GETTING READERS TO TRY YOUR WORK IS HARD!
Posted on September 16, 2016
I'll be honest, I'm very much an introvert and don't like tooting my own horn. I am not at all comfortable with talking up my works to people. It just doesn't come all that easily to me.
I really want readers to find me. I'm not trying to hide because I doubt my talent. I know what I'm doing feels 100% right and true. I have the chops to deliver the goods.
The creative side of being an author is no sweat for me now. With more than twenty books under my belt, I've logged in well over the 10,000 hours Malcolm Gladwell espouses it takes to make one an expert at an endeavor. I know how to make the donuts.
Only no one is really coming to my bakery and ordering my delicious creative confections by the dozens. And I really fill these suckers with creamy creativity. They're quite tasty and indulgent.
I wish I had a concrete path to gaining readers. I wish I knew the magic bullet that would take me from obscurity to a healthy readership that would bring in some solid income.
Cranking out more books doesn't bring me readers. Not that I'm going to stop. I need to keep at this writing thing. It's too much a part of my being to stop. It would be nice to know that my books are reaching an audience of folks who like their fantasy and science fiction sprinkled with wry observation and clever dilemmas and twists.
I've tried the bookgorilla promos. Small bump in sales.
I've tried obtaining reviews from just a few select goodreads readers and that went okay, but I alway felt a little intrusive.
I thought regular blog posting would show the casual visitor to my site that I'm the real deal and, you know, a human being with a sincere motivation to entertain and endear.
Still, I'm pretty much nowhere in terms of growing my readership.
My work is regularly read by Piers Anthony who always has nice words to say about it, but that doesn't translate to sales that I can see.
I know that everyone's path to success is slightly different, that I will look back at this post as a minor hiccup in my campaign to become America's sweetheart and go-to author for lively escapism.
Anyway, gaining readers is really on my mind right now because my dear friend and collaborator, Keith Robinson, is perusing a new marketing angle that looks to be promising. I'm hoping it turns out to be something fruitful for the both of us.
Maybe a year from now this site will have more traffic and my sales will be up. That would be nice.
Back to writing. All done with my indulgent wallowing for now.