Harmonica Frank

Selling a novel in a glutted market is a tough proposition. One important part of my marketing plan for Sins in Blue involved a series of blog posts. Rather than bludgeon people with a hard sell, I thought I’d write a series of thoughtful articles on the novel’s themes. I’d drive traffic to my homepage by promoting the blog posts on Facebook, both through the use of ads and by posting in Blues groups I’d joined. I asked illustrator and friend Wade Dillon to do some original art for the posts.

Sonny Terry

But things don’t always work out as planned. Facebook rejected my ads because they discussed social issues (clearly a faux pas), failing to recognize that my purpose was to sell books. The Blues groups I joined rejected the articles because they had rules against self-promotion, regardless of the issues I discussed. Fair enough. I can’t have it both ways (though I see the irony of not being able to have it either way).

The sad part is, I have access to these wonderful pieces of art, suddenly irrelevant to my novel’s promotion efforts. It occurred to me that I should post them anyway, if only to share.

Paul Simon

I’ve known Wade since he was a kid living in Texas. Now, he’s a professional illustrator who channels thoughts and ideas into visual art. I am particularly partial to the picture of Billie Holiday, though every piece is frame-worthy.

As for my novel, give it a thought. I think it’s my best. (Link to the right.)

I hope you enjoyed the showing. If you wanted to contact Wade, you’ll find him at https://www.wadedillonart.com/.

Billie Holiday