Wondering what’s new and what’s blue in William Blackwell’s world? My world.

Well, let’s dispense with the blue by getting it out of the way straight away. Since I’ve vowed to do more book marketing this year, other than book reviews, website content, and blog posts, I’ve managed very little writing on my two works in progress—The Dark Menace and The Witch’s Tombstone.

Yeah, I always get a little blue when I can’t escape through the lives of my fictional characters. After all, writing has been described as the ultimate form of self-expression, as well as being liberating, therapeutic, and deeply satisfying.

The time will come, I suppose. But right now, I’m immersed in book marketing tasks. If you don’t oil the wheels of your marketing machine they become rusty, antiquated and ineffective. The book publishing industry is constantly evolving and to be successful you have to evolve with it or get left behind in a plume of toxic exhaust smoke.

So what’s new?

My website has a brand-new look and I love it. The free WordPress theme I picked is called Lovecraft, fitting since H.P. Lovecraft, considered by many to be the master of horror, is one of my favorite authors. Some readers had actually complained that they found it hard to read my blog posts on my last outdated theme. On that theme, the words were white, the background black. That can get a little tedious on the eyes after a while. Now, with the more traditional black words on white background, the website is way more appealing to the eye. And I love the font, Times New Roman, the one I use to write all my novels with.

On the new-and-improved website, I’ve also disposed of most the Amazon widgets that drove traffic exclusively to the US-based Amazon site. Too limiting.

In its place is a really cool thing called Universal Book Links (UBL). Created by Books2Read (Google them if you want to know more), these specialized links package many different online bookstores into one convenient link. Click GET WILLIAM BLACKWELL BOOKS NOW AT YOUR FAVORITE BOOKSTORE HERE if you’re curious about how they work. The actual link is in the top right-hand side of this page, but I’ve also added it to the bottom of this post for your convenience.

The links give readers several options to choose from, including Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Amazon, Indigo and many others. You simply click on your preferred book retailer and it takes you right where you want to go. No muss. No fuss. The links are flexible and can be checked, repaired and added to as needed.

And, since I just received an email today from Google Play Partner Centre announcing that I’ve been accepted into their publishing platform, I’ll soon be adding Google Play and Google Books to the links of online ebook retailers who carry my books. I don’t know much about publishing on Google Play or Google Books. I’ve spent the last two hours navigating the platform and I’m told my latest release, The End is Nigh, is currently being held in limbo due to a pricing issue and the fact that Google needs to review my new account. Eventually, I’m sure it will get resolved.

Who knows if I’ll sell a lot of books on the platform? But, in reading over a few blog posts on the topic, it definitely helps with book indexing. Certainly with a behemoth big tech company like Google, it will definitely put more eyes on Blackwell novels. Google is working hard to expand its presence in the ebook publishing industry and it’s certainly a no-brainer to jump at the opportunity to open up my books to millions of more readers around the world.

With that goal in mind, I’ve also opened an account on Wattpad, a wide-reaching platform for established writers and aspiring writers. I don’t know much about Wattpad yet except to say that I’ve put one of my earlier works, Resurrection Point, on the site in its entirety—free for the world to read. I’ve read some writers have made it big on Wattpad—movie deals, book deals, and the like.

But I don’t necessarily have any lofty expectations. It’s just another way—in the often muddy book marketing waters—to get a few more eyes on my books. It also gives me an opportunity to connect with readers and get real-time feedback, good or bad, on my prose. I’m still mulling it over, but I’m considering offering two of my series starters on Wattpad for free to generate interest in the other series books.

You guessed it. I saved the best for last. Maybe I don’t need to have lofty expectations or goals. Maybe I’m already famous. I recently made the cover of the internationally renowned Who Knocks?

As the cover says, it’s an “unearthly magazine celebrating the otherworldly, the ghostly, the mysterious and the strange.” And contained within those ten-dollar pages is a “candid and in-depth interview with Canadian horror writer William Blackwell.”  Now I guess people will have to pay to get my innermost thoughts on writing, LOL.

Seriously though, the magazine also contains a collection of short horror stories by some very talented writers. The brainchild of author Krystal Lawrence, with much help from Telemachus Press owner Steve Himes and others, it’s the first edition of a magazine that I truly hope will live a long, successful, and terrifying life.

Who knows, maybe next week William Blackwell will make the cover of the Rolling Stone.

I know what you’re saying: “Don’t hold your breath.”

Trust me, I won’t. I wouldn’t do this writing thing if I didn’t love it. If you didn’t get a chance to check out that cool Universal Book Link I mentioned earlier, I’ve posted it below for your viewing pleasure.

Thanks for your time and enjoy your day.