Marketing a New Release

"Why can't people just find my book?" "Whatever happened to word of mouth?"

These are the silly questions I ask myself when I'm forced to think about marketing. The truth is, even the novels that are chosen for the various book clubs (Oprah's, Reese's, etc.) don't just fall into someone's hands. They have big marketers that charge big bucks to capture the book club's attention. (So, it's rigged, just like everything else.)

I would love to find some worthwhile advice for marketing my new release that isn't a nauseating rehash of the same old methods that have never worked for me in the past. Alas, everyone recommends the same things ~ most notably social media and newsletters.  

I don't enjoy social media and I'm bad at it. I haven't posted under my author X account in months, because why would I? What would I say? If I'm in the midst of writing, I'm not going to stop every day and try to compose a post for X, just to establish a presence. It's dumb and no one cares. As for Facebook, well...for a while, I did post daily and it was a colossal bust. No engagement whatsoever, unless one counts the spam. I finally gave up on it when someone posted a social justice meme on my page and I was infuriated at the gall of them hijacking my page that way.

I might be the only author in the universe who finds ARC readers to be a de-motivator. I've never asked for a good review in exchange for an ARC (you can't do that), but how about a kind review? It can still be negative without shredding the author. I can't put myself in the mindset of getting something for free, then shitting all over it. As I've mentioned before, Goodreads is the worst in that regard. Contrary to helping market my book, its ARC readers apparently did their best to discourage anyone from buying it. 

Newsletters are out, period. I swallowed my pride to send one the other day, something I hadn't done in months, strictly to promote my novel. All I got in return was one unsubscribe (so far). And it's not as if I was blatant about pushing it. It was at the very end of the newsletter, because I'm not a huckster.

So, where does one go to market their novel? Obviously, discount promo sites are out. BookBub doesn't allow a new release email to be sent out unless an author has 1,000 followers. I have one follower. I did submit my novel for its "new releases for less" program, but only as a lark. Since my book is only available on Amazon, it won't be chosen; David Gaughran told me that. A book has to be sold wide, and I'm not doing that.

I'll check out a few places that online posters have mentioned, but anything that involves "swaps" with other authors or multi-book giveaways is a no-go for me. I'm not interested in promoting other authors ~ does that sound rude? Well, that's because no one else will dare say it, but it's true. I'm interested in promoting me. They've all got their zillion readers; I don't have any. It's easy for them to be magnanimous. 

I started watching a video from an indie author talking about numerous ways to market a new book, but again, newsletters and blah blah blah...She mentioned making Instagram posts that show aspects of the book (either visual or quotes or both) and posting them all the way up to launch time. It's something I could do for free with Canva, and I like the visual arts, but again, wouldn't I just be kidding myself? 

I have no idea what I'll do. I know ~ Facebook ads ~ but I've read differing accounts regarding their effectiveness.

Anyway, I've got time to think about it and to become more and more despondent.