This was a morning of reflection. I meditate most mornings, but I don’t always sit and reflect on the previous day, week, year—life. This morning my thoughts centered on how I could take my blogs and my books to the next level. If I’m real, most of my readers are other writers and authors, and I desire to connect with men and women who may not all be writers.
The writer’s dilemma is that most of us would prefer to work at our craft and hire out the marketing of it. There are people who do nothing but market books and blogs to the public and I believe engaging with this type of service would help me get my writing out where it can be read, critiqued, celebrated. It’s kind of discouraging to have my books sit on a shelf after the initial launch dies down.
There are so many stories inside me, but if the public isn’t reading them …
Over the last 9 Days, I got a taste of what it’s like to be read and to interact with readers. If I could stretch that readership to include my target audience, that would be great, but I don’t know how. It would be good to hear from you on how you deal with this problem.
By the way, I’m no longer in a 30-day blogging challenge and I’ve removed all the trappings from my posts. My blog is no longer germane to the competition. As for remaining challengers, please don’t waste precious contest minutes commenting to me unless you can afford the time. There is a lot of reading and commenting you must do. I don’t regret being eliminated because in the end I will have accomplished a few things that made my time in it worthwhile.
If you are a subscriber to my blog, you know that I have been posting without fail since January 2, and I will post until February 1 and beyond. That was the point of the challenge. I’m grateful for the writing discipline that has returned to my life. It’s like stretching old muscles. I’m also grateful for the trust I shared with the other writers which allowed some of us to open up. I know I did, and it was fun. So, I’ll continue to read and support your writing and cheer for you as you approach the finish line.
Don’t forget to share how you connect with your readers who aren’t writers. Also, how do you keep your books fresh in the marketplace without always yelling, buy my books!
Well, Linda, I’ll make a little time to comment here. Right now, I’m not marketing my books at all. I do have an upcoming interview scheduled with RRBC for my latest launch. And in February I will use my 7-day blog tour that’s been on standby ever since I won it in one of the many contests offered. Outside of RRBC I haven’t done anything in quite a long time. Mostly I used to schedule book events in my community, and I was invited out of town, all expenses paid to a catholic church with similar issues. They paid my travel hotel and food expenses. I got a fee for appearing. Our main library used to promote local authors and I was invited to speak and sell books to a historical group affiliated with the Detroit Public Library. That was so exciting! It was all fabulous, but few and far between.
Wow! Thanks for sharing, Shirley! You’ve done a lot and it sounds very exciting. You should hold a how-to workshop on your marketing. I look forward to what you do in the future.
I’m still going to follow, read, and comment on your blogs whether you are in the challenge or not, Linda. I love that you are writing again. In all honesty, I’m not seeing many people read and comment on my blogs even though I am all over theirs. That’s okay. I am not doing it for reciprocity; I’m doing it because I want to prove I can do it. As for your question, I’m in the same boat as you. I don’t write or promote myself consistently enough to gather a loyal following. And most of those who follow me are other authors. I haven’t broken into a readers universe yet. I’m curious to see what others suggest.
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
Yvette, you’re such a force. I don’t know how you were able to comment on all of our posts; work your day job; and spend time at the beach😁. I’m humbled to have your support in all my writing, and you’re right, I was doing it to prove I could, too. As for gathering a following maybe someone will leave us suggestion. Thanks much!
Hmm… well, I’m clueless about the whole blogging challenge thing (with minutes and contests, etc) you have/had going on. I’m just delighted to see you blogging and happy to connect. I’m sorry you were eliminated from whatever the competition was, but I’m happy to visit the blogs of my online friends whenever they post and I have a chance to swing by (which admittedly is a lot harder for me to do then it used to be).
As for reaching a larger audience for our books (specifically readers who aren’t writers) I’m struggling with that myself. When I was working with a publishing house, they had an advertising budget for each of my books and they spent a nice amount of $$ to promote me. I did reach readers then with wonderful success. Alas, we have since parted ways and I have been on the fence about how to proceed. I’m sitting on two finished manuscripts and think I’m going to indie pub them. I know I’ll never be able to reach the audience I did with a publishing house, but I just don’t have the time to seek a new one out. I wish had an answer, but this seems to be a dilemma for most writers these days.
Hi, Mae! I was thrilled to see you have reconnected with me. I’m glad that you have works finished and ready to publish. What a prolific writer you are.
Well, I’m going to stroll around the internet for independent authors who’ve found solutions to our reader dilemma. I’ll post if I discover anything. Thank you for your comments!🤗
I’ll do the same, Linda. It’s so hard to find a solution, but I will definitely share if I do.
And I’m delighted to have reconnected with you.
I love your work!
I love yours!
🤗