promotion struggle – Ladies of Mystery

Like most writers, I don’t like the marketing and promotion side of writing. These days we don’t just sit down and write a book, send it off, and hope a publisher likes it. Especially not if you are an Indie author.

Back when I first started writing novels 30 plus years ago that was the process. Write, edit, send a synopsis and first three chapters to agents and editors and then write the next book while you waited sometimes over a year to hear back. If you did get the nod from an editor or agent then it was revisions and after 18 months to 2 years your book was published.

I was lucky to get picked up by a new small publisher who not only helped with editing but taught me a lot about publishing my book. When I had that down, and with a nudge from other author friends, I took the plunge into being an Indie author. And while being with the small press I had to do all my own marketing and promotion, I didn’t do near enough.

Now, fast forward, I have 55 books, half that are western romance and half that are murder mystery. My heart has always been in writing murder mystery and I feel as if the romance books were what I used as my stepping stones to getting to the genre I love to read and write.

With my murder mystery series, I have been promoting the heck out of them and learning new things as I add more print books and now audiobooks into the mix.

Just when I think I’ve figured out Amazon ads or Facebook ads, or using other promotional third parties, I find out that I messed up with this or with that. I had a promotion scheduled and I thought I’d changed the price of the audio box set. Well, I didn’t so there went the money I paid for the promotion down the drain and the graphics I made to promote the sale will have to be used later when the price finally is changed on all audiobook channels. With this headache, I can see why so many indie authors with audiobooks are selling them direct. It is something that keeps swirling around in my head and I’m thinking strongly about doing it so I can send people to my direct store to purchase audiobooks that I want to put on sale and to get audiobooks for a fairer price all the time.

I have my print books on a direct store and it would only take adding a link to the audiobooks to make it happen. Well, after I upload them to Bookfunnel. That would be another 2-3 hours a day for a week to get them all uploaded. That will cut into my writing time. I have scheduled to write three more books this year. If I don’t get to putting words in the document instead of uploading audiobooks to different vendors and now Bookfunnel, I’d have this book half way written instead of just starting. But once I get them all uploaded I will only have to upload each new book.

“Sigh” Just as I need more energy to do more promoting and marketing, I’m, finding my creative and productive energy doesn’t last as long as it used to.

I have also decided today, after realizing how many more audiobooks I need to upload to Kobo and Bookfunnel that I will from here forward, sit down at the computer with only my book document open and get my word count written before I do promotion or upload audiobooks. It will be the only way I’ll get my book goal accomplished this year.

But it is all worth it when I hear from readers how much they enjoy my books and I receive word that a book is a finalist in a contest. After contemplation I thought I’d put Damning Firefly in the wrong category, I guess not!

It’s only the first month of the new year and this is the second group blog I’m on that my Google calendar told me I had a blog today. Yeesh! I have never in twelve years not had a blog already scheduled to go.

In fact, yesterday, Sunday, the day I plan out my week, I wrote down to write my Ladies of Mystery blog post on Tuesday, because, when I looked at January in my date book, which is my bible to keep things straight, I had written down my post was the third Monday of the month instead of the second.

How I managed to do that FOR THE WHOLE year when I received my new datebook in July, I don’t know. All I had to do was look to my left and on a corkboard there is a list of when each Ladies of Mystery author blogs during the month. Now, I have to go back through my datebook and cross out the LOM on the third Monday and put it on the second. And yes, cross out. I use different colored ink pens for different things that are happening.

Orange for the days I post on my Writing into the Sunset blog, Purple for the days I post on here and the other group blog. Bright pink for book specials and events, Blue for when my6 newsletter goes out. And black for personal appointments and events.

I use pencil for guest bloggers on Ladies of Mystery and to keep track of how many words I’ve written.

I also have a whiteboard with three columns where I write the months in one column in purple, the next column is in green and it is the title or number of the book in which series I’m writing, and a column in pink with the title of the book releasing that month.

Then below that, I have a new keeping track project that a very successful Indie author uses to keep track of her specials and events. I decided to use it this year and see if it can help me do a better job of staying on top of promoting my books. It is a 2′ by 3′ write on calendar of the whole year. It is to help me keep track of what book, where, and when I promote it and to keep the promotion flowing all the time. That has been my biggest problem. I start out promoting and then I get caught up in the other sides of being an Indie author and forget to keep promoting. This calendar with everything scheduled is a visual of what I need to do and what is happening. I hope it works.

And again, it is color coordinated. Blue for audiobook promo, green for ebook promo, and pink for special events.

And yet, with all of these reminders, I forgot my group blog post last Monday and today’s for this blog. I’m wondering if I need yet another calendar or whiteboard to keep me in line. What do you think? I’m off to change the purple LOM in my datebook to the second Monday. Have a great day!