Authors and Marketers and Self Promotion

     Most people feel uncomfortable drawing attention to themselves. Oh sure, its fine if you’ve got a good joke or an interesting tale but nobody wants to be sucked into a sales pitch, especially by someone who is selling their own wares.

   However there is no other way to sell your stuff unless you have lots of money to pay an advertising firm to create a sales campaign. So if you don’t have venture capital, the only other option is to stand around pounding the proverbial bass drum and exercise your carnival barker skills while people slink by with their index fingers press together in the form of a cross or whispering the word ‘Unclean, as they pass.

   As the late Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “We can’t get no respect.

   However, if we’re clever we can disguise the sales pitch as a form of entertainment, or as a learning experience or as a quick joke.

   As all writers know: People love CONTENT.

   So instead of showing you another picture of my book cover (as seen here)

 

   I’ve created a YouTube video that entertains, educates and is fun to watch. It’s a little over two minutes and well worth your time, so why not have a look?

http://youtu.be/BhBYZFeY870

   Then again as writers and marketers we’re often get grief for self promotion. The premise being how good can you be if you have to hawk your own product?

   Well apparently VERY GOOD as Author Gigi Gait points out in her tongue-in-cheek blog post titled ‘Authors who self-promote-Oh the Shame of it all!

Here’s the link: http://gigigalt.com/

   Author Kimberly Grabas makes no bones about the importance of author self promotion and has written a blog post containing 71 ways to do it.

Here’s the link: http://www.yourwriterplatform.com/promote-and-market-your-book/

Thanks ladies.

   There is nothing wrong with self promotion especially if you’ve worked very hard to create a product well worth the price. Lately, because I own a small publishing company and understand how much effort is required to get a company off the ground, I prefer to purchase products from people online.

   They work harder to satisfy you as a customer and value your business. Plus I’d much rather see my money go into the pocket of a fellow small businessmen/women than into the pocket of the CEO of a big box store.

   So when the opportunity arises, purchase from a small online business. Or from a company that supports online business like Amazon. Once your product starts selling regularly they help promo it to their customers at no cost to you.

   A friend forwarded me this email he received, I took a screen shot of it. 

And there is my novel Noon: The Rise to Power.
Thanks Amazon!

     So when the opportunity arises support the people rebuilding the economy and maybe someday those very same people who will offer you a job.