Marketing. *sigh* This is a bold statement, but can I just go out on a limb and say marketing is the bane of the writer’s existence. It’s the “fly in the ointment, the monkey in the wrench” as John McClane would say.
Let me tell you what happens…
I finish my book, The Fixer: The Naked Man, and I tell a friend, “Hey, I published my book, The Fixer: The Naked Man” and my friend is like
And my friend is really happy for me! Good, right?
So my friend goes out and buys my book, The Fixer: The Naked Man (yay!!)
And this is great, right?
There’s only one problem. There’s over 7 billion people in the world, 742 million people in Europe, and almost 319 million people in the US (thank you Google Search). I kinda, sorta hoped my book would be read by a few more people than my friend.
I’m really excited about my book (no, I’m not mentioning the title again. That’s obnoxious). Seriously, seriously. I’ve been living with these characters in my head and I’m very attached to them. Actually, I love them all, even the bad ones (you have to love them the most). So how do I let people know about these characters that I love because I hope they’ll love them too? Marketing.
I write. Writers write. We don’t market. I don’t market. I don’t know how to market. Who markets? *sigh* I’m sensing a “what is the sound of one hand clapping?” thing happening here.
When I’m writing my story, and I’m in the process, I’m like this
Ask me to start talking up my book and now I’m like this
Bummer.
In my defense it’s not that I haven’t been reading about marketing. I’m trying. I really am. First, I read that you don’t sell a product. You sell yourself. Great. I’m a quiet introvert with a lower belly pooch who spends every spare minute locked in my room staring at a computer screen while my eyesight fades and my hemorrhoids bloom.
Let the marketing magic begin!!
However, lack of ability is no excuse for not trying…
When I started in screenwriting I learned you should be able to pitch your story in a sentence. Okay, here goes:
The Fixer: The Naked Man
A desperate young woman takes a dangerous job fixing problems of wealthy, powerful men.
How was that? No? Okay, try this:
Young, sexy woman takes a dangerous job fixing the problems of wealthy, powerful men who want to get into her panties.
Better?
I also learned you can use other titles in your pitch to explain your story. Okay, here goes:
The Fixer: The Naked Man. Think Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum meets James Bond- ish.
Anything? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
I think the Internet is amazing, opening up the possibility to reach readers everywhere. Even so, trying to spread the word about a book feels a little like this
Sorry, I couldn’t find a gif of a man calling out.
The point is, I’m trying. Really. I even joined Instagram. No, there will be no bikini selfies.
You’re welcome.
So, now I’m considering the alternative: Shameless Marketing. A marketing that says nothing is off limits. I believe in this book and I’ll stoop to any means necessary to convince people they should read it.
Are you ready?
Please buy my book so I don’t end up a crazy cat lady, alone and destitute…
Anything?
No?
Damn.
I did learn that book branding is very important. Do I know what that means? Yes, yes I believe I do. I believe it means that it’s necessary to be consistent with the book series’ covers and color scheme. So, I made a decision that all of the book covers for this series will stay with the black/red color scheme, so The Fixer series will be easy to recognize (I’m probably going to keep the silhouette design too).
So, here’s the cover:
And I want 10 points for remembering to put the cover in the blog post.
Thank you.
I shouldn’t admit this but I was going to end this post when I realized I hadn’t put in the links to purchase the book (paperback and ebook). That’s a -5 points. Here they are:
Okay, I’m going to get back to working on Book 2 of The Fixer series. It’s called The Killing Kind and it’s a full length novel.
Oh, wait. Sharing. I forgot to ask about the sharing. Right. If you like this post, can you please share and retweet. I would appreciate it.
And if you have any marketing suggestions you’d like to share with me… thank you.
Seriously, I hope you’ll give the series a try. I think you’ll like it. I hope you’ll like it. And it’s received some really good reviews from people who are not my relatives.
Okay, that does it. We covered a lot. Do you think I’m getting the hang of this marketing business?
Yeah, me neither.
Take care,
J.
The Writer's Room 