In terms of support?

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I'm nowhere near ready to publish, but I'm thinking. 

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I'm tech-challenged (never on Facebook, Twitter, none of that), don't have a website, it will be an uphill battle for me to put it all together. Does BC assist you in planning/creating/promoting a website? I see the interview with Carl Read (one of my favorite people here), do you plant mentions for others whose work you are taken with? I have a lot of questions, I need to make a list.

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I see pans of BC (and other) Pub Services: you can do it yourself and keep the royalties for yourself. I don't want to do it all myself. I don't care if I'm giving away a chunk of money. Chances are I won't make money anyway. I'm sixty-seven. If my thing gets hot in a few years and pulls in a bundle (One can dream. It's a harmless high.), what good will it do me? I plain don't care. I want to finish it, and get it up into cyberspace. If I can manage that, I'll drop dead happy. 

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I am a graphic artist. I plan to create my own cover, and a variety of eye-catching mailers. Paper dolls, for instance, of my Elizabethan hoity-toit cat. Does BC have a mailing list to offer me? Bumper stickers! I will produce bumper stickers. Posters! I have a mad idea to head down to Manhattan and paste posters in the walkway between the Port Authority and Times Square. Hire someone to wear a sandwich signboard, and hand out the paper doll promos. Hell! Do it myself, if I'm able. (I have knee problems.) 

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For years I was a serious antique/collectible paper doll collector. I sold them when times got rough, but I still have books and books of glorious ideas. I also collect pop-up books. (My treasure? The Mickey and Minnie pop-up books from the thirties.) I have that in mind as well. Pop-up promos, time-consuming to produce, but what fun-fun-fun! 

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Will any of this fly? I believe that my images will attract a lot of attention, if only from children. The book is not for kids, but kids have parents. An ancient hippie-chick toting an oversized illustration of a tricked-out cat in flamboyant sixteenth century garb (me also, why not? Let's see . . . who do I know in the SCA?) has to get noticed. By media? Even better.

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My thing is odd. It's fantasy, but not the Dungeons and Dragons variety. Is there a Con that might do me some good? My story is an arch, acidic retelling of Puss-in-Boots. It's literary, I'm afraid. Think Kurt Vonnegut meets Tristam Shandy. I'm looking for any ideas on promotion. I'm dead serious about my terminally sly romp. 

--edited by Mimi Speike on 9/25/2013, 6:53 PM--

Hi Mimi,

You ask great questions, and I'm glad you posted this.

Book Country can do a lot for you. Once you click publish, we can take your work and turn it from a manuscript into a book. We wanted to give authors a lot of flexibility so we have different packages from the free DIY option to the Prospect, the one where we handle everything: including the formatting and layout, image insertion, ISBN assignment, cover design (which I know you said you won't need), and the retail distribution to all of the major stores with sales tracking and reporting in one place.

We made a decision to only have a couple of marketing services: Marketing Copy Polish and BookStubs. (They're both included in the Prospect and some of the other packages and also available a la carte.) Why did we choose only these? We think BookStubs solve the problem of getting an eBook into the physical world, and we believe that having clean book jacket copy is essential for authors.

We don't offer any other marketing or publicity services.

You're not the first person who's told me that you could die happy once you got your book into the world. (An amazing feeling, I'm sure!) You're also right that the work doesn't stop there -- that's where some say it begins. I'm so happy to hear about your ideas and plans. I'd love to see your posters plastered all over New York, your bumper stickers on cars, and the paper doll promos everywhere. Make that list! I bet your fellow BC members can help you brainstorm ideas and help you discover new outlets for potential readers and fans as you put together your marketing and publicity plan. 

I hope this helps. I'm looking forward to reading your finished book!

Best,

Brandi

PS: Did I mention that I'm really excited to see your Elizabethan cat paper dolls?