It's the first Wednesday of the month and time for my Insecure Writer's Support Group post. A huge thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh for putting together this group. I appreciate the opportunity to share my insecurities on the #IWSG therapy couch and to read how others are doing. Wednesdays are also A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) update days.
Being a writer is a lifelong dream fulfilled. Being a salesperson is not.
I am the girl who put off Public Speaking 101 until my senior year of college, last semester. I am also the girl who turned a Finance degree into technical writing because I didn't want to sell financial products.
Now, I have to take something I love and feel very proud of and sell it to people. Eek!
When I had my first daughter, I tried selling Pampered Chef. I convinced myself I could sell it because I loved their products. Then I had to start booking parties and standing in front of people. I lasted two months.
Today, I received the proof of my second book, Chasing Memories. I am excited to get the word out there, but I am apprehensive. Now the selling begins.
There is a fine line between eagerly sharing about my new accomplishment and being that person who does nothing but hawk my wares. I don't want people avoiding my phone calls: "Don't answer it! It's that book lady!"
Fear of stepping over the line tends to make me too conservative, resulting in less sales. But... again, I don't want people running the other way every time I walk to the mailbox.
I would love some of your thoughts on this.
What marketing techniques take things just a bit too far? What marketing techniques have you found the most productive without being pushy?
All of that being said, I do have to share this picture of my proofs out of pure excitement. I'm looking forward to organizing the cover reveal and release day blitz. Wish me luck!
9 comments:
That's super exciting about your book. Congrats!! And I love that cover!
Marketing tequniques that go too far? Spamming!! Or strapping yourself to a bunch of balloons to float over the city while shouting out your fabulous news ;)
Lynda R Young
IWSG co-host
Yes, I know how you feel in terms of selling. I'm not very good at it either - but I've never had to sell anything I wrote before, so I can't tell you what works and what doesn't.
However, I did a workshop with Mark Silver at The Heart of Business, and he approaches money and finances in a non-materialistic, sacred way. Perhaps you might find something useful over on his site?
All the best with Chasing Memories, Tia. :)
Oh Tia, I know exactly what you mean! I know I've written good books, I just wish other people would say so! I'm so not into self-promotion.
Now that I have both ooks in print, I'll use Goodreads giveaways. Also trying to market locally.
Looking forward to your book!
The self-promotion/sales part of this gig is the one thing about being a writer that I cringe about. I was also that girl growing up who tentatively knocked on the neighbor's door (hoping they wouldn't answer) and said something like, "You don't want to buy this stuff for my organization, do you?"
That said, I think you treat book sales like your excitement to share your story with the world. The only writers who bug me now with their sales stuff are those who clearly approach social media and their blog as entirely sales platforms and don't interact with others. That's obviously not you, Tia.
Congrats on the book!
I second what Julie said (all of it actually). Your approach to social media is...well, social. If you tell people on occasion that you're excited about this books you've written (much in the way you have been), you're likely to get people passing it along for you because they know you're not trying to beat people over the head with it--you are trying to share it.
Sharing is a bigger thing than a lot of people give it credit for being. That said, you probably should dedicate a small fund to getting your book placed on some of the marketing sites. You should ask some people to review it for you, maybe offer free copies as an incentive. And you may want to hold one or two events.... (small ones!)
The rest will hopefully come from the momentum of you being you.
Tia, I love that cover!!!
You're not alone. I have never liked public speaking or sales. But I do so love writing.
I hope your book will be a huge success despite the desire to flee the sales scene :-)
I have no experience in this area and thus cannot really give a helpful answer, but I just wanted to say how awesome that cover looks! Will be keeping an eye out for that one! (Quite a few ROW80 people have things coming out soon - it's very exciting!)
I'm sooooooooo happy to see folks gushing over the cover. We did good, huh? :)
As far as sales go, don't be pushy, but let people know the book is out there. Repetitive tossing actually works. Plus, if you engage with people and talk a lot about your books, they tend to run out and grab 'em. I sold one mentioning it as an aside. Luckily, the person was very into Genghis Khan :) hehe
Hugs and best wishes! I have proofreading to do... off to work!
WRITE ON!
Great cover Tia!
I'm a terrible sales person, so I can't offer you advice. To make matters worse, I dread public speaking.
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