Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Oh my! Marketing

     The quote I read today which has stuck with me is "Anything you truly want must be worth fighting for".
     Okay, so I really want my novel - The Goblet - to sell. I understand I need to take an active role in the marketing of this book. Gone are the days when publishing companies lined up the book signings and sellings of your book. Every author needs to take an active role in the marketing of their book. As uncomfortable and as difficult as that is to do, when writers really just want to hole themselves up in a room with a window and write.
     But, this marketing stuff is scary, risky, mind boggling and unappealing. Given the fact that there are so many self published authors out there all begging for attention. Do I want to jump on the same band wagon and irritate the heck out of everyone by asking everyone on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, etc. etc. to please, please, please read my book? I hate it. I hate all of it. So, no.
     Every time I see a posting from an author who wants me to like or bring attention, or advertise their book, I delete the posting. Unless I have read the book and truly enjoyed it, I will not promote a book.
     I am following various blogs and discussions. I try to make comments that are relevant and helpful. I ask questions. I try out different recommendations. However, there was one author who had a list of 10+ websites that authors HAD TO join. A number of the websites required payments. Others were free. But did I join every single site? No.
     I went through the list and put effort into the ones I joined but I did not join every single site. I also tried to make sure that the website was applicable to my book. A Christian based adventure. I am also going to make sure that I visit these websites every day. Keep my information current and stay in touch with whatever is happening on these sites.
     Then at some point during the day, I will try to keep working on my books. Without letting life get too much in the way. With my busy life style (and I do not have paid employment currently except for my writing), mapping out time to write is not easy. But "Anything you truly want must be worth fighting for".