Attitudes are funny things. We can cop a ‘tude about anything, but one way to accelerate bad, skeptical, or doubting attitudes is to over-hype some kind of entertainment.
We’ve all heard the opinion about publicity. Even if it’s bad, it’ll generate curiosity and bring viewers—and readers—to investigate the claims and to experience it for themselves to make their own evaluations; to see if they want to buck the general opinion, to challenge the standard of the critic(s), to go against the current of judgment(s).
I’ll be honest. Hype tends to send me in the opposite direction. Overselling anything makes me scoff or shudder.
So where is the comfortable balance between lack of promotion and hype? What works to sell a product to some has zero effect on another. What repels one buyer seduces another.
How do you effectively and respectfully promote your novel? Tone it down too much and it equates to begging. Amp it up too much and it feels likes it’s being shoved at the buyer.
Is there anything that absolutely works every time it’s used? The most acclaimed method of “selling” novels is word-of-mouth, but when you think about it, even that only works when you’re suggesting it to like-minded readers. You can rave about historicals to me, but I doubt I’ll read them. And I can assure you no matter how great a fantasy novel is, I won’t be reading it.
Wednesday’s wonderings . . .
Father, you know the answers. Apart from you I can do nothing. Help me to hear your instructions and do what you ask. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Into the Fire 
Leave a reply to Nicole Cancel reply