Expensive profession

I beg your pardon?

I'm always looking for ways to market my books. I still haven't hit upon the best way. I clicked on a gentleman's ad on FB because a mutual friend "liked" his page. I then spent nearly forty minutes listening to this man talk about his system. Okay. Then the price. 

$1000.

One. Thousand. Dollars.

Once upon a time, my short ass thought I only had to write books. It was often hard enough to simply carve out time. Now? I need to have my cat working a pole for extra money. 😑

This man was kind enough to tell me there are 60,000,000 books out there at any given time. How was I going to make mine stand out? Stellar question, my guy. Stellar question. 

Marketing IS hard for me. I sell more books in person. I like being able to see my readers and chat. But in this digital world, that's the exception and not the rule. I do, however, love making little swag bags and whatnot.

Finally received the last two pieces for my bags I'm making for Des Moines next Saturday, May 25th. 💖 I know 25 VIP tickets were sold, and I sent swag ahead to put in those bags, but I plan on making at least 100 more little bags for those that stop by my table. I'm so excited!

After this, I'll be in Fort Smith, AR, in August. More coming on that later. In the meantime, I'm still trying to figure out this effective marketing thing without spending an arm, leg, and some toes. 😉

Making gift bags!

Spreading a good word

It's been a week of finding reviewers, marketing strategies, and eyeballing ads.

I'd rather have my "well woman" exam in my driveway.  😣

It's exhausting.  I'm only now halfway through 27 pages of bloggers who might review one of my many books.  I can only swim through so many a day before my eyes start blurring.  And ads?  Whoever said you had to spend money to make money is an asshole.  They're right, but they are an asshole.  The few high-end sites I've contacted about ads run anywhere from $500-$1000.  Really guys?  Are you guaranteeing sales because somehow I doubt it.  If you scale down, say to a week on one of said sites, it's only $130.  Still, a bit steep.  And the thousand dollar, LITERAL, question is:  will it pay off?

I don't have money falling out of my ass.  Pity.  So when I put money into something, I need a return.  Period.  I feel as though there is an untapped resource of readers and reviewers out there.  I'd love some access.

The absolute best advertising?

Word-of-mouth.  When I see friends and followers on my Inman Books page on FB share my posts?  I'm ecstatic.  It's the biggest boost and reaches a much farther audience.  It's advertising you literally can't pay for because it's grass roots and means so much more.  That's the real deal.  A friend of a friend.  A sibling who loves to read but may not be on Facebook.  A daughter who shows her mom what she's reading right now.  

That's been my week.  Busy little bastard.  

I've put my Inman Books on sale for Spring Break so hop on Amazon and grab some great reads on the cheap!

Always writing*

...and marketing and looking at ads and searching for reviewers and beta readers