Sometimes I Wonder

Was I too quick to give up on marketing? Granted, my funds are limited, but there are reasonably priced promo sites out there. I've dabbled in a few of them, but only in a small way. I suppose I'm risk-averse. I was burned a couple of times with promos ~ a two-star review here, a personal attack there. It seemed like I was paying for the opportunity to be criticized.

I'm at a disadvantage because I have no full-length novels to promote, and folks want something meaty in exchange for their dollar (one dollar!).  

I'm a marketer's nightmare. Oh, they'll gladly take my money; it's not as if they have any stake in the outcome, but where is the advantage for me? A promo isn't going to suddenly turn my novella into a best seller. And frankly, at twenty dollars per ad, I'd need to move twenty copies just to break even. The most I've ever managed to sell via promos was one or two copies.

Actual successful marketing is above my pay grade. I have no idea how to do it. It could be that I chose the wrong means, and highly probable that I don't know what the "right" means are. Frankly, all I did to garner some (unfortunately self-sabotaged) interest was to post a link to my books on LinkedIn, and that cost me nothing. And LinkedIn's not a site I ever think to utilize, except for that initial burst when I first created my account. I'm pretty sure I haven't even added my most recently published novella. What author even thinks to use LinkedIn for marketing? Not me. And it's free media.

I'm obviously a "flailer". I flail around, trying the so-called tried and true methods ~ like newsletters, which for me were a disaster. I don't know how to build a brand. What is a brand anyway? Do I need a trademark? A logo? Do incremental steps, like adding content to my website, do anything for me? 

Bottom line, do I even want attention? I have zero self-confidence in my work to begin with. But the fact is, unless I'm prepared for bad results, I'll never even take that first step.