The Big Fire (Weave-A-Web Book 1)
A secret group is trying to shake up trouble and make an alliance with the brutal nation of Vaskandar. Amalia, Zaira, and the Lieutenant Marcello Vardi are thrust in the middle, trying to keep peace. The core of this book is based on the relationships between these countries and the political manoeuvrings of their courts. If you aren't into that, this isn't the book for you! Personally, I loved it. It's got assassinations, secret deals, traitors, and plots, all set against the background of a quasi-Venetian Empire. My breath is the wind that fills the sails of armadas. You stand within my dominion" Perhaps The Tethered Mage is a little too long weighing in at a hefty pages.
It could have done with a few more sword fights and Zaira getting to let her powers loose. But it's got skulduggery, plot twists, loveable characters, a sweet romance, a bisexual main character, and chunks of wit, so I'm not complaining! Read this review and more on my blog: The writing was so well done, I would've thought this was a veteran writer not a debut.
I highlighted several passages that I just liked the way she phrased things. More books need to focus on female friendship and Tethered Mage did it well. Their friendship progressed slowly and felt true. I easily related to Amalia, a book loving girl who'd rather hole up in her room than go to a party.
She's heir to one of the city's ruling families but though she's rich her life hasn't been easy. I only wis The writing was so well done, I would've thought this was a veteran writer not a debut. I only wish I related to the rich part. Zaira, the street smart mage needed her own point of view. She was so bitter about being captured it was hard to empathize with her.
I did warm to her by the end. The romance didn't work for me. Mostly because I have no clue what she saw in him. I can't remember his name He was most interesting in his first scene, where he came off strong, decisive and a bit mysterious. After that he was too weak and infatuated by her to come off as competent. At least he was nice. When I heard about the Witch Lord Prince I thought he'd make a good love interest not that I wanted a love triangle but it's quickly clear he's firmly in the villain category.
My favorite character was actually Amilia's mom. She's a tough leader, smart, and confident. Though she's strict with her daughter, it's still obvious she loves her. There wasn't a lot of worldbuilding but I liked the Venice renaissance like atmosphere she created. Magic isn't just your standard elements. There are alchemists who create potions and artificers who make magical devices as well. And the creepy Prince's magic. There's no discrimination against women or gays in this world, which was refreshing to see. The mystery was good, and I didn't see most of it coming. I did suspect one suspect.
It felt a bit choppy. Time passed between sections but I felt they were too short, jumping from scene to scene. The only excitement was at the beginning and ending. More was done with the possibility of war and political plotting than magical battles. But those could always come in future books. Dec 13, Emma added it Shelves: DNF There are some interesting ideas thrown in here but overall the plot, characters, and language are too simplistic to really draw you in.
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Aug 17, Silea rated it it was ok Shelves: Can we stop having pale people 'rescue' dark people by kidnapping them and holding them against their will? As always this review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The Tethered Mage is the first book in the Swords and Fire trilogy by Melissa Caruso and oh boy, what a tremendous start to the trilogy it is!
On her way back from the Tallows the rough and seedy district of Raverra a chance encounter means that Lady Amalia Cornaro comes across 4. On her way back from the Tallows the rough and seedy district of Raverra a chance encounter means that Lady Amalia Cornaro comes across a young girl being assaulted by a group of men. Suffice to say that after the initial set-up involving Amalia and Zaira the story moves forward and as they attempt to bond and learn to trust each other trouble and unrest starts to brew in the Serene Empire and political conspiracies, schemes, plots and intrigue abound.
I really liked the magic system there are four types of mage: Generally, mage-marked the mage mark is a coloured circle ringing the pupil in the eye are spotted as children, taken to the Mews and trained from a young age to become Falcons but some like Zaira manage to avoid detection until they are older. Which does bring into question whether or not it is right to jess the mage-marked and conscript them, especially if like Zaira they are bonded against their will adding even further depth to the story being told by Caruso within the pages of The Tethered Mage.
