If there’s one thing that I have learned from becoming a writer (especially a self-published one) is that I am going to have to approach the subject that I was hoping to avoid – marketing.
I have always been a believer that the work should speak for itself, although I think that this may have been an appropriate excuse to not get into the den of lions that this represents. I have never been the sort of person that blows my own trumpet overly, as I always felt that this makes me appear arrogant or self-assured. However, I now know that this is something that is absolutely mandatory if you are going to be a writer – even one who has been fortunate enough to land a publisher.
One of the main reasons is cost. Marketing can be a very expensive business – let’s face it, businesses invest vast amounts of money in it hoping to attract customers. But I am not a big business. I am one person who is trying to make a name for myself. The main problem for me is not getting the return on my investment. The catch 22 is that you need money to make money… So where does that leave me is I have none?
The short answer to that has to be the internet. I think that we are very fortunate to live in this time because I have been able to investigate many ways of getting free, or at least very low cost advertising. Aside from the usual social media, there are places such as Story Cartel who get books into the hands of readers who will reciprocate for a free book to read by leaving reviews on my Amazon listings. The next thing that I am going to have to master is the timing of my marketing…
