You Bet My Novel Needs a Hook...And It's Got One

Thinking about my Ella Langley post from yesterday, I don't know why it never occurred to me to try to capitalize on Choosin' Texas's popularity.

Frankly, Running From Herself preceded all the Langley hoopla. My novel was published March 1, 2025, whereas Ella's hit wasn't even released until October of that year. Did she copy me? Was my book her inspiration? 😉She owes me for the piles of cash she's raked in, and while she's made millions of dollars, I'm stuck with $226.16. 

"...did you know she had to fight to record her breakthrough hit the way she wanted to?" (source)

Oh, really? What a coincidence that Leah Branch did the exact same thing. 

"She played cover gigs in Alabama bars on the weekends to make a little money and keep the dream alive." (source)

Okay, fine. Leah, too, played cover songs (in Midwest bars), only it wasn't just on the weekends, so who deserves fame more?

Leah doesn't have bangs, though. If only.

With all this evidence, I should be promoting the hell out of my novel while the iron is hot. Promoting by tying it into the hit song. If not this, then I got nothin'. 

But here's the deal: Promote how? I can't use her name in ad copy. That would be all kinds of violations, including legal. Social media posts? Those might work great, but no one reads my posts, especially on X, where I'm not even sure my posts aren't invisible. Facebook? LOL. Facebook is where authors like me go to die.

I asked Google if it was okay to @ Ella Langley, It said yes, with the caveat that I can't insinuate that she's endorsing the book. As if I would. I honestly would never @ her; that's far too presumptuous for someone like me. 

Bottom line, I'm too timid to even try. That's always been my marketing conundrum; I'm unable to brag on my books. It's one thing to buy a newsletter promo where there's just the cover image and a blurb. There, I'm not claiming my novel is anything special; I'm just putting it out there. Either it strikes someone's fancy or it doesn't. 

I hear ya, George.

The term, "shameless self-promotion" gets bandied about a lot. There must be authors who engage in it. Unfortunately, my tack would be "shameful self-promotion". (Hey, maybe I should use that--for sympathy!) 

I can console myself with the knowledge that putting myself out there and even targeting Langley fans wouldn't result in any sales anyway. So, I shouldn't stress about it; yet I do. I feel like I'm missing a rare opportunity.  

Maybe I'll try a test post sometime, even though it would never be seen. At least that would give me an out!