changing tunes, or taking a different trail, or shaking it up--Marketing

Just to be honest at the outset, I'm tackling a subject here that I don't know much about--the dreaded m word that every self-published author fears.  I'm working on book seven now and have been hoping that sales will pick up because of so many books in the marketplace, but alas, I still have not found my tribe. This year I've spent more money on this, doing newspaper ads here in Tucson and paying for ads online. I've also found two or three places that for a nominal fee will tweet an ad for your book. http://masqueradecrew.blogspot.com/ is one of them. BooksGoSocial.com, a site based in Dublin, does reviews and features books for a nominal fee. Also has an awesome blog with many tips for writers.

A problem that I have which may not be your problem at all, is that I sign up on these sites, pay with paypal and then forget about them--apparently my mind has no follow-up ability. And following up is VERY important! (especially if money changes hands)

When posting on FB, blogging or tweeting, try and be consistent. By that I mean do it often, not do it the same. I've heard that posting early in the morning or late in the evening is the best time to reach readers. And don't just advertise yourself, try and expose who you are aside from being an author. And interact if you can with whatever subjects interest you.

 I'm still struggling with Twitter when it comes to this. I guess it's the hashtag thingy that I find somewhat confusing. Maybe you can start a sort of thread by adding # whatever? and then see who responds...just putting a tweet out there doesn't seem to do much since I've posted questions that get no answers. For some reason I'm getting more and more followers and I'm not sure why. I'm muddling along with it and trying day by day to figure it out and respond in kind.

Facebook is an entire other world. I haven't been posting on my author page and have been told that I should. And according to my source, this should happen five to eight times a week! Doesn't always have to be about the books, in fact it's better if it isn't. (confusing, right?) I see people filling up the page with automatic posts. I do not want to do that no matter how entertaining they might be. If I personally do not have time to look something up and then post about it, forget it.

All in all be yourself.

Thank you for reading and I appreciate any and all comments!

Marketing--a necessary evil

So, I've been marketing like mad--or have I? I wonder sometimes since that what I do goes into a bottomless pit. I send queries to review groups and offer to do reviews for others, I tweet newsy items in between tweeting links to my two blogs or excerpts from the new book in the Gypsy series, or simply posting a link to Gypsy's Quest with some kind of quirky quip to go with it. I've submitted two books to Bookbub, without success, and I've paid for ads in places that I can't even remember now. These efforts have brought little success. According to nearly everyone, having an online presence is of the utmost importance. Is it?

And then we come to Facebook. I am considering giving up most of the Facebook groups I belong to. We all seem to be in the same boat on the same shitty creek and none of us have paddles! We either need some paddles or we need to get off that particular creek.

My writing pal has suggested that I write a press release to post in the local paper, and/or, an ad in one of the entertainment papers that come out weekly or monthly. I think it's a very good idea. And from what I see when I check, which isn't often, my e-book sales are not as high as my book sales. And neither one are much to brag about.

When I get discouraged, and believe me I do, I have to remember my reasons for writing. I simply can't stop, as I mentioned in a previous blog. I'm writing the books that I want to read, but maybe what I like only appeals to a small niche of the population.

A friend of mine said, "You could figure out a formula and just write what you think the public wants." Even if I could do that, (and I doubt that I could) I wouldn't, because what I write comes from my heart. I can't churn out something that I'm not utterly immersed in. And so the struggle to have my books noticed continues--because that's how it works, right?

My latest endeavor, mentioned above, has been trying to get more reviews. What I'm finding is that many of my readers are buying my books from bookstores and so are not allowed to post a review on Amazon. And do a lot of 4 or 5 star reviews really bring up sales? When I search for a book I use the 'look inside' feature and check out the quality of the writing. I usually read the first couple of paragraphs to figure out if the storyline is one I'm interested in, that and the back cover.

How is your marketing plan going? Do you use reviews as a marker when you buy a book?