joining merely to announce your stuff, whatever that may be. On one hand, we can see why that policy needs to be in place. Without it, forums would degenerate into what usenet newsgroups have become: full of spam and off-topic posts. And that would be annoying when legitimate readers and posters are there to enjoy focussed discussion on their fandom interests.
On the other hand, it means that the only way for new material to be added is after someone has been exposed to it, and that primarily means larger, commercial ventures that can be obviously seen by a sizable audience. For the small, independent project like Return to Barsoom, there's no chance to create the ground swell by saying, "Hey, you might be interested in this," and build by curiosity and word of mouth. If we can't tell you about it, how can you be interested in it?
True, we could join the forums and build up our presence (there are three or four forums of note) to enable us the opportunity to be allowed to promote the book, but that seems counterproductive to the writing process. If we're in there all the time talking about our other science fiction interests, well, we're not making our books, which is the point of us being here.
So, if any of you are on message board forums, we hope you'll take a moment to start a thread in the appropriate area if you liked the book. This project only succeeds if we talk to each other about it.
Thanks for listening.
True, we could join the forums and build up our presence (there are three or four forums of note) to enable us the opportunity to be allowed to promote the book, but that seems counterproductive to the writing process. If we're in there all the time talking about our other science fiction interests, well, we're not making our books, which is the point of us being here.
So, if any of you are on message board forums, we hope you'll take a moment to start a thread in the appropriate area if you liked the book. This project only succeeds if we talk to each other about it.
Thanks for listening.