A Lot of Things Aren't Worth It

As self-published authors, we want so much to believe that if we just stumble upon the right formula for marketing, the world will be ours.

Books are not my first go-round in the marketing game. Back when my band was actively creating new music, I tried every means I could to get noticed. To say we attained minor success is an overstatement. Sure, we uploaded our music to a music library, which distributed compilation CD's (to whom, I have no idea) every so often, and we received a twenty-dollar check in the mail a few times a year. One of my songs was chosen for a student film, and thus not only was that a "free" placement, but probably the only people who saw the movie were the creator's classmates. I'd also pay a twenty-dollar fee every once in a while to submit to movie and TV opportunities and to record producers. (We got a pretty blunt rejection once from Rick Rubin, which was our only brush with fame.) Looking back, we weren't so much interested in money as in recognition. 

That's the only reason I even occasionally try marketing my books ~ recognition. A seventy-cent profit from one sale means nothing, but if I do make one sale, one person might actually read it. 

I read a lot of Reddit posts by self-published authors asking about marketing techniques. It's actually getting tedious; the same questions over and over. One tonight was about newsletters, and for once the majority of respondents were honest. A lot of them said they subscribe to a few other authors' newsletters, but they never actually read them, even those from highly successful authors. I, too, subscribe to one (just one), and I only did it to see how other authors approach the process. I've never read any of her books and won't. Her genre isn't one I'm interested in. I haven't yet unsubscribed, because she only sends a newsletter out a few times a year, but really, it's only comprised of promotion. Just seems like a waste of her time. 

I stopped sending newsletters because they were a waste of my time, too. But like every other author, I felt obliged to try everything. 

When you don't have money to burn, you have to look for free or cheap ways to promote your work, but these ways are worth what you pay for them. Blog posts? I've used Goodreads and Substack for both, and my posts just die. To be clear, those posts weren't blatantly promotional. I worked to make them interesting. If I wanted to promote, for example, Inn Dreams, I talked about growing up in the hospitality business, a small family operation, and what that was like. And (if I remember correctly) I ended it with, "And that's what inspired me to write Inn Dreams", or something like that. I'm not an idiot; I understand the soft sell. But it didn't matter. 

And if I could afford twenty dollars to push a song, I certainly can spare the same to push a book, so I've done it, but very rarely. Because that doesn't work, either. "Not worth it" equates to the long questionnaires one must complete before even getting to the pay screen; plus the either short or long book description required, and in some cases, even a full synopsis! I abandoned synopses once I abandoned my pursuit of literary agents. They're a pain in the ass for zero gain (both synopses and agents). I could easily spend a half hour simply completing a form for one of these promo sites, and if I was really, really lucky I'd make one sale. 

ARCs are a double-edged sword. One can pay a service to provide advance reader copies or do it the old-fashioned way, by begging. I've begged on Goodreads and even once on Facebook. I participated in a LibraryThing giveaway, which is basically an ARC scheme, but also free. I've also used Voracious Readers Only, which was free the first time, and BookSprout which cost a minimal amount. But I can basically count on one hand the number of reviews I received as a result (from all these methods put together), and about a quarter of them were negative. (So, two of out six?) Mind you, with VRO I garnered close to 200 downloads. Who the hell needs negative reviews? Especially if you only have a few reviews to begin with? 

That only leaves social media, and I've said over and over that this doesn't work at all. People come to social media to either talk or to look at pretty pictures of celebrities. Oops, I almost forgot ~ many are there to push their marketing services. No one is there to buy. LinkedIn is the worst by far for the latter. Every single person who wants to "connect" is trying to sell me something. I don't want anything! Leave me alone! (Which is how normal people on social media feel about an author pushing her book.)

Maybe it all depends on how much free time one has to wade into these waters. Granted, I have all the free time in the world, but I don't choose to use it for things that don't give me pleasure. And most importantly, don't offer any reward in exchange for my time.

The majority of even trade published books don't sell, even with all that publisher-financed advertising. So why would a self-published author think they can succeed by doing it themselves?

They can't.

I don't feel like wasting my time, so I'm not doing it. I've given up on everything except my website. That doesn't help me, either, but I like it.

But by all means, authors, try everything. It's really the only way we find out the truth.