I have really been slacking off on the blogs lately. Part of it is due to the heat wave we’ve got going on in Michigan right now. Part of it is trying to catch up on the sleep I missed when I thought I broke my ribs. And part of it is because learning the art of book marketing is…well, to put it mildly…challenging.
In fact, it makes some of the courses I took in college seem like a breeze. And let me tell you, business accounting was anything but! Neither was the typing course, which was by far the worst.
That was a class where you taught yourself via labs, then took the final copies to the instructors who used rulers to measure page placement-to the tiniest millimeter. One woman that I particularly disliked measured one of my papers several times, saying irritably, “It measures right, but it doesn’t look right.” She, out of the three instructors, enjoyed giving failing grades, and I was never as glad to be finished with any class as I was with that one.
But book marketing?
That’s a tough one. By nature, I’m not a very pushy person. I like Facebook so I can interact with family and friends. But I’m not sure I can use it to hawk my books. Before I know what’s happening, people are going to be ‘unfriending’ me, blocking me, or cringing whenever they see one of my posts.
Then there’s Twitter. I just don’t get it. In time, I suppose I’ll figure it out, but right now it’s just kind of a jumble of posts by other people that don’t make any sense in a conversational way. And if you do happen to be conversing with someone, you have to weed through dozens of disjointed comments from other Twitterers (or Tweeters or Twits, or whatever we’re called) in order to keep up. Yet it’s supposed to be a valuable marketing tool.
Add to all of that message boards, forums and a list a mile long of other things to do and….I need a vacation!
So I’ve decided I’m going to take it one step at a time. I’m going to choose two things to add to my marketing to-do list, and once they’re a comfortable part of my life, I’ll move on.
Right now I’ve found a reader’s/writer’s forum that I’m just loving. The other members are great, and I’m learning a lot from them. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed that sort of camaraderie and support. I find that it’s also very motivational. When I read about other writers writing, then I want to write more, too. Maybe it will help me get past some tough spots in a couple of books I’m working on.
The second thing is trying to learn the whole Twitter thing… Not enjoying that quite so much. I mean how many Mark Twain quotes can I post before everyone figures out that I don’t have a clue?
This time next year I’ll probably look back and laugh at my ignorance. But between now and then, it’s going to be a long twelve months!
But at least sometime between now and then, there will be a welcome end to this heat wave. When you have a 98 degree heat index at noon, you just know it’s going to be a rough day. I think so much better when I’m dealing with winchills…