Only a few pairings are mentioned and it would be really cool to meet some more in future books. The world of Eruvia in The Tethered Mage is richly detailed with plenty of history. You have Raverra and Ardence in the Serene Empire as the locations used for the story but mentions of another area, Vaskandar give added depth and hint at possible future exploration and direction for the trilogy. Vaskandar is separated from the Serene Empire by the Witchwall Mountains.
For Vaskandar, the mage-marked are revered as powerful and they rule as Witch Lords over their own individual domains. The characters in The Tethered Mage are top quality and all are well developed even the minor and secondary ones. I really liked Amalia as a character and our narrator, bookish, good-natured, intelligent and with a steely determination. She is a brilliant character! Brash, abrasive, feisty uncouth and snarky. She is an absolute pleasure to read.
Caruso uses The Tethered Mage in the same way that a Falconer uses the device known as a jess in her book. But instead of bonding the Falcons magic, Caruso bonds the reader, only deeming to release them after they have turned the final page. This is Book one in the Swords and Fire trilogy. Lady Amalia Cornaro is eighteen years old, precocious, intelligent, beautiful, and the heir to her mother, La Contessa Lissandra.
She preferred to run around in the less desired areas of the city searching for grimoires wearing men's breeches instead of her court gowns. But one journey ended with the capture of a Falcon, or fire mage, and her life was never the same. Amalia lives in a string empire whose soldier are called Falconers, who pair with these various mates with just as varying powers which can only be controlled with release and stay words. But as a ruling family Amalia can't be a falconer, and as an independent spirit Zaira doesn't care to be a falcon.
Lieutenant Verdi fosters this relationship as well as his own with Amalia. The plot thickens when the heirs of several powerful families of a neighboring country are abducted and it appears the culprits are from Amalia's empire. This lights the match that ignites the haystack that's been piling up for some time the pitchfork manned by the mysterious Shadow Gentry and Prince Ruthven of the Witch Mountains.
Characters galore make this book quite interesting. I will say I did have the end figured out but not all at once, and even though I did that in no way detered me from finishing the book. I look forward to Book Two Nov 07, Marianna rated it really liked it Shelves: Are you looking for a diverse fantasy with kickass, strong and intelligent females, an amazing magic system and political scheming that will blow your mind? If your answer is YES, then this book is for you! We follow Amalia Cornaro, an heir of one of the most powerful families in Raverra, as she accidentally gets herself stuck in the web of politics and scheming, by becoming the Falconer of a balefire mage, Zaira.
The story had a pretty promising premise and for the most part it delivered. The action starts from the very first pages and we are introduced to this new world and magic system. At first it was all very confusing, but as the story progresses things -fortunately- do become clearer. The magic system is fascinating. There are people called the mage-marked, and they possess some kind of magic.
The most common mage-marked are alchemists and artificers. Then there are vivomancers , mages who can control thunder! My complain is that I wanted a liiiitle bit more focus on the mages, because they are so exciting! The Tethered Mage is all about politics. For the most part of the story I had no idea who was an ally to who, who betrays who. And the plot twists DAMN! If you like your fantasies more on the political part rather than the action part, then definitely pick up this book!
Amalia comes from a very privileged background, she has always had everything she wanted, whereas Zaira has lived her whole life as an orphan, stealing in order to survive. What I liked about those two is that they are both extremely strong but in total different ways. Amalia can get herself out of situations by using her mind and intelligence, by manipulating the others around her and exerting the power of her name.
Marcello is another Falconer who has been assisgned to protect Amalia and Zaira. He is kind and patient, an an idealist, and the slow burn romance between him and Amalia had me ajdhsajgdD!!!! You have no idea how happy this makes me, seeing bisexual representation in a fantasy book.
There is no prejudice, or people having to hide who they truly are. Overall I totally recommend The Tethered Mage to people who are funs of fantasy, magic and politics! I received this e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. A big thank you to the publisher. All opinions are my own. Sep 28, Tammie rated it it was ok Shelves: Unfortunately this is going to be a DNF.
