Guest blogging, author interviews, book promotions, book reviews, marketing teams, bookish content on Instagram and Tik Tok, starting a Facebook group, Joining writing workshops, going to seminars and completing online courses for creative writing, starting an author website, getting a literary agent, traditional publishing, self publishing, going to bookstores that support indie authors, making phone calls and sending emails to set up readings and book signings, creating an ARC, searching for beta readers, and a whole other list of things I can’t think of at the moment.
Marketing yourself as a writer can be overwhelming and seem pretty daunting at first glance. Especially when you lack the necessary funds to have people do all this for you effectively. Marketing yourself doesn’t have to be difficult but often is because too many people focus on too many things at once and end up getting nothing done.
Not only do you have to write the book but you have to get people interested enough to read it and, hopefully, buy it. In a profession where people’s opinions literally pay your bills, it can be stressful and tedious and overwhelming especially when you also have other real life obligations to fulfill.
So, if you’re a writer that has trouble marketing your work (as well was writing it), then you’re going to want to read this piece of wisdom I’d recently just figured out.
Ready for it?
Here it is. . .
Focus on one thing at a time.
That’s it.
We know, We know. It can’t be that simple. Actually, it is and we’ll show you what I mean. . .
Stop trying to do everything at once every day because you will only exhaust yourself and end up frustrated because you’re not making any headway.
Take each aspect of marketing your novel or work and focus on only one thing each day. Example: Mondays you focus on book reviews; Tuesdays you focus on author interviews; Wednesdays you focus on guest blogging; Thursdays you focus on contacting bookstores that support indie authors; Fridays you focus on hosting book giveaways.
If you only focus on that one thing each day and get that thing done, you will gain a sense of accomplishment and begin to make headway into the complicated world of marketing your work. Marketing is a cumulative thing meaning one thing builds on top of the other. You could set up an author interview on Monday and by the next week you will have people contacting you to review your work or ask you for an author interview or offer another free service you hadn’t thought of.
That’s kinda how it works. You perform one action toward your goal and that action pays off sometime down the line. How long? Who knows. Just know that every action you take today will pay off in the future and even though you may not see it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening behind the scenes.
The thing about writing is that it has never been fast money but it has always been big money for those that know what they are doing.
Focus on only one aspect each day and do it to the best of your ability. Over the weeks you will see progress, even if it is only a little bit. Stay consistent and stop trying to do everything at once and not only will it prove to be more sustainable but you can also live your life while things are happening in the background.
Do this for long enough and something big will happen when you least expect it.
Hope this helps.
Keep writing. . .
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