This post is gonna be super meta and maybe a little whiny, so feel completely free to ignore it. I got home and died on the couch again tonight (second night in a row!) and my head isn’t completely on straight at the moment, so… yeah.
It occurred to me earlier this afternoon that, while I’m excited to have Benevolence Archives: Vol. 1 out there in the world, I’ve kinda unintentionally shot myself in the foot with regards to plans for later this summer. Part of the reason I got the grant money was because I was going to publish my other novel, which is actually novel-length, not a 30,000 word novella, sometime in June. I’m not sure if that date is still in the cards because finishing BA took a lot more of my April and May than I intended and Skylights needs some real revisions before I can have it ready for publication– and my artist still needs to put the cover together. It’s my next project after I finish the story for the Baen Fantasy Adventure Award contest that I’m putting together right now, but it’s still been delayed repeatedly.
Here’s the problem, though: I get pretty detailed sales data from Amazon, right? While I think I’ve decided that I’m fairly happy with sales (they’re not high, but “dozens” is legally accurate) I am pretty sure that I know exactly who each of those sales has been to. There was one in the UK somewhere that could have been a few different people (or a stranger) but I’m pretty certain that I can trace every single other sale to someone I either know in person or have met through this place.
(This is the bit where I sound whiny, and I’m not sure how to fix it.) Don’t get me wrong: I love everybody who’s shelled out money to see the nonsense I write when you can see most of my nonsense here, daily, for free. But I’ve kinda fucked up here: because I know my book is selling virtually exclusively to people with previously existing connections with me and not to random Amazon customers, it makes me really nervous when I have to go right back to the same well in, say, a month and a half, only in a month and a half I’m demanding that you shell out $5.99 for a 100,000-word novel rather than $3 for a novella you can read in a few hours. And then there’s novel #3, which I’m writing this summer, which presumably would be finished/available by this winter, and the teacher book that I haven’t even mentioned around here but now I’m really thinking about making into a real thing.
I gotta find a way of broadening my reach past people I know, is what I’m saying. This blog has over 2600 followers but the majority of those aren’t really interacting with the site that much; daily hits are a tiny fraction of that. I’d think about following Gene’O’s advice about trying to broaden my Twitter reach (and I’ll link those posts as soon as I can find them again) but nobody clicks on links on Twitter so I’m not sure how useful that is.
I dunno. Marketing’s not my thing. Gotta get better at it, I guess.
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90% of what I read is based on recommendations from friends and the interwebz along the lines of, “if you liked this, you’ll like…” as you can imagine (even with things YOU recommend to me – we don’t always agree on things but the if this then that format helps)- so you just need US to get you THAT kind of interconnectedness to other readers?
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Phrasing it that way makes me sound all demandy, but… yeah, basically. 🙂 EVANGELIZE ME!
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Marketing is hard. Come to think of it, so is writing. Actually life in general is kind of difficult….
Okay I’m not helping much here, am I?
I recommend a good sex scandal. That’s the trick, give them something to talk about in 144 characters or less and then tweet the crap out of it 🙂
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Marketing and teaching are definitely 2 different worlds. I’m learning that myself. wow….What I have managed to learn is that you need a “sneezer” or two in your circles who will share with people why they should buy your book. Twitter will provide you with connections; though maybe not purchasers, but it’s quick and easy and will spread. I’d also talk to someone who has more experience with you in book sales and ask them how they’re doing it. Last, marketing like teaching is not an exact science. Sometimes you just gotta’ wing it…..for a long time….until it clicks.
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I kinda love the phrase “sneezer.”
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If you have any money, spend it on someone to do your publicity. Alternatively, a writer friend found herself mistaken for her publisher when she used her husband’s email address and became two people – herself, the author, and an alter ego, her marketing manager. She found it quite easy to promote and market her book in this second role.
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