The Difficulties in Marketing a Book!

     In the movie "Field of Dreams," there was a phrase used that said, "If you build it they will come".  I bring this up because I always thought that if you write it, your readers will come, but that has not been the case for me.  Marketing a book is what I consider harder than actually writing a book. If you have yet to publish a book then I have to warn you about this. This is the reason I call this blog "The Struggling Indie Author" because this is where I am struggling the most and I want to be upfront about that.  I don't want you to think when you publish your first book that your readers will instantly come because the percentages are against you.

     I have studied marketing a book heavily and I have tried many of the tips and strategies for selling my books and I have had little to show for it.  I have even talked to other authors about this out on social media and many of them tell me the same thing in that it has been hard finding readers to read their books as well.  Yes, you can go out to youtube and find people who claim that they make over $10k on their books per month but I would be cautious of these individuals.  Don't get me wrong, I am sure some are making good money, but the percentages of them will tell you it didn't happen with just one book straight out of the gate.  I have heard many of them say that it took a lot of hits and misses before they finally found their audience of readers.

     Even the best selling authors who have been on the New York Times bestsellers list will tell you that it took time.  (Here is a video that I found on youtube where top authors give beginning writers advice about this).

     The one things that I have learned after self-publishing is that you can't be in writing for the monetary values of it.  You need to be into writing for the enjoyment of creating a story and just hoping that you'll be able to share it with someone else.  This is a career that takes a lot of patience and determination.  Writing is something that you have to be in for the long run or your chances of being successful probably won't happen.  (I found another video that discusses how bad do you want something).

     One of the things that has helped me is I created a list of things that I placed on my personal, author site called: "10 Things I Would Tell My Younger Writer Self Before I Ever Self-Published a Book".

Number 10 on this list is what I decided is the best tip I could give myself today so that I know I will continue to write everyday regards of whether I ever find my readers. (If you didn't read the above list, here is what I wrote to myself on #10).

10.)  And, if all else fails if you don't ever find your readers, then enjoy your own books, after all, you wrote them because you have a great passion for storytelling.

     I guess what I am telling you here is that after you publish your first book, if you find that your book isn't selling, don't panic, just keep writing.  Do it for the love of writing because like the saying goes do what you love and the money will follow.  If not, at least enjoy the journey of getting published and being able to hold your paperback book in your hand.  There is really something about doing this that makes all your hard work worth it.  You can take my word on this.

     So if you self-publish and don't see very many sells, if any,  just remember, keep writing.  The more you publish the better chances you will have one day in getting discovered.  But, most importantly, do it because you truly love it.  It's the reason I do it every day.  Good Luck.

     In my next blog article, I am going to discuss how to stay focused writing a book, especially when you find that your story seems to not be going anywhere and you are thinking about abandoning it.

     So stay tuned.