You are a writer and writers live and die by the way that they get their work out to the readers. Sure you have written a book but what good is it to do that if no one ever gets to see it. Let’s face it, we are our only bastions of PR. If we don’t suss out the situation and then shamelessly promote ourselves….who will?
I did that today. I shamelessly announced that two of my mysteries were on sale. (See previous blog post) I have to get the work out there or folks will forget what it is I do. Now when you first put your work out there the sales come easy. Why are they easy in the beginning? Well…because the people who are buying your book are your mom, you sister and Aunt Ida. Family has stepped up at that point followed closely by friends who don’t want to be the only person at the next dinner party who hasn’t bought a copy. After you have exhausted these folks you have to actually work for your sales and it ain’t easy.
Being a writer these days involves so much more than just writing. We have to promote, market, keep records and, in the end, pay the taxes. It’s a full-time job! I would love to just write but I know that those days are long gone if they were ever really here for most of us at all.
Yes I know that self-promotion sucks but it is a necessary evil. For me personally I hit a number of venues. I advertise on Facebook and ask my friends to share the post. I advertise on my blog, website and Google + anywhere they will allow me to shamelessly shout out the virtues of my stories. I even hit Pinterest.
So before you decide to go on to the next book project take a bit to promote the work you have already done. I manage to support my new projects with my old ones by doing so and, to be honest, that’s the way it is supposed to work anyway. You write to support your writing to sell your writing to support your writing…whew, that made me dizzy. So shamelessly promote the best author you know….you!
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