I got to meet Jim Varney once. For those who aren't familiar, Jim's most famous character was Ernest P. Worrell, a most loveable klutz very high on my cool-people list.
Another thing I'm pretty proud of is my writing, not in a "Oh, look at me, I'm awesome!" kind of way but more in a "Hey, I came up with this cool story and some folks liked it enough to publish it" way. It even won an award. So I guess that's pretty cool.
Which brings me to the heart of my post this week: I'd really like it if you bought my books. I have four out now, and you can check them all out by clicking on my "My Books" page.
I'd love to write full-time, and from the feedback I've received on my work, folks enjoy it a lot. But getting published, even winning awards, are wholly different from getting the exposure I need to become a commercial success. After making the "1 per cent cut" to get published, now I find myself trying to out-shout a half-million other writers out there trying to sell their books as well, and I'm afraid I'm not one to "jump in the mud and wrestle with the pigs."
So what I'm asking for, is everyone who has read my work and likes it, please tell your friends, post on Facebook and Twitter, and just spread the word. For those who haven't dived into my books yet, or hasn't read them all, I'd sincerely appreciate it if you bought my work.
Based on other feedback, You'll like what you read.
Thanks for your time. We'll be back next week with another peek inside my head (Not too scary, I assure you.)
You know I'm a fan, Mr. Keith. I've learned a lot about how to write just from reading your work. I love every single volume you've published, and I've been pretty open about it on FB and my own blog. I'll tweet about your books and blog as soon as I figure out how. Twitter is *very* new to me :)
ReplyDeleteI've learned, and am continuing to learn, so much from you. Thank you.
Oh, that's it! Now you're in trouble. I'm buying your first Nadia book for my brother.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, folks. (Suzanne, I could do with more trouble like that!)
ReplyDeleteIt's not exactly a matter of jumping in the mud, but there are some pretty good promo opportunities, but they aren't really available to authors who are published through a small press. It would be a matter of getting your rights back and self-publishing. It can be nice to think that someone read your work and thought it good enough to publish, but what we writers really want is readers. I'm glad I went the self-publishing route. For one I get to keep all my royalties. What does it really matter being in the 1% if you hardly sell any books?
ReplyDeleteCindy, I have many reasons for being a contract author, and I' also glad I went the way I did. I think we can both agree that promotion in general can be a daunting and time-consuming task, and we need to pick and choose which methods work best for us. BTW, my publisher and I have a "thing" coming up, and although I can't share details yet, I believe you'll agree it's pretty cool when it gets here. ;-)
DeleteI will be interested to see what it is and good luck with it too. It's a tough business no matter what route you go. However, the funny thing about self-publishing is that for some it has lead to being published with the big name publishers. I know of a few authors who started out self-publishing, and were picked up by Amazon Imprints. This wouldn't be possible for an author who went with a small publisher. And regardless of how you're published, marketing is important. I wrote about some marketing things that work on my blog...if you want to take a look here it is..
Deletehttp://dreamersperch.blogspot.com/2014/01/marketing-symposium-jan-20th-my-two.html