Ragaris Fortnight

A little while ago I was intrigued to connect two fictional dates.

1^st October 570 is the date of Dorac Kingsbrother’s trial, the beginning of the story of “We Do Not Kill Children.”

14^th October is the date set aside by the New Governance as a day of mourning and remembrance following the Ricossan civil war 568-575.

With my publicity hat on, I decided to use these dates to create a Ragaris Fortnight, from Thursday 1^st to Wednesday 14^th October 2020.

Marketing and its associated technology in the modern world not being my strong points I have recruited a small team of assistants (wonderful people who know who they are), but this post is the invitation to all fans of Ragaris to participate.

The campaign’s general objective is to acquire more readers, purchasers and name-recognition generally, but particularly a) online; and b) in my local area, Beeston/Chilwell.

(I’m not booking hoardings at St Pancras Station. I appreciate that this limits what people outside Nottingham can do.)

Some specific objectives: to sell the books I have upstairs (a new stash has just arrived); and to double the number of reviews on Amazon – so far the books have fourteen reviews between them, which I think is not many after four years.

In order to achieve these objectives I’m planning to

• Put up posters wherever anyone will let me, in various sizes
• Film (with the help of a technically minded friend) four short videos, which can go on the website, and be uploaded to Facebook, Youtube etc
• Contact local press, Beeston and Nottingham
• Provide a guest post on Jem Bloomfield’s Quite Irregular blog – Jem is supportive, and this is well in hand
• Daily pictures/quotes on Facebook and Twitter, which I would like to think people would be willing to share. (What is your favourite quote?)
• Chatting to people at my gate. I hope this is not quite such a daft suggestion as it may sound. We have a wide corner gate, and those who pass it by have grown accustomed during the pandemic to reading handmade signs stuck onto it. I also have a display board and a garden chair.

What specifically can you do to help (if you want to)?

• I’m looking for photos of people holding/reading one of the books, possibly holding it so that their face isn’t seen, only a flurry of hair above and hands below! These would be for social media, be warned. If you’re willing to do this and send me one, please let me know and if necessary I’ll forward you the email address. Plainly the more diverse the age etc of the people in the photos the better.
• Post reviews if you haven’t already, but not till the fortnight begins or is imminent, so that I can boast of them (or indeed you can.) I believe it’s still the case that you can review books on Amazon you haven’t bought there, or indeed bought at all. There are also Goodreads and other sites or social media book groups.
• Are you willing to put up a poster? Would you also be willing to have a poster with a space on which you can say why you like these books? Would you like to take a poster to a shop or café?
• For those on social media, the most important thing is to post and share other posts.
• Generally, seize every opportunity during the fortnight 1^st to 14^th Oct to promote the Tales from Ragaris, the concept of Swords Without Misogyny, the website and the blog.

Disclaimer: I have always said, and I say still through gritted teeth, that I’m not asking anyone to buy, read, or recommend any book they don’t want to buy, read or recommend. (I’d just like more people to spend thirty seconds considering the possibility.)

Love from the PPI Blogger

#swordswithoutmisogyny #ragarisfortnight #talesfromragaris