It’s
been a while since my last blog entry. I
have no excuses except to say “I have lacked the discipline of following
through.”
Following
through with anything requires a sense of discipline on a continual basis. At the workplace we are required to follow
through on a daily basis. How do we
handle it if we are no longer in the 9 to 5 workforce? As authors we have to decide how to market
our work and how often we market. Should
it be just a blitz when a new book is published? Should it be daily, weekly, monthly?
Retailers
market every day through advertising, sales events and being a stone and brick presence
in our shopping lives. We as authors are
also retailers with a quality product to sell.
Our publishers, if we are not
self-published, will do some of the work for us; however, the major portion of publicizing
is up to the author. Once we have created the publicity it is
essential that we follow through on a regular basis to keep those carefully
thought out works in the forefront. In
other words, keep the excitement going and keep our name in front of the
public.
I know
from experience that many of us will give up after a few months with few of our
novels being sold. It must be it isn’t
such a great work after all and maybe I should just bit the bullet and
realize my work isn’t the great work I thought it was.
Wait
a minute – everyone that has read the book said it was a good story – so why
isn’t it selling in all the bookstores and on Amazon.
In short
the answer to that statement is – marketing. How many of us have read best-selling author
books and raved about the stories and writing styles? How did they get on the best-seller lists to
begin with? First they wrote a
compelling, well written story. Second
they worked at marketing until they reached that best-seller list and continue
to publicize their work on a regular basis.
Speaking engagements, book signings, fairs, author conventions, talk
shows (local and national) are all tools to getting our names out to the
public. It creates excitement about the
book and the public starts talking about the book(s) and begins looking for the
next book to explode onto the market.
It occurred
to me that in our family I have a brother-in-law that was a sales
representative for many years. He made a
good living and as the family says, “…could sell refrigerators in the arctic.” So why didn’t I think of this earlier. I’ve tried getting information from publicists
but the cost is beyond my means. Then it
occurred to me – why not ask my brother-in-law to help with marketing. I’d be happy to share a commission within the
family. Yesterday, after he made one
trip to two bookstores, I have a signing next month in Muskegon, Michigan at
the Family Christian Book Store. Another
bookstore is considering my latest novel as well.
This
happened because of follow through by my brother-in-law and my following
through with making contact with the stores he contacted in person on my
behalf. A lesson learned here is to keep
making those contacts as often as possible.
I keep a few copies of “Brimstone and Water” in our vehicle just in case
someone should ask if I have a copy for sale.
Why yes I do, just let me go get it for you. I sold two copies just by chance when my
husband and I were at a campground and the subject of relaxing by the pool with
a good book came up. This started talk
in the campground and now people I’ve never met know my novels are available at
bookstores, through my publisher and on Amazon.
They also have my business card should they forget the name of the book
or my name.
Marketing,
it never stops no matter where we may be.
Follow through goes hand-in-hand with marketing. We can put our name on Google, Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging and every other virtual market out there, but if we
do not follow through with our initial blitz it’s a flash in the pan and
then forgotten. Also if we do not work
to be physically seen by our public and follow through with contacts made we
will not be successful in marketing our work.
How important is follow-through –
I would say the most important part of marketing.
