I’m preparing “Getting What I Deserve” for the fall to position it for the coming school year and National Bullying Prevention Month in October. I’ve taken some steps to encourage more reviews (I gave away fifty copies on Goodreads recently—out of over 1048 who entered. It was my most successful giveaway in ten years of using the Goodreads program).
I’m also rolling out availability to other online retailers beyond Amazon and the Shopify store on my website, including Apple, Barnes and Noble, and many others. I’ve redesigned my Etsy page, which was closed for some time, and have made it a destination not only for signed and personalized copies of the book but also for merchandise—it costs nothing to think ahead! I’m also contacting book influencers and offering the book at their request. In short, based on the profound response from initial readers, I believe in the future of this book, and I’m exploring every possible avenue to connect with my audience—both through the book and message.
Let’s Have a Talk!
Finally, I’ve been experimenting with a few wildly out-of-the-box tools like Character.ai, which allows me to program an AI chatbot with the characteristics and knowledge of my protagonist and enables users to interact with him verbally. Programming knowledge isn’t necessary; this is based on a textual database.
I anticipate using this as a tool to help bring potential readers into the world of the book. I anticipate using this during classroom visits, podcasts, and other public opportunities to discuss “Getting What I Deserve.” I’ve already used it in several social situations with excellent results. It certainly grabs your attention.
Here’s a short conversation with Charlie, the protagonist of “Getting What I Deserve.” It’s important to note that it isn’t scripted. Charlie’s character simply responds as best it can based on information in the database. He becomes humanly expressive only when emotional feedback is relevant, but that technology is steadily improving. Please tell me what you think!