AUTHORS AND MARKETING - IT’S On US!
It’s a funny thing, telling the world I wrote a book. My family and friends, especially my wife, are extremely supportive. They help any way they can to get the word out. But, honestly, it’s not easy to keep plugging the same message. I fear it will get stale before the book actually releases. Social media pounds the imperative “You have to do something every day!”
Part of me feels an awful lot like it’s shameless self promotion, which feels a lot like I need to buy a bigger refrigerator, and more magnets. There’s just no more room after all my coloring book accomplishments hanging there.
Looking around at everything that has gone viral or worked, however, is just that. Self-promotoion. The truth is, most of us are not good at that. More of us feel the way I do than not. Petrified of looking vain. For writers, it’s why we choose to write and not act. We chose our vanity to be hidden behind the words on the page.
There are many great authors out here, putting words to paper (or pounding our fingertips to keys like I am doing right now), hoping an agent will answer our query letter, a publisher will like what the agent puts out there, or that readers will flock to the stores and websites to buy the damn book that we poured our souls into. We think the hard work is done when the last piece of punctuation declares the last letter of the last word of the last sentence of the last page of the last chapter.
Whew! That was a lot!
We couldn’t be more wrong. Most books sit, doomed to die in obscurity from a fate worse than never being written. I’m talking about good books, great books, by more talented writers than me. And why does that happen? Because readers don’t know these books exist. More importantly, most people stick to what they know. This is exacerbated by the author who doesn’t realize that marketing the book falls on them. So let me say it now for those in the back row.
MARKETING THE BOOK FALLS ON THE AUTHOR!
But how? Where do we start? There are many places to go to get information. And many that will happily separate us from our money yielding lackluster results. Within the effort lies more pitfalls than screaming fans at a Taylor Swift concert (or drunk ones at a Kenny Chesney concert). I am contacted, daily, (no kidding - it really is daily now), by people offering to promote my book, promising thousands of readers, hundreds of five start reviews, and podcast interviews. All for a fee. Those fees range from $22 t0 $300. The ick factor is high here. In an effort not to spend money and get taken for a ride, many of us chose self-promotion.
There is no A&R Rep like the one that landed the Foo Fighters, pushing them to Rock & Roll godhood.
It’s just me, pushing you, my dear discovered reader, to follow my pages, like my posts, share my news, and to read my book. It’s up to me to find undiscovered readers and turn them into discovered ones. Every week I try to post something interesting. It’s fun but it is exhausting. It’s keeping the creative juices flowing and are they flowing!
I am chosing to surround myself with supportive people. I am finding connections here in Pittsburgh and throughout the country. And I chose to lift them up however I can. So strap in for the ride and tie your laces tight, because there’s some pavement pounding to do (metaphorically speaking, of course) and I’m recording it here so that my fellow writers can follow along and learn from my mistakes and successes.
So once again, tell everyone you know because you never know what the tipping point is going to be. And fellow writers? You are your biggest asset. Find the community the wants what you are creating. That really is the key!
Either way, this is a slog for all of us. Especially us newbies.
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All the best! —Sean