Quit laughing! I'm not joking. Seriously, marketing can be fun. Keep laughing at me, I'll wait LOL. Okay, you done? Sweet. We all know that writing is the fun part of being an author, while marketing can be the soul-sucking tenth level of hell. The me of three years ago had zero clue how much work goes into the business side. The me of now is still very much learning, because marketing is a fluid, ever changing environment, and it's one of those keeping up with the current trends situation.
<laughs in marketing hell>
There's ads (Facebook, Amazon, etc), but what works for those algorithms changes constantly, and an ad that was performing well is suddenly just taking your money without any measurable gain. There's social media, newsletters, blog posts (heyyyyy), podcasts, attending conventions, a kickass website, nailing that author photo and bio, and a whole bunch of things I'm forgetting and should probably be doing. And don't get me started on those pesky back cover blurbs. There's a meme going around Facebook right now asking authors if they'd rather write the blurb or fight a bear. Bring on the freaking bear!
The best advice I was given that still holds true is don't try to do everything at once. It's impossible, and you'll get bogged down and flail and it's awful. Ask me how I know lol. So instead of trying to do ALL THE THINGS, pick one thing. Get it right, whether it's your website, your bio, setting up a newsletter, or just being fun on your social media posts. Once you've got a solid handle on that, pick something else. And here's the thing -- you don't have to do them all! I said what I said. Figuring out marketing isn't just about what works to promote your work, but figuring out what works for you! Me, personally? I love writing these blog posts. It's a way to share my chaotic thoughts, and a way to try to connect with people. You know what else I love? PODCASTS!! Or as Marisa Wolf calls it, being chaotic on the internet. I know it's not everyone's thing, but dang do I love podcast shenanigans!
At one point, there was a running joke that I lived on the Inside CKP podcast, and I mean. . . no lies detected. Another fun podcast is Feral Ladies, with the fabulous Marisa Wolf, the badass Kacey Ezell, and me! We took a bit of a hiatus due to job changes and moving, but we just recorded our latest podcast last week, so look for that soon. Kacey also was a freaking FANTASTIC host and did a livestream launch party for Fallout on Darsaana last night! And we made it a party, with special guests and a great group of folks in the chat. It was a blast, and you can check out all the shenanigans here:
We had so much fun, in fact, that we decided to do the same thing for all our releases this month! Oh, did I forget to mention that March is not only the 'Month of Melissa' or 'MoM' (that acronym is courtesy of Chris Kennedy and I giggle every time), it's also the month of the Feral Ladies!! That's right, I've got the first two weeks of March with my 4HU novel Companions in Chains (AKA Ducky, AKA dat ass. . . check out the cover and you'll get it) up next on March 8, Marisa Wolf along with the amazing Bill Webb have the 16th with The Spider (which is not only an amazing story, it kicks off the Year of the Valkyries. . . more on that later), and Kacey gets a birthday weekend release on the 22nd with the release of the first book in her new space opera series which is GORGEOUS nostalgic space opera that hits all the right notes. Yes, that was a run on sentence from hell, but that's the beauty of blog posts -- I can be a little messy LOL. Now check out these awesome covers, graphic courtesy of Marisa Wolf!!
In writing news, I've crossed the 20K mark on my griffins post-apocalyptic fantasy novel, and I turned in a second Carter story to Hillbilly over at Three Ravens Publishing. It's tropey urban fantasy and a blast to write. But for now, I need to do some alpha reading for Casey Moores (Blood and Armor), and Kacey Ezell (more urban fantasy awesomeness). Oh. No. So sad LOL. Seriously, I'm having all the fun over here, marketing included. Until next week, folks!
Comments