Historical Fiction Author Douglas W. Jacobson Talks Connecting with Book Buyers

We have a special guest with us today. His name is Douglas W. Jacobson and he's the author of a brand new historical fiction novel called Night of Flames. Douglas is here with us to talk about how he has been connecting to his book buyers using several approaches. Tomorrow, Douglas will be back with a fantastic interview so stay tuned! I give you Douglas W. Jacobson, author of the historical fiction novel, Night of Flames!

I have been promoting my book locally throughout Wisconsin on radio and TV talk shows, through libraries, local booksellers, and service clubs such as Kiwanis, Rotary and Lions Clubs. I have found that these groups are always looking for speakers and a local author is a natural. The subject and setting of my book (WW2) is also something in which many people are interested, especially veteran’s organizations. I have prepared a variety of different presentations which I can adapt for different audiences and always leave time for questions and book signings. Nationally, I have connected with Polish-American and Belgian-American organizations because of the setting of my book being primarily in Poland and Belgium. All of these organizations have newsletters, weekly papers or some type of publication and are agreeable to publishing articles on subjects of interest to their audiences. What I offer in these cases is to write an article on a topic closely related to the subject of my book (such as the Comet Line escape organization founded in Belgium in 1941, or the covert sabotage operations of the AK, Poland’s Home Army during WW2). I then offer those articles at no charge and arrange to have them published in serial form in two or three editions of their publication. I always include a promo for the book and generally take out an advertisement which gets placed on the same page as the article. My publisher, McBooks Press, arranged all of the basic promotion when the book was first released by getting it placed on Amazon, and getting it into the distribution chain for Barnes & Noble, Borders and all the other booksellers. They have also been supportive my individual activities by sharing in the cost of ads, making free copies of the books available for bloggers, and helping out with my blogspot. Just recently I have decided to enter the world of on-line promotion and have contracted with Pump-Up-Your Book to do a virtual book tour. I’m excited about this great new avenue to connect with thousands of readers on-line.

Douglas W. Jacobson is an engineer, business owner and World War Two history enthusiast. Doug has traveled extensively in Europe researching stories of the courage of common people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. His debut novel, Night of Flames: A Novel of World War Two was published in 2007 by McBooks Press, and was released in paperback in 2008. Night of Flames won the 2007 OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD from the Wisconsin Library Association. Doug has also published articles on Belgium’s WW2 escape organization, the Comete Line; Poland’s 1st Armored Division; and the liberation of Antwerp. Doug has just completed his second novel set in Europe at the end of WW2. You can visit his blog at www.douglaswjacobson.blogspot.com.