FRIDAY FEELINGS: TO MARKET WE GO

I think I do very well with the creative part of writing. I have no shortage of plot ideas, I have the technical side well-defined, or at least well-researched, and I think I’m getting better at producing good writing. Lots of boxes checked there in the “Publish Your Book” list.

What I don’t have down, nowhere close to it, is how to market my books. Notice I didn’t say “SELL” my books. I’m not interested (really!) in making a million dollars from my writing. I wouldn’t turn it down, but that’s not why I write. I want people to READ, and hopefully enjoy, my stories.

But the elephant in the room is that no one will read my books if they don’t know about them. That’s obvious even to me. So perhaps the word I’m looking for is “publicize” not “market.”

The traditional path has been advertising. That means finding venues for letting everyone know you have this great book that they should check out. That used to mean advertising in print media: newspapers, magazines, other books, etc. Perhaps that is still used by some, but not nearly as much in this digital age.

The digital options are almost endless, with more paths appearing every day. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube—the list goes on. Some of those options will never appear on my list of social media outlets, while others already do. But which do I use, and—here’s the big one—HOW do I use them effectively to let the world know I have great stories I’m dying to offer them?

I haven’t worked that out yet. I know I need to. It’s a work in progress—like many of my novels. And like my books, you’ll hopefully know when I figure it out.