The past couple of days have been a learning experience in marketing. Discovering that I have sold NO books for the entire month of July had me scurrying for solutions. I'd thought I was doing enough being on Goodreads, Facebook (3 different sites) Twitter (okay, only occasionally), keeping up with three blogs and reading and commenting on many more. NOT.
I contacted two internet acquaintances who are indie authors and have a presence on these same sites and ran my question by them--what should I do? I wailed via type. It is amazing how generous and supportive other writers can be.
Valerie Douglas had several very good suggestions:
1. join as many sites as possible and create a presence--not to talk about my book but more to connect with others and be recognized.
2. join another FB site called Book Junkies. http://www.facebook.com/groups/ginniefrancesreadingroup/
3. join the blog http://wistfulskimmiesbookreviews.blogspot.com/
4. Try not to be impatient--it all takes TIME.
5. The more books you have out there the better.
My friend Sarah, on Goodreads, suggested googling book blogs in my genre. She also mentioned reading and commenting on as many as ten to twenty blogs that I feel personally connected with. Another suggestion was to go to Technorati.com, a website with info on top blogs in different subjects.
From someone (can't remember who) I found http://www.efictionmag.com/, a site where you can submit writing, among other things.
And so my entire day has been taken up with posting on Goodreads sites, posting on FB, googling blogs that I might be interested in and sending off a short story to eFiction. Oh, and I did send out at least one tweet!
Trying to keep track of what I've done and what I need to do, and the blogs I'm now following needs to be written out on a spread-sheet--
My question is: When do I work on my writing?
About Me
- nikki broadwell
- working writer wending her way through the labyrinth that is self-publishing
Your last question is right on target. All this marketing eats up a tremendous amount of time, and it's got to come at the expense of something else. IMO, the best way to sell your work is to make it so good that it sells itself. And the only way to do that is to turn off the internet, glue one's butt to the chair and write.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'm much better at giving advice than applying it!
thanks for reading and taking the time to comment, Barbara--very good advice...
DeleteI've definitely noticed that some successful writers spend a huge amount of time marketing. I suppose if we had publishers, they would do some of that work? So I think we need to find ways to balance the "real" work with the other stuff. In massage therapy they say expect an hour of non-massage work for every hour you have a client on the table. I've found that to be accurate, as a minimum. How to manage it? I don't have much to offer, except perhaps write when inspired, keep up with the quotidian work in the other times, between works, in the waiting times, etc. Also, drop everything else in your life, and quit sleeping. :)
ReplyDeletefrom what I've heard it doesn't matter if we are traditionally published or not--there's still a TON of marketing to be done--it's a definite balancing act to be sure!
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that you have friends who gave you such excellent advice. I think you need to find a balance between online networking and writing. Commenting on blogs and keeping up connections is a big help. Setting up a schedule might help you to organize your time- allow a certain amount of time for online networking each day and block off writing time. Best of luck!
ReplyDelete~Jess