Many authors see marketing as a bind. What are your thoughts?
by Karin Cox
Marketing can be a bind because, like everything necessary, it takes time. That time can curtail your time to do other things, like write, or clean house, or exercise, or, you know, live your life, but unfortunately, I do think marketing is necessary.
It’s often said that if you’re serious about writing, you need to treat it like a business. That is good advice. Imagine you started another business selling wonderful gadgets. Would you just set up a storefront or a Facebook page and expect people to come to you? No. Sure, you’d hope that your gadgets were so great they’d eventually sell themselves by word of mouth, but to start with, if you had any kind of business sense, you’d set aside some capital for advertising. Writing is no different. The tricky part is that it is hard to measure the effect of marketing, but most people need to see our book three times before they commit to buy, so anything you can do to increase visibility is helping, even if the results aren’t instantaneous.
I think most indies are daunted by marketing and promotion, and I know there is still an awful lot more I could do myself. That’s why I started my site indiereviewtracker.com to help authors find reviewers and advertisers. It’s still in its infancy, but I hope it will help indies spend less time hunting for appropriate reviewers, book tours and advertisers and more time doing what they really want to do: write.
What happens when life doesn’t turn out as planned? This collection of two evocative stories explores the choices and compromises we make in life and in love, and how they can trap or liberate us, depending on our mindset. Each story comes with an unexpected twist that makes reading all the way to the end imperative.
In “Cage Life,” first published by [untitled] in 2010 as “Still Life”, a young mum feels like a prisoner in her own home. Her decision to escape the bonds of marriage and motherhood, just for a few hours, has unexpected consequences that force her to a re-evaluate what it really means to be loved, to be married, and to be free.
In “The Usurper,” unconditional love is explored within the boundaries of age and longing. Basil is in his eighties, with an illustrious career in law enforcement behind him, when he meets Carla — a beautiful, energetic and much younger mistress. But when Simon appears on the scene, can Basil keep her or does she, in fact, keep him?
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Genre – Short Stories / Literary Fiction
Rating – PG13
More details about the book
Blog http://karincox.wordpress.com/
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Thanks, Krystal. :-)
Cheers
Karin