Tag: booklovers

Updated: Check out the dates for the 2023 “Corsair and the Sky Pirates” book tour

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With the launch of Corsair and the Sky Pirates on January 31, the official book tour is underway. We kicked it off at the Williamsburg Book Festival, February 4, and now more dates have been added. Over the next few months, I will be taking my steampunk historical fiction to a variety of venues, from steampunk festivals to book stores and book festivals. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to pick up a signed copy. They include:

2nd Sundays Williamsburg Art & Music Festival on Sunday, March 12 and May 14, from 11am to 5pm on North Boundary Street in historic Williamsburg, Va. You can stroll the streets of Colonial Williamsburg and take in unique arts, handcrafts and live music in a fun, family friendly atmosphere. Visit 2ndSundayswilliamsburg.com for more information.

Tell-Tale Steampunk Festival on April 1-2 at the Delta Hotels Baltimore Hunt Valley, Baltimore, MD. Tell-Tale Steampunk is Baltimore’s first Steampunk Convention. It is a weekend long event and will feature workshops, vendors, entertainment, music, and educational panels. This years theme is based on the writings of Baltimore’s own Edgar Allan Poe’s. Tickets and information are available at telltalesteampunk.com.

Ocean Renaissance 2023 on April 14-16 at the Carousel Oceanfront Hotel in Ocean City, Md. Steampunk, pirates, and mermaids converge with over 70 artisans and makers collected from all over the country during our many travels will converge to provide some of the most beautiful and unique handmade goods , clothing, accessories, art, and much more. Tickets and information are available at Tides and Tempest Ocean Renaissance.

Founded in 1745, the Moravian Book Shop is the oldest bookstore in America and home to the Moravian University student bookstore. I’ll be doing a book signing on Saturday, June 3, from 1pm to 3pm with both Corsair and the Sky Pirates and The River of Souls from Curious Corvid Publishing.

Awesome-Con in Washington, D.C., is the big summer convention in the nation’s capital, June 16-18. Awesome-Con is a celebration of geek culture, bringing over 70,000 fans together with their favorite stars from across comics, movies, television, toys, games, and more! You can find me on Author’s Lane during the three day epic weekend.

I also want to add that I’ll be at Books-A-Million at Potomac Mills, Woodbridge, VA, on Saturday, March 4, from 12pm-3pm. This will be my first Northern Virginia event. I will have more dates to follow if any additional events come to light, including additional 2nd Sundays Williamsburg over the spring and summer. More to follow so stay tuned!

Mark Piggott is an award-winning independent author of several fantasy/steampunk novels and short stories. A 23-year U.S. Navy veteran, his stories will take you from the shores of eternal Avalon to a dystopian steampunk future and other worlds.

The Forever Avalon fantasy book series—including Forever Avalon, The Dark Tides, and The Outlander War—is available online at Amazon and other booksellers. His fantasy steampunk novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart, is available through Lulu and other booksellers.

Cross over The River of Souls in a fantasy novella and the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates from Curious Corvid Publishing. The Last Magus: Dragonfire and Steel and The Prometheus Engine: Book Four of the Forever Avalon Series, are coming soon. Stay tuned for more new fantastic stories from the imagination of Mark Piggott.

Writers beware! Social media will not let you write!

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It’s safe to say that, in this world of perpetual quarantine, we have become a society “social media” parasites. We are living vicariously through our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Twitch, Zoom, and more. It is the only way we are communicating, coming together, and sharing ideas.

For writers, especially independent authors like me, social media is our bread and butter when it comes to marketing. I work at least 20 hours a week on social media, between designing posts and imagery to scheduling them, responding to queries, etc. When you’re working a full time job, that doesn’t leave a lot of time for eating, sleeping, or writing for that matter.

Plus, there is the draw, the allure, of social media. Between crazy cat videos, cute puppy videos, TikTok girls, creative artwork, and inspirational quotes, there is a constant draw into the world of social media. It’s part of the constant distraction of the internet, the kryptonite of authors. We want to sit and write, but the flow is interrupted. 

“If your content isn’t driving conversation, you’re doing it wrong.” –Dan Roth, LinkedIn’s executive editor

Social media is a necessary tool for today’s authors. Through it, you can collaborate with other authors, find new readers, and promote your latest novel. It’s how we “IndieAuthors” find our niche in the book world. It’s the cheapest form of marketing an author can do. I can design a post and then use that same post for Facebook or Instagram as an ad. It’s an easy way to carry over from one form of advertising to another.  I can spend $100 a month in Facebook and Instagram ads that reaches nearly 30,000 people. That’s money well spent, but only if it turns into books purchased or downloaded.

“Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them. Sometimes, it’s an ad.” – Howard Gossage, real-life MadMen inspiration

The other problem is that there are so many “one-off” author support sites for independent authors like me. I belong to a couple of different sites, allauthor.com and bookbrush.com, that I pay an annual fee for tools in designing ads and social media posts, direct posts to other authors and readers, and a support network of other independent authors. They have been a great asset for me, but there are some out there that are scams who want money to send out tweets about your book to imaginary lists of people. So, beware before you buy into it.

Lastly, don’t be a social media butterfly or wallflower. You need to be aggressive in everything you do. If you aren’t paying attention, responding to comments or retweets, you might lose your audience. Don’t hesitate and be assertive, but always remember. Being a writer is the most important aspect of your job, so don’t stop writing for the sake of social media. You have to write, blog, and post, all at the same time. Multi-tasking is a bitch, but a necessary one. Remember that!

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Mark Piggott is the author of the Forever Avalon book series. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon. The Dark Tides is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iUniverse Publishing. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available from Austin Macauley Publishing.