I got the idea for this blog from another writer. He’s a suspense writer, but one of those with a great sense of humor. His name is Russell Blake and his blog is funny. And now I have just helped promote Russell Blake.
You see, he talks about “self-promotion” which can mean that you’re doing this thing solo. But you can’t. You need others to get the word out about whatever it is and they need to get the word out and on and on. He applies this to his self-published books, and from what he says, he’s enjoying success at it.
As many of you…but not enough of you…know, I have a self-published novel called 5IVE SPEED. The book is self-published and sales are picking up quickly. There are a few things to be taken into account. The first being that it’s a freakin’ hilarious novel. Read the reviews on Amazon and you’ll see. The second issue is that it is now priced at only $0.99 and I realized that seems too low, but my ego survives on volume of books sold and not on monetary gain. So, if you’re looking for great reading entertainment on your Kindle then you must drop a buck and buy the book.
That’s my part of self-promotion. That’s about all I can do. Sure, I Tweet about it and I Facebook about it and I’ve blogged about it, but let’s face it…that’s still relatively narrow exposure. “Self”-promotion can only go so far. What I’m looking for now is public-promotion. I can’t tell you how many people have told me personally that they read and loved the novel 5IVE SPEED on Kindle. So, I thanked them and asked them if they wrote a review on Amazon yet? More often than not, the answer is no. I mean, after all…that would take a good three minutes, and who’s got that kind of time when you have to take a picture of your lunch so you could get it up on Facebook for chrissakes (sorry…I’m just sooo sick of seeing pictures of food on Facebook). But you get my point. If people who read the book posted a small review on Amazon for me, that would be huge. That would be public-promotion!
Another question I ask these big fans of my book is if they’ve re-posted my blogs about it; or Tweeted about it with a link to the Amazon Kindle buying page, or mentioned it on Facebook with the same link. I think you know where I’m going with this. This would mean a huge burst for my sales and it takes the individual about a minute to do it for me. Where is the love, gang?!
No one can make it on self-promotion. I certainly can’t. And the question you may ask is, “Charley…do you do it for anyone else?” And the answer is, “Of course I do! I just did it for Russell Blake! Weren’t you reading?!
So please take it upon yourselves…all of you…to be my public-promotion machine. Self-promotion, like some other things that are done by yourself, could lead to blindness. At least that’s what my mother always told me.
Gracias, Charley. It’s absolutely true – you need others to help you get the word out. Otherwise it’s just you screaming into the void, like a deranged homeless person at invisible persecutors. My theory is that to be noteworthy and readable, you need to stand out. And to sand out, you need to be different in your approach to social media. My approach is to take my general cynicism and black humor and combine them to create scathing parody of the entire game we’re in. It’s funny, and it sticks out. I mean, how many “You’ll Never Finish If You Never Start” saccharine aphorisms can you stand getting on Twitter before your gag reflex is triggered? And how many “Go See What The Vampire Dog Is Up To” product tweets do you see before you tune out the author?
I write fast-moving action thrillers with richly developed plots in the Ludlum/Forsyth mold. I tend to write considerably above the usual third grade level many have come to expect from “popular” fiction. I write those because I enjoy reading that sort of thing. They aren’t particularly rib-tickling. But my sense of humor is, er, some would say a bit too developed, and I wanted to showcase that side of me and stand out from the rest of the herd. So I decided to mock everything about being an author and self-promoting, with nothing being sacred. It’s bitter, and angry, and smart, and hateful stuff. And you know what? It’s resonated with folks. That’s gotten me visibility, and people are buying the books, and putting 5 star reviews – because I ask them to review when they’re done. Maybe one out of ten does. If you’re lucky. Human nature.
I appreciate the mention in the blog, and now you’re one of the good guys I’ll be following. That’s how that works. Maybe if I can finish up the next FIVE books I have in various stages (two more fiction in editing to release within 6 weeks, 1 humor/parody within 2, and two more fiction in the writing stage) I’ll buy your book and read it, and enjoy it. And then I’ll tell people about it.
To build a network, you need to be worth including in a network. And sometimes that means more than pitching 24/7. Sometimes it just means being you.
See you round the water cooler, Charley. Thanks again for the kind words.
Charlie – I’m just getting started on Twitter and I too am a self-published author – so I feel for ‘ya, man. I’m in the midst of trying to convert to great comments from my Facebook page into reviews on Amazon. Hard work.
I made the mistake of following one guy’s advice on how to get reviews and it backfired on me – so now I have damage control to do.
Folks mean well. They don’t get the connection sometimes and how hard we writers are trying to get that big break.
I’ve got a few books to read ahead of yours, but have added yours to my wish list and I swear I’ll review when I’m finished – self-published authors oath!
Thanks and good luck to us all
I guess you’re right. But at some point you need to start somewhere for people to see how unique your services or products are. Lucky if you have few friends who have couple of connections to help you boost your market campaign