Into the Fire

Passionate thoughts about the world of writing and the Power of God

recent posts

about

Passionate: right or wrong. Writes love stories with a passion. Raw Romantic Redemptive

The slobbery soup of self-promotion.

 

Some people are masters of artfully presenting their wares—or maybe I should say few people have mastered the mess of self-promotion. I know I haven’t.

 

I can easily discuss my novels. No problem. I love to talk about Joey Parr from The Famous One or Michael Jamison  and Shaylen Price from the upcoming Breath of Life. And any of the other multitude of characters from the seven finished novels or the three in process. That’s just plain fun.

 

But advertising them? How? What do you like to see to promote a new novel? What piques your interest? What do you think should be done to get you to read a new novel? What do you hate? What bothers you?

 

Any of you game enough to answer these questions? I’d love to hear what you have to say. And thank you for whatever you have to offer.

 

 

Father, I need help here. Always. You know that. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Posted in

8 responses to “The slobbery soup of self-promotion.”

  1. Brenda Jackson Avatar
    Brenda Jackson

    This is such a difficult topic, both from the standpoint of figuring out how to market my own when the time comes as well as the difficult task of finding fiction for myself to read.
    I hate self promotion, even though I understand it’s necessary. The endless streams of “Hey! Come read my blog!” “Hey, I’m doing a book giveaway!” “Hey, my book X sounds like it’d be right up your alley!” etc ad nauseum. To be brutally honest, when I read this kind of stuff, my snarky side says “Yeah, you and a million others,” and I click away from that page or email. I know people need to do this, but ARGH!
    To be honest, I simply wish all fiction were available at the major outlets (for me, that means Amazon), where I could search the bazillions of books. Searching for books online is not always easy because some novels don’t have a back cover blurb, which greatly annoys me–this should be MANDATORY. Don’t waste the back cover with an “about the author” blurb or endorsements.
    But I have found books to read through book reviews too (your recent review of “A Man Called Outlaw” as an example).
    So to put all my rambling in summary:
    1. Make the book available at major outlets
    2. Get it reviewed or talked about without beaning people over the head with it.
    And yes, I know this is extremely hard to do because as with everything else in life, it’s just never as easy as I want it to be.
    One of the ways Amazon helps is that if I buy a certain genre book, sooner or later they will send me an email offering other books in that category—at least that puts those books in front of my face, whether I buy them or not.

    Like

    Reply
  2. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    You know what, Brenda? I totally agree. But somehow that doesn’t always cut it in this day and age and market.

    Like

    Reply
  3. Brenda Jackson Avatar
    Brenda Jackson

    Nicole, RE: self-promotion—one of the things you mention is a tactic I don’t often see. For example, billions of writers host a Q&A of other writers on their blog. We all know just about every writer knew they wanted to write when they began putting sentences together in grade school, yet that’s the inevitable kind of stuff that gets repeated in author promotions. Readers of the blog soon have their eyes glaze over and they’re asleep.
    Maybe authors could try skipping “it’s your life” and answer one simple question for potential readers: “What is so great about the protagonist in your book?” and let that writer’s excitement come out in their response.
    Very seldom do I see a writer’s excitement and enthusiasm come across in their canned blurbs.

    Like

    Reply
  4. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    I like it, B.!

    Like

    Reply
  5. Jessica Thomas Avatar
    Jessica Thomas

    I wish I could offer advice or good ideas, but whenever anyone asks me what my novel is about, I say “uh, er…it’s near future…science fiction.” And that’s where it ends. I must improve in that area.

    Like

    Reply
  6. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    It’s either that or an hour long soliloquy. Ah well.

    Like

    Reply
  7. dayle Avatar
    dayle

    Related thought: Marketers are a different breed. I deal with them often. They consider any truth regarding the fallicy of a particular marketing ploy as abhorent.
    They don’t see someone trying to impart reality, they immediately dismiss you as negative and cynical. And it doesn’t stop with just your view on that particular point. You are now viewed that way in total.

    Like

    Reply
  8. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    Wow. Fascinating, Dayle.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to dayle Cancel reply