Chapter 7: Marketing
The bane of every writers existence, Marketing! Writing in many respects is a solitary action. You may have a small entourage of individuals you bounce ideas with or are so overly excited about your current WIP (Work in Progress) inundate them with where your story is going. When you first begin this new adventure everything is wonderful, the world is full of sugarplums and rainbows. Then you decide "I will go forth and publish my creation." At this stage you are living in a delulu world and are overtaken by the doubts in your mind and the numerous edits you must accomplish. When all the rewrites have been completed and you embark on whether to be a traditionally published or Indie author the little voice inside your mind begins to grow louder and imposter syndrome rolls in.
If you make it through these stages you then must tackle the dreaded Marketing game boss. Your journey up to this point was mainly in your control. There are many more steps before you reach the point of holding your book baby in your hands but we will skip those for now. Once that precious literary baby is in your hand you must release it into the wild to find their new family. Before you can release that baby you need to announce it to the world. And here is where I am stuck. I have no idea how to market my novel. I have posted on social media, read all the books, reached out to local vendors, and paid for marketing ads. It just seems that I get no traction. I am very thankful for my family and friends who have taken a chance on me and purchased advanced copies.
A very special thank you to Cozy and Content, our local indie bookshop. They were gracious and purchased my first 5 copies of my novel. I know that this is a slow burn kind of growth but I am so frustrated with myself not being able to sell myself more. In an effort to help grow my following I have applied for a Fantasy convention. EnchantiCon will be held next August and is geared towards all things fantasy. I am terrified and excited at the same time for a possible opportunity to be one of their convention authors.
As a final effort to help market my book I have emailed Barnes and Noble to see if I could do a book signing in their store as a local author. Again I am excited and terrified for this possible opportunity. I am not so worried about getting a "No" but more worried about the "yes". Will my table look enticing enough, what will I say, will I sell enough copies. I so dearly want to become a full time author and support my family. Everything hangs by a thread for this to work. Hopefully I will be writing a part 2 with what worked for me and what didn't. Until the next Chapter, see ya later.
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