Monday, September 7, 2015

What is a book bubble?

This is a question I could not have answered a few weeks ago. Then I was offered a free trial of Bublish, a company that markets books by pairing short excerpts with comments from the author. They call these book bubbles.

Something about the idea intrigued me. It was the word free. My advertising budget is, um… okay, I don’t have one. What could it hurt to look into something that was free? I decided to try it and at first I was overwhelmed with questions.

What excerpts can I use that aren’t spoilers or just confusing to anyone who hasn’t read the book? What can I explain in the word limit? Can I reveal real life inspiration without embarrassing the source? Do I even have anything interesting to say about a few paragraphs of a book? How much time can I spend on something unlikely to attract new readers?

That last one isn’t pessimism. I’ve simply been at this long enough to know that any campaign is a gamble. And personally, bubbles for books I’ve already read would be the most interesting.

Here’s what hooked me… I have read my books. I began to reread some of them with an eye towards remembering the process. It’s been fun, something like going through a box of old letters from friends. I’m enjoying the (recent) nostalgia. But this trial is only 60 days. Every time I log in to post a bubble, I see a countdown to when the trial expires. I’m trying to see how many I can squeeze in before the deadline.