You KNOW I love you ALL to PIECES and I try to help you any way I can – BUT…I’m not an ape who beats around the bush (except to find food of course) so I’ll say it straight…
You’re driving me spare with frustration…
How?
By your apparent lack of imagination!
I DO NOT mean when it comes to your storytelling talents.
I mean, when it comes to Promoting / Marketing yourself and your book(s).
Take the following common methods for example:
BOOK BLOG TOURS
The same promotional wording, layout and general pitch on several host blogs, sometimes interlinked with schedules of where and when (often up to a three week period) the beleaguered follower of many of these blogs is forced to either, click on the Like Button to show the blog host that they support them, or, stay away rather than to read the same promo post for the umpteenth time…
It’s akin to blanket bombing using cluster bombs to disperse as much shrapnel as possible over as wide an area as possible – WITH THE MINIMUM OF THOUGHT, STRATEGY OR EFFORT…
GUEST AUTHOR POSTS
The same wording, layout and general pitch on several host blogs, forcing the beleaguered follower of many of these blog to either, click on the Like Button to show the blog host that they support them, or, stay away rather than to read the same Guest Author post for the umpteenth time…
See the blanket bombing analogy above…
MARKETING / PROMOTING ON TWITTER
Seems to be mainly restricted to waiting for the unwary to come along and click the Follow Button, thus unleashing the (barely) chained hounds of ‘BUY MY BOOK AT, LIKE MY FACEBOOK PAGE AT, SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG / WEBSITE SO YOU NEVER MISS ONE WORD OF MY INCESSANT PLEAS FOR BUY MY BOOK AT’ messages that suddenly greet the hapless victim, when all they wanted to do was follow you and maybe say “Hello” to an author sometime…
MARKETING / PROMOTING ON FACEBOOK
Seems to be mainly restricted to a very familiar sounding BUY MY BOOK(S), GET THEM AT, HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT MY LATEST BLAH, BLAH, BLAH…..BOOK?
There are exceptions to this of course – thankfully – where authors greet people by name, introduce them to everyone else and make serious efforts to get to know their fans and followers.
Making the whole experience feel like a chance meeting in a Cafe, Garden Party or similar pleasant event.
But sadly – they are in the minority…
MARKETING / PROMOTING ON THE AUTHORS OWN BLOG / WEBSITE
Seems to be mainly restricted to:
Yep, you’ve guessed it…
BUY MY BOOK(S), GET THEM AT, HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT MY LATEST BLAH, BLAH, BLAH…..BOOK? SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG / WEBSITE SO YOU NEVER MISS ONE WORD OF MY INCESSANT PLEAS FOR BUY MY BOOK AT posts.
CAN YOU SPOT ANY DIFFERENCES?
WELL MR. SMARTYPANTS APE – If YOU’RE so CLEVER – Tell us what we SHOULD be doing – Nyuh, Nyuh, Nyuh…
I’ll do BETTER than offer you MY limited knowledge.
I’ll let PROFESSIONALS tell you in a short series of articles I’ll be linking to, but I have to advise that it’s NOT ENOUGH to JUST READ them.
YOU NEED TO TRY THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS.
Meanwhile, for anyone who may have missed Susan Toy’s excellent series Authors Marketing Yourself and Your Work, click HERE
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
My marketing plan is that I lay out chicken entrails in a the shape of a circle and and step inside it. Then I swing a dead cat over my head twenty times while invoking the little known god of Indie Marketing, Osiris-Spin-Your-Wheels-On-Twitter (she has a long name). It works every time. So Chris, I think I should write an article for you about marketing. Thanks to Osiris-Spin . . .etcetera, I’ve sold two books this year!
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You’re on a roll then Danny 😀 😀 😀
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I think this was a great article. I always save the articles Chris puts up to help us writers and then read them when I have time. Except for his Danny the Dog posts, I find all his article informative. They all have good information in them and some of them have been very, very helpful to me in my struggles with Indie Publishing. Thanks, Chris.
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Welcome Andrew 😀
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I don’t understand. How is that new? Doesn’t everyone use this practice? ;-D
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CHICKEN ENTRAILS PROPHECY ALERT 😀 😀 😀
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Do you practice Santeria, Danny, or are you Jewish, or just a mystic with chickens? LOL
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Reblogged this on lightningbooksbyagmoye and commented:
He always has something worthwhile to say. Take note, I guess I am one of them.
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So, are blog book tours dead? Or just the boring ones? 🙂
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They have a place, but not in the relentless form they currently have Holly – they currently smack of spamming…
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I haven’t followed many in a good long while. One problem I’ve seen all too often is their tendency to be a bit of a ci–er, a bit closed, that is, an activity of writers by and for other writers, and not reaching their readership at all. I think the biggest mistakes lie in not identifying and reaching the target audience in the first place.
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EXACTLY – Read my next post scheduled to go live in about 15 minutes Holly 😀
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You’re such a tease, Ape!
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I know 😀 😀 😀
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I am not a writer, other than my blog, but I found this interesting. And if nothing else, your gorilla picture should put the fear of God into everyone! 😀
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LOLOL – I’m a simian pussycat really Chrll 😀
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Me too! My bark is usually worse than my bite. 😀
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😀 😀 😀
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Reblogged this on Books: Publishing, Reading, Writing and commented:
Thanks to Mr. Ape for this timely blog post (and for including the link to my guest post series I wrote for him on Marketing!). Thanks, Chris, and lucky for all of us you’re willing to promote for bananas!!!
