By Michael Hicks Thompson
I've had it with the non-stop email
solicitations wanting to help me sell books. Of course I need to know how to
better market my books! So I try to keep up. But, frankly, it’s not easy,
figuring out which “Help Offer” is going to help me.
I've been on at least two dozen
"How to Successfully Market Your Book" webinars. Some even charge $!
(I've found a few that don't charge, yet offer good insight. Like Joan
Stewart's The Publicity Hound.)
I sign up for what looks good. Then
comes the pitch. Most give good ‘free’ info then go through the same routine to
up-sell you on their programs. "It's worth $2,000. But if you buy today…
only $297."
I know I need to learn. So I wade
through them all. Some are outrageous.
Like the "$1
NOW" come-ons... only to discover there's a $1
charge for 7 days, then jumps to $59/month -- automatically, unless I remember
to cancel. Have you ever?
Maybe you've also plowed through the
plethora of "Let Me Help You" sites? I get six emails a week, and
yes, I'll admit, I check 'em out. Why not? I'm trying to figure out how to sell
a few books when 727,125 ISBNs were assigned to self-published authors in
2015 .That's right. 727,125 in one year alone, and that’s just to
self-published authors. Look it up on Bowker.
Authors, the competition is
daunting. But good work will win out in the end.
If you’re contemplating your first
novel, please, stop and ask yourself. “Am I doing this so I can tell my family
and friends that I’ve written a novel?” If that’s your subconscious speaking to
you, please, re-think this. So many “first novels” come on the marketplace that
haven’t even been edited. Result? Family and friends who read them become so
disillusioned by all the errors, grammatical mistakes, plot snafus, and
unexplainable dialogue that they may never pick up a new author again. They go
back to the same celebrity authors, leaving new, serious authors in the wake of
anonymity.
My college roommate went to New York
to become an actor in the 70s. He later told me, "Michael, for every
audition I went to, there were 3,000 actors as qualified for that
role as me. Not all 3,000 showed up, but the hardest-working ones did.
There was just too much competition."
Writing a 75,000-word book is
hard work. If you’re not willing to hire a professional editor, why write it?
And if it’s going to be the only book you ever write, why bother?
Meantime, I'll keep wading through
the webinars and try to make sense of this industry. Maybe somebody should
start a “Ranking Profile” of these webinars.
PS -- I'm really not a sour-puss.
Today, I'm just frustrated by all the noise in the "Let Me Help You"
world of new authors.
______________________________________________________________________
Michael Hicks Thompson was a successful ad
agency owner, winning numerous national and international awards. After selling
his firm in 2011, Michael turned his attention to full-time writing. His latest
novel is The Actress and he also authored The
Rector, available on Amazon in print, on
Audio Book, and Kindle. Two graphic novels on the life of David from the Old
Testament–DAVID–The
Illustrated Novel came first. (Volume
2-won first place BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL and BEST INTERIOR DESIGN, 2012,
from USA Book’s INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS. Volume 1 won the Silver IPPY
for Graphic Novels in 2011 from the Independent Publisher Book Awards.) Next was a sci-fi thriller (CLOUDS
ABOVE) that was serialized in a monthly magazine for a year. (Out in book in
2016.) Michael writes Christian novels that entertain, intrigue, and shine a
light on his Jesus. He’s a member of the ACFW, Mystery Writers of America, The
International Crime Writers Association, and the Southern Writers Association.
Visit his website, www.michaelthompsonauthor.com to
learn more.
michael@shepking.com
Can book trailers be as riveting as movie trailers? Let's see:
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