I liked the idea behind the story, but nothing has happened. There's a lot of talk, political machinations - or talk of it - and I just don't care about any of the characters. Thanks to NetGalley for sending me a copy of this to review. Review also posted at Writings of a Reader. Sep 14, Kathryn at Book Ink Reivews rated it it was amazing. A copy of this review can be found at Book Ink Reviews. I can count on one had how many times I've done that out of the hundreds of books I've read in recent years.
This one, people, is for the records, then. Because it now must be counted among those that I read through to the very acknowledged end. In a brillian A copy of this review can be found at Book Ink Reviews. In a brilliant opening book to what is shaping up to be a promising series, Melissa Caruso can count herself an equal among Sarah J.
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The world building was flawlessly executed. We have three nations--two under the empirical rule and one that's always causing trouble. With this set up, the entire story has great action scenes but is focused on a deadly court game where a simple word can lead to anyone's death. While set entirely in its own world, Tethered Mage uses Italian names, descriptions of cities that will remind you of Rome and Venice, and adds to the foreign but not feel.
There are very few young adult books that take the time to flesh out all of their characters, but Tethered Mage did just that. I adore Lady Amalia Cornaro. She is strong and intelligent, but takes time to learn how to move within political circles. Never, though, are we frustrated with her lack of knowledge because he ability to learn quickly makes up for it. Zaira is an absolute hoot. I never wanted her fire and passion to burn out. She is what grounds Amalia without her ever realizing it.
She is feisty and crude and absolutely the perfect foil of Amalia. Marcello is a dreamboat. You find out his backstory, how and why he became a Falconer and that his little sister is what he does everything for--including his undying loyalties. La Contessa, Istreall, Calos , and Jerith will make their loving appearances, too. Though they are certainly the minor characters they still have a depth that makes them real.
Finally, our baddies are all I am eagerly awaiting the next book The Defiant Heir. Read this dang book, people. Apr 17, Jeff Wheeler rated it really liked it. I had the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Tethered Mage by up and coming author Melissa Caruso. Their magic is controlled through a set o I had the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Tethered Mage by up and coming author Melissa Caruso.
The Falcons and their Falconers must be close partners because their lives literally depend on each other and the Empire depends on them to maintain the peace established by the Serene Accords. The book is fraught with political intrigue as a secret group called the Shadow Gentry try to undermine the authority of the mostly peaceful overseers. The story revolves around the daughter of the most powerful member of the Council of Nine in Raverra, Amalia Cornaro, who accidentally becomes a Falconer as authorities try to capture a rogue mage-marked street thief named Zaira.
The two young women are helplessly attached together to the consternation of all and are pivotal to uncovering the plot of the Shadow Gentry. I received a free copy of The Tethered Mage in exchange for an honest review. Maybe it was the slow plot, the cardboard characters, or just the story as a whole, but I could not bring myself to continue reading this.
The Characters Ah yes, those people. Um yeah they were pretty annoying Lets start off with our MC. Amalia Okay, just to be blunt, who even was she??? Did she have a persona I received a free copy of The Tethered Mage in exchange for an honest review. Did she have a personality or was she just the bland side of a cereal box. There was nothing I found interesting about her. She followed her mother's order like a lost puppy and fell instantly for the first guy who had gReEN eyes and who showed aCtuAl interest in her. She drove me up the wall. I know, maybe she would've gone under some character development had I stayed around long enough, but in all good truthfulness, I really don't care.
A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna
Zaira Does someone get more annoying than Amalia? She wasn't grateful of anything anybody gave her, a home, plenty of food, blah blah blah. She was, I think, supposed to be wild and rebellious?? But yeah, she was more For someone, who apparently hated society and shizzle, she sure seemed to know how to be social and do all things polite and wondrous.
What even was she. Marcello Here's our love interest. He was annoying too Anyhow, he was a typical cliche kinda guy. He had a sad past and was boring as homework on a friday night. There's really nothing to him, so The Story I'm not going to include any spoilers here, but for me, this whole story line, was not the most intriguing. I just had no interest in it?? I didn't even know what was happening half the time, due to the fact I was mostly in my head, imagining what it would be like to be reading a different book.
