They would be begging me to write more.
Hollywood would be pounding on my door, fighting for the movie rights and paying me obscene amounts of money to create more amazing works.
The reality was much different.
Although there wasn’t the number of books being published in 2009 as there is now, there were still a lot on the market. It didn’t take much to get lost in the crowd.
With each passing year and with every new book, I learned more about the book marketing game.
My biggest takeaway: it requires persistence.
Throughout the years, I’ve done a lot for my books.
- I started a blog
- I got on Facebook and Twitter
- I created a Pinterest page (which, by the way, I did not use often)
- I joined a variety of different groups—many of which no longer exist on sites that have become defunct
- I went on blog tours
- I had cover reveals
- I hosted blog tours
- I participated in online book release parties and other events
- I created workshops and presentations for schools, libraries, and humanities councils
- I went to conventions and conferences
- I paid for advertising
- I signed up for workshops to turn my novel into a movie script
- I paid to talk to movie producers and list my books on different book-to-movie sites
Was it enough? Probably not.
I certainly didn’t spend the amount of money for advertising that I know others have spent—mainly because I didn’t have the funds.
But I did what I could.
And I (mostly) had a lot of fun doing it.
But at the same time, it’s incredibly exhausting. Book marketing takes a lot of energy and resources. I did what I could with what I had, but when I ran low on either, I couldn’t keep going.
Once you and your books fade from the world, it’s incredibly hard to get back into the limelight. I had a small following of fans, but I definitely didn’t reach the popularity I had wanted/hoped or that other indie and self-published authors have reached.
At the time, I was okay with that. I was happy with the small successes I had made. I held out hope that one day, all would change.
And it did.
But not in the way I expected.
Since I only had a small following, it didn’t take long for me and my work to fade from the world.
And that’s okay.
I stopped putting in the effort. I stopped being persistent.
That’s the price I pay for not having the energy to believe in myself.
Back in the day, when I was doing interviews on podcasts and blogs, one of the questions I would always get asked was: What advice do you have for new writers?
My answer varied depending on where I was in my publishing journey, but now it’s this:
Book marketing requires persistence. If you aren’t constantly trying to find a way to stay in front of your audience and letting them know that you are creating and finding a way to engage with them, you’ll fade away. If you don’t want that to happen, you need to keep creating, keep putting yourself out there, keep trying.
I have no regrets about what happened, and I’m not angry. I was for a while, but I’ve let it go. Most days, I debate whether it’s worth the time, effort, and resources to try to make a comeback.
And the answer is no.