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LOL My pleasure Susan – Thanks for re-blogging my tirade 😀
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Susan, I followed that series and found it very informative. 🙂
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As an introvert with a day job who hasn’t written anything but blog posts for way too long, I have decided to go with advice I’ve read in many online forums: write more books and don’t worry about marketing. One of the best things about being an indie author is I make all the decisions as to how to use my limited time and creative energy. Of course the consequence of this one is expectation adjustment — a crucial skill for indies not inclined to do PR-type marketing. 🙂
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For expectation adjustment read lower sales than you’d like Audrey – Hopefully the articles I’ll be linking to will help you and others like you.
The great pity is – I’ve created an authors platform that is not being used by authors as well as it could be…
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That’s probably true. There’s only so much time and so many brain cells to absorb information and use it. But I really appreciate your efforts on behalf of us authors, even if I don’t use the results optimally.
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😀
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That’s why I stopped doing blog tours and FB marketing. The former was so much work and seemed to get less and less effective since it was ‘just another Windemere book’ to many people. The later was just ridiculous. My promos were absorbed into the mass within an hour at most and it typically only netted me ‘promote with me’ spam. I keep wracking my brain on stuff that I can do for promotion, but I think I’m just burned out on the subject. Many interviews seem to be the same question and I’ve written posts on so many things that I can’t think of any guest post topics that I haven’t covered already.
Honestly, I think I’ve fallen to only using Twitter, the sites I use for new books, and just writing blog posts on my own thing. If I can put a link to a book then that’s cool. Not killing myself for that. Guess a person can only go full steam ahead for only so long before they crumble or get caught in a loop.
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It’s very easy to get Marketing Burnout, just as it is to get Writer’s Block Charles – I’m hoping the articles I’ll be linking to will help give ideas 😀
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Hope so. Right now I’m gearing up for the June 1st short story release, writing a novella, and leaping into the next novel. Just thinking of putting Marketing on the ‘to do’ list as well definitely makes me feel weary. Wonder if there’s anything behind the ‘best book promo is to release another one’.
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Ahhh: but if you want to get to know many authors better, and NOT be BORED, including Charles Yallowitz, visit and watch *CHANGES* conversations between authors! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPbfKicwk4dFdeVSAY1tfhtjaEY_clmfq
#Authors, especially those in sci-fi/speculative fiction and who blog, learn more about and get yourself on *CHANGES*, and #Readers, recommend an #author to be scheduled as a guest: *CHANGES* G+ HOA http://sallyember.com/changes-videocasts-by-sally-ember-ed-d/
Really!
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Seems like you will be giving us some interesting links Chris. Thanks for that. I, for one, wish I didn’t have a day job so I could put more time and effort into writing, or re-writing 😦 publishing, marketing, etc! ~Elle
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Indeed I hope the links WILL help Elle 😀
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Yes, it’s a shame but I’ve actually had to ‘mute’ quite a few people on Twitter because their requests to buy/read/download their book were jamming up my feed. I swear I saw one book cover twenty times in one day. It’s really difficult to come up with marketing options and I agree, as writers we need to think of new ideas and actually work on making connections to get our message across, rather than this incessant ‘buy buy please buy’ that seems to be the default for so many. I’m certainly not perfect but am trying to be more mindful in the way I market my book. In the end, however, you need to have a good product (well written, edited and presented) for things to really take off, but that’s a whole other blog post!
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That’s why I dedicated a few hours to research instead of blogging, reading, book covers, Trailers, etc Helen – so I hope the articles I’ve found will be of help to you and all the other authors out there 😀
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Excellent! I’m sure they will be 🙂
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I’m overwhelmed by the book list.
I’m glad I have a day job.
I think I’m going to give up writing. Well, no – not bloody likely. But the problem for writers and artists and musicians is this: most of us would rather gouge out our eyeballs than do the marketing (and if it’s the other way around, why aren’t we agents or PR professionals? It’s more lucrative work, surely!) Without sales, we can’t afford to hire those people. It’s soul-sucking.
Yes, thank God for the day job.
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Indeed Holly, but unfortunately for the Indie Author, Marketing MUST be done, either by the author (to keep costs down) OR by Professionals (some of whom are not altogether trustworthy),,,
I’m hoping the articles I’ve found will make it easier for you to DO marketing AND keep costs down 😀
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There’s a lucrative business in bilking aspiring indie authors, for sure.
The other problem for authors who have to put on their Marketing and Sales hats, though, is that it leaves precious little time to write. Saps creativity when we have to be constantly creative in areas we’d rather not have to manage at all. And for introverts, it saps energy, as well, that could be better spent on writing.
Books have been so devalued in our society; people see them as a throwaway product, worth only the cost of the paper and ink (or worse, the download time). The same is fast becoming the case for music, and I think it always has been, for art.
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There will ALWAYS be readers of good stories Holly 😀
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I didn’t say their wouldn’t. I was only commenting on the business aspects and ROI. 🙂
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