Book Marketing and Promotional Strategies Still on the Brain!

Book marketing and trying to figure out the best promotional strategies to use was starting to get the best of me.   By the summer of 2016, I once again found myself at pretty much a dead stop when it came to promoting and marketing my latest title:  Shut Up and Write.  The publication was only released in April 2016, but it didn’t take long for the discouragement to set in.  Why?  Because I carried out what I felt was a very extensive marketing and promotion plan.  I even did pre-release marketing as early as a month in advance.  But regardless of what I DID, I clearly didn’t do enough.  I’ve had to stop and take long hard look (again) at what the problem or problems could be.  I seem to repeat the same bad patterns following each title that I manage to complete and publish. 

Good is Not Enough

There is now no doubt in my mind that in spite of all my previous “good” efforts relating to self-publication and authorship, good is just not enough.  The digital products I’ve turned out are good, but there are tons and tons of just good writing online.  I discovered this fact when I started rounding up Smashwords books to display on my www.DoItYourselfBooks.info website.  Smashwords has always proved to be a good source for earning book commissions when I refer books by other authors.  My current catalogue of do-it-yourself (DIY) and self-help titles is beginning to be very impressive.  Just like my own publications, there are a lot of good titles, covering a number of categories.  The information you find there is practical and very useful.  But similar to my own books, most of the titles are relatively unknown, as well as the authors of those titles. 

I can’t speak for these other authors, as to whether or not they employ professional marketing help.  I can however, honestly admit that I personally haven’t done much at all in the way of obtaining professional marketing help.  When I came to this particular realization recently, I had to dig deep and ask myself why I haven’t bothered to get professional help with my books.  The answer I gave myself was actually startling, even to me.  Notice what I had to say about it by reading a post from my Self-published Blog.      

Book Marketing and Promotion Strategies Continue to Be a Challenge

If you take the time to check out the above post, you'll come across a link to some interesting and hopefully useful marketing news.  I plan to use the above DIY website, as well as both this blog and the Self-published blog to help provide free book marketing to newly published and existing authors.

Best is Better

Sometimes undergoing an honest self-evaluation can be a hard pill to swallow, but in most cases, it’s worth it.  When I think about the quality of work that I know I’m capable, I realize that it’s time for me to stop playing it safe, stop being lazy, and stop pulling my punches with my writing.  Good is simply good, but not good enough, not when best is better!  From now on, I need to be my best; I need to be better.