Marketing Pepe

The book has been released for close to a month now. That is no guarantee that people are buying it. On one hand, the publisher and the editor did a lot of work, first in selecting it, then in helping to further turn it into a marketable product. At least, I'm confident it's something people will buy if the right people told them to buy it. It's not just me, then, who thinks it's a good book. But it will require marketing. That's where I am now.

Since it is an ebook, the obvious place to do that is on the Internet. I've submitted it to a few reviewers, whom I hope will help. I'm also tweaking my web presence so that search engines find me via key words people will be likely to use. There are also banner exchange services, and the web rings.

I've posted a new page just for Pepe: http://uk.geocities.com/Pepe_the_novel@btinternet.com Like this blog page, it rewards visitors with a chance to download free stories, novellas, etc. I'll soon re post some of my comix somewhere to add to the list of freebies.

Now, the obvious question: How does someone who hates consumerism go about marketing a book? Would it be like a Communist or a Nazi using the democratic system to campaign for the abolition of democracy?

I do have to live with myself, but I think there is a sensible answer: That's to recognise that our whole culture has been so moulded by the forces of consumerism, that probably the only way to totally avoid it is to become Amish. We're affected by it in ways we don't realise. However, if we pinpoint what it is about consumerism that we don't like, that is ugly, that is displeasing to God, we can carefully avoid some of the pitfalls without going off to live in the hills, and maybe even sell a book in the process.

Yeshua praised the man in his "parable of the unjust steward" who used filthy mammon to make friends of this world, saying, "The sons of this world are wiser than the Sons of Light". Recent study shows that Yeshua's use of the term "sons of light" could have been a reference to the Essenes, who would have been every bit as anti-consumerist as the Amish.

To steer a straight course, there are two things we need to avoid, 1: hype, and 2: worldliness. Marketing has been with us for thousands of years. Yeshua wasn't against markets. He only cleared the Holy Temple of people who were doing it in the wrong place while ripping people off. Hype is ripping people off, because it's stretching the truth, which is in effect, lying. I don't have to lie to say I think Pepe is good quality reading material. The other thing to avoid is worldliness. Consumerism has all but made a religion of "loving the world", in direct opposition to the Kingdom of God.

So, the only other question is, how heavy to market my book without boring all my friends...?