This might be the last time I try to showcase another author. The text and pictures were sent as a word doc. and should have been easy for me to plug in--all I needed to do was copy and paste, right? WRONG. I spent over an hour trying to bring the photos into the text and finally decided that in order to keep my sanity I would cease and desist. I suppose I could have rewritten the entire thing adding the pictures as I went but...too much stress!!! My sincere apologies to Aoife Sheridan who has written a very interesting fantasy series. I have promised to read and review--that way it WILL be posted on my blog!
And so I am on to a new subject--the one where I have no idea what direction to head. This includes the manuscript I'm working on as well as my marketing 'plan'. Ha! I had hoped to have some kind of an epiphany about the marketing but so far nothing has come to me. I know that to bring people to my books I need to target my audience. My readers are people who relate to the goddess, who are interested in women heroines who have to go through some kind of ordeal to achieve greatness. This could be men in touch with their feminine sides and women of all ages. It's so hard to compete with the zillions of books out there. I also know that I need to keep my titles in front of people--tweeting, facebooking etc...but I also know that it can be a major turn-off to have someone constantly on about their books! So where is the balance?
I get the feeling that most indie authors are way more savvy about all this. Possibly it's my age, or just my reluctance to spend a lot of time on it...and yet I know I have to. What I really want is to have Steven Spielberg call me up and say they want to make a movie out of The Wolf Moon. It would make a wonderful movie.
My friend and astrologer extraordinaire, Emily Trinkaus, has told me that I need to work with the goddess energy instead of wasting my time competing in an arena that includes all fantasy and sci-fi. Think outside the box, she says. She's right but what does that mean?
Have you written a book that doesn't quite fit in the regular genres? What is your marketing strategy?
About Me
- nikki broadwell
- working writer wending her way through the labyrinth that is self-publishing
I don't think a lot of people are that much more savvy than you! They all say the same things- blog tours, twitter, blah blah blah. You're pretty much doing those things. I'm pretty much doing those things. I think there's just no guaranteed strategy, esp. in a market with such a huge number of new titles.
ReplyDeleteSome of the people I've seen do well have backgrounds in PR or other corporate promotional work, so they treat their own books as they would any other job, which is to say, they put a LOT of hours into the promotion, and even then it's hit or miss. Sometimes they're surprised when the 2nd or 3rd book doesn't sell as well as the earlier ones.
I think Emily's right. Are there pagan or new age bookstores where you live? Witchcraft shops? What do pagans like to do? Um, hang out in parks? New age fairs? Rock shops? Halloween is coming up, what are pagans doing then? Start tweeting about a particular #goddess,and link everything to your web page . . . but don't listen to me, I can hardly give my book away! (do you want to read it? ;) )
thank you Rachel!!I really appreciate your comments-- and yes, I do want to read your book--I have an i-pad now and could download if it's an e-book...I like your idea about tweeting...I think it will be Airmid since she's my publishing name..
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