Over the course of my independent publishing adventure, I have found that one good way to promote a book is through author outreach. I’ve never been an expert at networking. To be honest, I’m pretty terrible at it. But I know if I can do a little author outreach, then I can create at least a little bit of additional awareness.
I had an interesting back and forth with another independently published author, Matthew Sullivan. He wrote a book called Stealing Christmas that seemed similar in tone and style to my book. I initially wrote to him in early September. He got back to me earlier this week and then I wrote him Thursday night and we had the back and forth yesterday.
It’s funny, we’re almost like the same writer, except he’s a few books ahead. He doesn’t write series. He went for the agent and traditional publisher. He is a TV and film writer, too. And he’s from the DC area. He might be a good mentor of sorts to bounce questions off of. He seems to agree that author outreach is a good way to spread the word.
I engaged with some of the author Facebook groups yesterday. 20 Books to 50K is always really active. It’s something I want to be able to do at least once a week. When it comes down to it, It’s really only to try and create awareness of my book, but I think I’m offering some value to folks too. I may post about my audiobook journey.
Two author copies of my book arrived yesterday. I received the paperback from IngramSpark and another paperback, the half-priced author copy, from Amazon. I compared the two. One is slightly taller than the other, and a tad wider at the spine. The Amazon cover has a waxiness to it. Unless you had the two copies side-by-side, the difference would be indecipherable.
Yesterday was my first day of zero sales on Amazon. I had some days in which I sold one copy, but yesterday was a goose egg. It had been a week since I made the big announcement on Facebook. I’ve come down from my endorphin high. What a high it was. And yesterday? I got low. I got super low. Blackhole low. Before heading to Long Beach for a work appointment, I was way down there. Dark thoughts. Digging up the past. No hope for the future. It’s not a good place to be. And only one week after feeling like I was on top of the world.
I’ve been down on myself because I haven’t been able to write. The Swedish Fish is something I am excited about and want to get out there, but it’s like I’m stuck in the mud. It makes me think about whether I can actually do this. If I want to write full-time, then I need to write. This is the day I turn it around. Today, I write.