Anyhow, all in all, it was, at least not for me, boring and cliche with too much insta-love for my taste. View all 11 comments. Oct 18, Liz Barnsley rated it really liked it. Ooh good this one was. That was my attempt at Yoda again. So The Tethered Mage is a political thriller. This book has magical mayhem and behind the scenes shenanigans, a brilliantly imagined world and two girls bound to each other by fate and fury.
Which is unfortunate as she possesses the ability to burn the world to the ground so a bit like the hulk Ooh good this one was. What I loved about this one was, well, all of it. Amalia is a beautifully drawn character, born into duty and expected to eventually do great things.
Then she ends up becoming a Falconer through sheer chance and is bound to Zaira, a fire warlock whose power is huge yet lacking in control. The story is strongly character driven, but Melissa Caruso manages to make you see their world in vivid, colourful snapshots. The different empires or wishful empires the hierarchy and political landscape all built to perfection through the characters adventures. I loved all of them especially the wickedly dark Lord Ruthven, but what gave the book such huge heart were the relationships between the various people, some trying to start that war some trying to stop it — and especially the growing friendship between our two main protagonists.
Zaira is breaking loose and overall The Tethered Mage is a fantastically readable, incredibly addictive and intelligently plotted fantasy novel, the start of a series that I cannot WAIT to read more of — I loved it, complete and utter escapism of the very best kind. Roll on The Defiant Heir. Can I have it now please? This is never easy to admit, but sometimes I just cannot get into a book I am reading. Whether the cause is poor writing, convoluted plotting, annoying characters, or even just an uninteresting topic, I always find it hard to put down a book that someone obviously poured their blood, sweat, and tears into.
But then there are books that really rub me the wrong way. As much as I hate to say this, The Tethered Mage just did not make me want to keep reading. The first chapter was a good dramatic star This is never easy to admit, but sometimes I just cannot get into a book I am reading. The first chapter was a good dramatic start. Then it evolved to the drudgery of palace politics and church interference without the clever sting or nuance found in other fantasy novels.
The MC, Amalia, seems like a good person and has her heart in the right place when she adopts, I mean, agrees to train, I mean You can add all the pretty dresses and lovely galas you want, I could not get past this. And the Mage, Zaira, I know she's an angry character and with good reason to be so, came across as childishly snarky and had no teeth to her. I wanted her to be firestorm angry about her situation not snide and prone to messing up her nice room.
She showed how powerful and destructive she could be in the first chapter, I wish she could have remained so. So, I know this book has fans and will do well but I was unable to finish it. Jul 16, imyril rated it it was amazing Shelves: On the other hand, this has dramatically reduced the amount of time I had to wait to read the sequel!
This is instantly one of my favourite fantasies. Alt-fantasy Venice is always a draw for me, and Caruso has a fine touch for character and politics that makes this a joy. This is a book I wish I'd read when I was a teen inundated with fantasies of chosen one farmer boys, where women were flighty love interests or wicked villains; in The Tethered Mage they are independent, nuanced, competent and vibrant - without taking anything away from the men around them even Ruven is chilling, if a bit of a pantomime villain.
Throw in a page-turning plot, and I struggled to put it down. Jan 16, Roy rated it liked it. A solid and charming debut which has its fun. A fantasy world based upon s Venetian times, with numerous characters all politically scheming for control. The main character is a Falconer an important person at that, who accidentally saves but also captures Zaira a mage and is now under her control.
Its this relationship A solid and charming debut which has its fun.
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Its this relationship which really forms the crux of the novel. The world building is great, and the political scheming really intriguing but it felt pretty unoriginal in some areas. The characters were solid however the story was told in 1st person from Amalia but I found Zaira to be more interesting.
A Spark of White Fire
The magic system immediately reminded me of the wheel of time where the sul'dam can collar and control the Aes Sedai etc. The plot was fun but predictable and I could honestly tell where things were going to end up. So if you like that and want a solid fantasy political magic novel, give this a go. Sep 05, Maddie rated it it was amazing.
