New Release, New Opportunities
Not every new release is created equal.
Confession time.
After publishing 26 books (omg, is it really that many?!?), you’d think I’d have it down by now. I’ll let you in on a little secret: I don’t. Not even close.
My new contemporary romance, Letting Go, released last week, and in many ways, I’m just as anxious as I was with that very first book more than two years ago (Five Minute Man, August 2014). Will it do well? Will my readers like it? How do I get the word out?
These are just a few of the dozens of questions I ask myself every single time I hit Publish. The thing is, the romance read market is in a constant state of flux. What worked last year – hell, what worked last week – may no longer apply.
Looking for answers.
There’s never a lack of advice on what should be done, especially if you’re willing to pay for it. Infomercials abound in the form of sponsored posts and email offers, many of which dangle the promise of revealing valuable secrets on how to reach new readers and make lots of sales. Most of them, unsurprisingly, will not deliver. If it sounds too good to be true… (or, alternatively, if you have to blow your budget out of the water…) then it’s probably a no-go for me.
“Free” advice is also prevalent. The Indie community is a very sharing community, and there are hundreds (if not thousands) of groups willing to offer suggestions, results, successes and fails. That still doesn’t mean that what worked for one author will work for another.
“I have not failed…”
So my plan is simple: experiment. With each new release, I do something I’ve never done before and see what happens. One of my favorite quotes came from Thomas Edison, who said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10000 ways that won’t work.” Even if something doesn’t work out as well as I’d hoped, if I don’t scorch up the charts or get tons of new readers, I’ve at least learned something.
I’ll be the first to admit, marketing is not my favorite thing. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that it might just be my most un-favorite part of self-publishing. But it is a necessary evil if I want to continue living my dream, so I’ll keep trying.
You know, I think there might be a life lesson in there somewhere…
? Abbie