Daemon: A Lesson on Leveraging the Community

I don't tend to read novels but the story of this one caught my eye.  It's called Daemon and it's an interesting study in what an author can do to build momentum for their book.  Wired recently ran a short article about it here.

The author, Daniel Suarezes (who reversed most of those characters to "Leinad Zeraus" for credit on the book) tried the same old agent-to-publisher route but couldn't generate interest.  He wound up taking matters into his own hands and got some key bloggers and other influential names interested in it.  Next, he and his wife created their own publishing house, Verdugo Press, and are selling it as a print-on-demand title.

Although Bookscan numbers are still pretty modest the book currently has a very nice Amazon ranking (in the 1,500's), so the grassroots efforts are obviously paying off...and the Wired article doesn't hurt either!

So if you're an author, what steps have you taken to drive excitement for your book from influential people with huge platforms?  Even if you have a small platform you can always work to leverage other people's platforms.

Comments

[Michael Covington]

Joe

Have you heard about The Shack? 650,000 copies and running - self published, passed over by all the major Christian pubs. Not even on the NYT or USA Today lists and yet consistently ranking in the top 10 for Amazon and is our #1 book for April and May from Christian retail!

[Joe Wikert]

Hi Michael. No, that's a new one to me. This is the beauty of the self-publishing alternative though, right? Everyone has a chance, even if you've already been turned down by countless publishers/editors!

[Kat Meyer]

The potential for word of mouth momentum for nonfiction self-published books is even greater -- we have an author whose chess book is doing incredibly well on Amazon (number one return for the search term amazon and has been number one chess book seller on Amazon for almost a year). This in spite of the fact that the author is currently ranked as an amateur player and is therefore reluctant to build his own platform. Instead he is networking with other chess bloggers who love the book and are spreading the word. The author hopes to have improved his ranking by the next book, at which time he will be willing to start blogging and participating in more high-profile marketing efforts. It's definitely a good time to be a self-published author with a great book.

[Kat Meyer]

Actually, the book is number one for the search term "chess" on amazon -- not number one for the search term "amazon," which while it would be quite an accomplishment, wouldn't really say much about amazon's site seo nor help anyone find Ray's chess book. My bad. :)