Loved the world and the politics can't wait to see where it can go. Aug 08, Anya rated it really liked it Shelves: I quite loved the beginning of this book as we are introduced to the magic and the bookish but feisty main characters. I at first compared this world to The Lies of Locke Lamora, and I stand by that assessment as far as the world-building goes.
However, the plot is political intrigue instead of a heist. If you enjoy political plots, definitely grab this book, the magic and characters are ama I quite loved the beginning of this book as we are introduced to the magic and the bookish but feisty main characters. If you enjoy political plots, definitely grab this book, the magic and characters are amazing. If you don't enjoy political plots like me , think it over I guess? Aug 12, Tilly rated it liked it. I found Amalia to be really naive and childish and other characters to be very 2d. The concept and world building was good but at times I felt the storyline was a bit pantomime like.
In the end I did enjoy it. I'm not racing to get the second book but I will probably read it at some point. I just think there are some better books that are much better. Oct 26, Clare T. Thank you, Netgalley and publishers, for an advanced e-book copy of this story! All opinions are still my own and are not influenced in any way. The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso is a young adult, fantasy novel about an esteemed heir, Amalia Cornaro, who, by accident, becomes a Falconer. With this newfound power, Amalia is thrust into political situations and must stop her coun Thank you, Netgalley and publishers, for an advanced e-book copy of this story!
With this newfound power, Amalia is thrust into political situations and must stop her country and a neighboring country from going to war. This book was so amazing, and I really hope you all read it when it comes out. The characters were all so flushed out. You really ended up rooting for the main three.
These three characters' personalities worked so well together that it was a pleasure to experience their interactions and feelings. This book is full of mystery - there seems to be about three mysteries going on at once. Caruso did not fail to surprise me. The different plots were so well entwined, and I'm obsessed. The plot twists were not predictable at least to me , which makes the whole story even more interesting. Who's behind all this?! Gotta read to find out! The writing style was beautiful and had me basically watching the whole story play out in my head.
It's difficult these days to find a book with such great writing that that happens, but this did not fail to disappoint! This book is very much politics. I do have trouble sometimes wrapping my head around all the different people and still did so here for a good half of the book. The politics doesn't take away from the action although it is all intertwined ; there are still plenty of action scenes to keep your attention. I tried to do the same with the book. Here are the steps I took: Not bad for packaging up some blog posts. Blogging a book lets you do test concepts and ways of explaining them to see if they resonate.
Another way that blogging helped, is that it let me start to build the narrative more on that later and find people interested in the book. One was a post which I thought about putting in the book but yielded crickets, so I threw it out: Some posts were totally unrelated and I wrote them purely because I needed to walk away and think about something other than the book for a little while: Iterating quickly and publicly not only helped to make the actual product better, it also let me identify a core group of readers who were willing to help spread the message of the book.
Two days after the book launched, I had a list of forums, Facebook groups, and other places to post about the book. This was much more persuasive than a post coming from me. I spent most of the next few days writing thank you notes to all the people who had helped market the book instead. In retrospect, I realize that I had a very similar marketing plan to the man who may be considered the greatest marketer of all time: In terms of longevity in the marketplaces, the movement he started is 2, years old and is still going strong.
It started with with a very small group of 12 disciples that he invested massively in. Which is to say that They post about your book on forums. They tell their friends. They write amazing reviews. They give you ideas for your marketing. I published large sections of the book on my site and asked people who were interested to opt in to an early notification email list for a free copy of the book when it came out.
On the Thank You page, I asked people who were interested to join a private Facebook group. They not only made the book better from their feedback, but they also got invested in the project. When the book launched, they had a sense of ownership because they had actually created a piece of the final product. Now, time for the nitty gritty! I broke the writing and marketing process down into four phases: The two main components of phase 1 are the proposal and a first draft. Sitting in a breakout session on writing books, I asked what seemed an innocuous question: I had been blogging for around three years, but had done almost no active marketing for it.
