I’m not that friendly, I’m an engineer. When I started working on my new book I had no idea that I would need friends., lots of friends, for the marketing portion of my self-publishing book campaign.
I’m an engineer, I’m not that friendly.
I am not a person who joins many of groups or networks. I don’t have the ability to call on hundreds of friends and associates to support my book launch. This means I’m forced to market the book myself. Trying to persuade strangers to read your book is not easy. Trying to convince strangers to buy your book is even harder.
When self-publishing, the writer is responsible for everything accomplished or not accomplished.
The writer must plan the marketing of the book carefully. It matters tremendously how many people are in the writer’s network as they attempt to launch their book. If you have a huge network, with a lot of emails, then you will have an easier time than someone like me who has a few close friends that I’ve known for many years. Worse than that many of my close friends are just like me. They don’t have huge networks.
That means that writers must solicit strangers to help them launch their book, the marketing task in the marketing plan becomes the challenge. All social media networks require you become a member before you can use them. Before writing my book, NEVER A $7 Whore (releasing on Amazon on August 5, launching August 8). I was a member of Facebook and Twitter. I used Facebook a few times a week and I tweeted once or twice a week when I saw something that I liked. But I’m now a member of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Medium, and I have become a blogger. Most of these I’ve joined simply to meet people and to get my ideas out into the world because I want to become a successful author.
My advice
My advice to those considering self-publishing is to immediately begin thinking about how to attract readers. Attracting readers is key to propelling your ideas into the world. If you desire to have an impact, you will need to share your books with strangers.
Originally published at www.tonicrowewriter.com on July 31, 2018.
