T Minus One

March 1 was a random date. It wasn't that I was obsessed with doing a pre-order or that doing one would help me in any way. I was putting off the inevitable. I can sometimes be impulsive, but other times cautious, and this was my cautious phase. What if I found I needed to change something? If the book was live, I'd look like a dope going back and making changes. Then there was the paperback version, which was whole new territory for me. Did I mess up the formatting? As it turns out, I messed up the back cover, so a pre-order was definitely the right decision.

I also needed time to ponder marketing. Of course, here's where impulsive me made herself known. Initially I'd vowed to do no marketing at all, then I decided to utilize just a couple of sites. As of today, I'm up to 15, both paid and free promos. Three of them start tomorrow.

Now tomorrow is almost upon me.  

My expectations? Perhaps one sale; maybe none. After all, my novel isn't priced at ninety-nine cents. I'd already reduced it to $2.99 for promos, and that's as far as I was willing to go. "Experts" will say my pricing is ill-advised, but those same experts are always talking about book series and how one book in the series should be a loss leader, in order to drive sales up for the others. Great. I don't write series. This is my book. One book. It's unfathomable how I could even begin to turn it into a series.

Genres are funny that way. I'm well aware of which genres sell and which don't, and the popular ones scream series potential. Doesn't anyone write standalone novels anymore? I love watching instructional videos, where I finally stumble across a new piece of advice, only to have the instructor add the caveat, "This only applies to series." Oh. Never mind. The fact is, these people don't know how to promote a standalone book. Does anyone?

I've placed myself at a disadvantage in so many ways:

1. Wrong genre

2. Wasting time on novellas

3. Writing a standalone novel

I've yet to accept the fact that I'm writing for me. It's a weird thing about writing ~ it's often a lot of fun, and I'm so proud of myself when I write a passage or come up with an idea that really shines. That's around the time I start thinking, people will really like this! Then that thought stays in my head and drives me forward. I become determined to make something of the story. I picture my make-believe fans immersing themselves in the book. "They'll really like this part!" 

It's silly and delusional. And I can't seem to get that into my thick skull.

So, am I excited for tomorrow? I can't even tell myself that I'm testing promo sites to see which ones work, because there won't be a "next" book to promote. Fortuitously, I didn't spend more money than I could afford to lose ~ I'm not a complete imbecile. But I had to at least try. My novel deserves trying. 

As times goes on, I'll eventually reduce my price to ninety-nine cents, just because. Because there are a few discount sites I haven't tried, and it'll give me something to do while I'm busy not writing.

I'll post my promo results, which may consist of all zeroes, but another self-published author might come across that post and glean something from it.  

Until tomorrow...