It was something I did on Saturday mornings as a way to process my week and start to create a public record for what I was working on. I walked up to him in the hallway afterwards and pitched him the initial premise for The End of Jobs. We started hashing out the outline and refining premise in the hallway and I scribbled down everything into Evernote on my phone. Whenever I have a product or service idea, or someone brings one up, my first move is always to write a sales letter to one person trying to sell them the idea.
I imagine myself standing in front of them with a big black box behind me and saying: Once I had talked to everyone and had a conception for the book, it was time to start writing. It took me 8 months to write, publish, and launch The End of Jobs. The first 3 months were entirely spent writing with almost no marketing. I kept up semi-regular writing once every two weeks on my site, but largely used that as a way to distract myself from the book when I needed to take a break but still wanted and had time to write.
I subscribed to the Anne Lamott school of Shitty First Drafts , which means my goal for the first three months of working on the book was almost entirely driven by word count. My goal was to get sixty thousand words of anything remotely related to the book on the page to have something to work from. That allowed me to write knowing that if anything was prone to being easily misinterpreted without context, I could revise it. After I finished the first draft, I took about two weeks off from working on the book to get it out of my head and give the very kind alpha readers a chance to go through to make notes.
Once I had spoken to all of them on the phone or in person, I went back and re-read the alpha draft myself and went through a three-step Revision Process. I re-wrote the introduction to use as a lens to clarify and define the rest of the book. In much the same way I used the outline before starting the first draft to get clear on who I was talking to, I used the introduction in each subsequent draft to get clear on exactly who my target reader was. I picked a specific close friend of mine that fit into the primary demographic and wrote the introduction specifically to him in order to get the appropriate tone and voice.
Based on their feedback and re-reading, I did a structural edit to the book, moving around sections so that the book flowed better and had a more logical narrative. I also made notes on specific sections that they particularly liked so I could expand on them. I knew I wanted to get the next draft done in 12 weeks so I worked backwards from that deadline. After I got feedback from my next round of readers, I repeated the exact same process while working with a professional editor.
Stories are perhaps the most powerful tool for affecting change in humans. The defining moment in the rise of homo sapiens to be the dominant species on Earth was not the neolithic revolution twelve thousand years ago, but the cognitive revolution around seventy thousand years ago. A homo sapien , years ago was a largely weak, helpless creature.
It was only when language evolved and homo sapiens gained the ability to organize by telling stories that they rose to dominance as a species in a way no prior species ever had. This same ability to tell stories has fueled consumption and capitalism for the past two centuries. One of the biggest shifts in marketing over the past two to three decades precipitated by the internet, is the increasing role and importance of narrative, story and how those stories are told.
There was limited access to the mediums and you paid for every second you used. The most common and unhelpful reaction to this is to bemoan the fractured attention of consumers. The more successful one has been to change the way you tell stories. Jeff Walker popularized the sideways sales letter taking the traditional long-form 50 page sales letter and breaking it up into a series of shorter emails delivered over time as a way to create buzz and narrative leading up to a launch.
The recent rise of content marketing is simply taking the sideways sales letter to the next level, allowing you to weave a fuller narrative around the product and brand and create a sense of momentum and tension. To understand what I mean by tension, think of the lead up to your favorite holiday or event.
You can feel the suspense in a palpable way and it means you end up talking about it all the time both before, during and after. Typical SaaS companies do a big release times a year and come out with 26 new features each time. Then they hire a large inside phone-based sales team to educate prospects on all these new features. Instead, Leadpages released one feature a week and wrote a blog post about why they did it. In doing so, they could replace 10 inside sales people with one blogger and drop their CAC customer accosting cost by 10x.
You can break an industry if you can drop CAC by a factor of Content marketing or blogging your book is essentially like writing a 6-month sideways sales letter and has a similar order of magnitude effects on sales. Once I had a first draft done, I started doing the marketing in parallel with the writing of the book. I would typically do the writing in the morning and the marketing in the afternoon.
