From the Editor’s Desk #30: Pre-Production Marketing for Costs of Living

Notes from the desk of the editor are offered in the interests of personal posterity and transparency for writers and other potential editors who wish to learn from my experience

the editor

In my indie publishing experience, I’ve learned to give a big runup to publication. That time is crucial to get reviews in advance of making the title available to the public.

Costs of Living releases on 9/1/2025, but it’s complete and ready for printing right now (11/10/2024). We’ll run a kickstarter in Jan/Feb 2025 to help raise money to cover some of the upfront printing costs. (Please follow that campaign if you aren’t already doing so!)

Today I sent an advance copy to Publishers Weekly and will submit it to Kirkus for a review later tonight. It’s ready.

I put a call out on tiktok for ARC readers/reviewers, and I’ll do another call there and on Instagram again soon. I hit up X/Twitter today, though my following there is minuscule (please follow if you use that awful platform). I’m tagging all related posts with #booktok and #bookstagram and am doing posts about other bookish things in an effort to engage genuinely with the audiences in those places.

I’ve sent out two physical ARCs so far—one to a well-respected author in the academic field of horror-related topics, and one to a local bookseller. I know this cannot be the end of that list! Who else needs a physical ARC? I’ve asked one of the actually-famous horror authors I know but haven’t gotten traction there.

I also emailed Fangoria and Bloody Disgusting inquiring if they accept ARCs for reviews, but I have a feeling most of their content is generated not by staffers but by people like me sending in reviews of things. So if you want to write a review of our collection and send it in, please let me know!

I’m going to reach out to my contributing authors and see if they’ve got folks in their orbit who would be helpful for blurbs/reviews.

Any other ideas? Where should I be sending ARCs of a horror anthology?

Back to the Behind-the-Scenes Headquarters

2 responses to “From the Editor’s Desk #30: Pre-Production Marketing for Costs of Living”

S.A. McNaughton

2025/01/21

I don’t know much about publishing, but I do know that The Storygraph does book giveaways (not sure if they’re ARCs or not) and my friend, who’s a librarian, always gets ARCs from NetGalley.

1. steve capone, jr.
  
  2025/01/23
  
  Thanks! I’d thought of goodreads, but Storygraph is now on the list of intended spots for ARCs. Each of those cost about a hundred bucks to list giveaways (plus the cost of the books, of course). NetGalley is a $500-600 venture, so the Kickstarter’s success will determine if that’s within reach.

Whisper House Press