Publish 2 blog posts each month — Blog post topics pre-book launch focus around the book in some way so as to help build narrative. There were three main topics which all the articles revolved around: If they were well received, I would include them in the manuscript. If they fell flat, I would cut them out. Book Notes — Since I was reviewing a lot of books and reading new ones to cite in The End of Jobs , I had a lot of notes that I could clean up and publish. Launch early opt-in landing page and Facebook group — I set up a landing page to start collecting emails using Leadpages.
I offered everyone that signed up a free book when it launched and invited them to a Facebook group. I emailed my primary email list around people at this point inviting them into the Facebook group for insider info on the book launch process. I posted there at least weekly with what was going on with the book. This group ended up being the major source for my very early Amazon reviews, as well as supporters for the Thunderclap.
Publish three articles — These are the articles that came out that month. I identified twenty people that I thought could expound on concepts from the first draft or add new ones. This, along with a hefty bibliography, was also a move to position myself not as a guru, but as a synthesizer and explainer. I picked people that I had a personal connection to, had something relevant to contribute and had an audience so I could reach back out to them to see if they would be willing to promote the book.
Conduct interviews — Based on the plan for draft 2 and reviewing feedback from the reader survey, I determined what questions to ask in these interviews to integrate them into the book. My podcast process and templates are included in the book marketing plan toolkit which you can download here.
My favorite podcasts are always ones where the interviewer takes the time to put together really in- depth questions so I tried to do the same. The second half of this interview with Alex Blumberg from the Startup Podcast and Tim Ferriss is gold for asking better interview questions. You can evoke those using questions like: Pick a title — I started by brainstorming a list of 50 possible titles and 50 possible subtitles. For the initial brainstorm, I browsed through books and authors I liked reading, as well as bestseller lists in my category Business on Amazon as well as on Goodreads.
Get book cover designed — I used 99 Designs to get the cover designed and followed a similar process to picking the title of posting the new designs and asking for feedback each time.
This was particularly valuable for me as I ended up with a strong cover and I have terrible design sensibilities. It was also one of the most engaged conversations in the group pre-launch. Coordinate early readers — At the end of this month, I had gone through another revision of the book and had had a draft to actually send out to early readers. I had around five hundred email subscribers at this point and emailed them to see who would be willing to read the early chapters and got around 70 brave souls to accept. I devoted the month to lining up the marketing. I went ahead and scheduled myself on podcasts set to come out during launch week.
This effectively burned the bridges. Perhaps a more stress inducing than necessary tactic for enforcing deadlines, but effective. The key to a big initial launch is a pretty simple formula I learned from author and marketer Tom Morkes: You want a ton of people looking at the book with a big incentive to buy or download now.
The basic premise behind the Thunderclap Effect is that you have a limited number of resources to put into marketing the book and you can maximize them by synchronizing them. When you see twenty people post at once, you have to click. Urgency can either be done by first offering the book for free and increasing the price, or by offering time-sensitive bonuses. I chose free because giving it away let me reach out to people and ask for their support. It also generated a lot of momentum and let me get the book to the top of Amazon. Publish 2 blog posts — Blog posts continued for the same purpose of building tension, anticipation and narrative around the book.
I started by reaching out to people in my personal network, as a huge part of the early traction for The End of Jobs came from my personal friends and network thanks again! A very large portion of that was from the Dynamite Circle , a forum for location independent entrepreneurs that I have been a part of since Many of the people I interviewed for the book are members of that community. In order to line up the interviews, I made a list of target podcasts and topic proposals The SOPs for this are included in the book marketing plan toolkit. Once I had a list of outreach targets, I sent a personal email to each.
I definitely used templates, but still did a lot of crafting for each email so they could tell it was personalized. You can see the landing page I use and opt-in to see the bonuses here. Over of those emails came from inserting an opt-in at the front of the book and at the end.
The opt-in at the front of the book lets people who preview the book on Amazon join your email list without buying the book you can almost use Amazon as a guest posting platform in that way. I also put the opt-in at the end of the book to give people the next step to take and continue a relationship with them. Get interviews edited — I had an audio producer edit the podcast interviews to include in the book bonuses. Set-up sales page on TaylorPearson.