How Much Marketing Should a New Writer Do?

Well, the answer to that question depends on who you are.

If you are a. Someone who's gone to the trouble of reading this article, and b. Inclined not to market any more than you have to? Then the answer is this:

A fucking shitload. Way, way more than you previously thought.

If you are a. A natural marketer, and b. Inclined to do everything you can to get your books the best start in the market. Well—you people aren't even reading this. I don't know why I'm talking to you. You're off on a marketing website and working on your blog tour and are too busy to be bothered wringing your hands over whether or not you should be pimping your work.

…I shall waste no more time on you. Y'all are doing fine…

*Turns evil eye to the rest of the class* *Points* See! See those people! They're doing the right thing.

If you're like me, you'd rather write than promote. You believe that of you "write a good book the readers will come." …Or "cum"… or both. You figure you'll write 5 or 10 books a year until you get a following because gosh darn it, you DO NOT WANT to have to whore yourself.

Or update your website with your newest and most flattering reviews.

Or, um… go around telling anyone about your books. Because…well, secretly you wonder if they're not all that good. I mean, if they were good, people would have noticed…um, that's what people say, right?

WRONG!

I say it again, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! Waiting around to be noticed is no way to run a career. Heck, it's no way to run a life! Can you imagine if you sat in your house, hoping someone gave you a job because you're so hardworking? How many job offers do you think you'd get?

People do not know things are good unless you tell them they are good.

So here are some things that you should do, if you're a new author like me.

1. Have a website and update it regularly. And by regularly, I mean about 10X as often as you think you should.

2. Do a blog tour. I have yet to do one, and I'm really sad about this. I'm planning my first blog tour for my newest release, LUST AFTER DEATH, this September. Yeah– I put it off as long as I could. This is my fifth single-title and my first blog tour. Shame on me.

Goddess Fish promotions runs a great blog tour package. So does The Bookish Snob. As do many others. They're not all that expensive, especially if you compare them to the price of a conference.

3. Every day before you start writing, find a new outlet to promote your work. Look at free advertising in places like AllRomance Ebooks, Whipped Cream, Smexy Books, Fresh Fiction. Offer to do guest blogs, interviews. Find great spots to place your free-reads, if that's your thing. Don't be scared or shy. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WRITE YOUR WORDS UNTIL YOU SEND ONE EMAIL ABOUT PROMO.

4. Between each book you write, pause for promo. That pause can be a week, two weeks, four weeks. But give yourself TIME. It's scary at first, not to get words on paper. But even if all you can do is write and place a free-read, DO IT.

5. Learn some rudimentary graphic design and make yourself a damn banner already! And some promo items, and maybe an ad or two. Facility with photoshop or GIMP will make this whole promo thing a lot less painful.

6. Don't get embarrassed. Do you think your books are good? If the answer is yes, then you're doing people a favor letting them know about your books. Take writing courses, hone your craft. But when push comes to shove it's fine to *tell people* about your product.

And again, and again. People need to be told a lot. More than you think.

For example, I've often felt like I promo way too much on Twitter, only to have a reader contact me on twitter asking, "Do you have any books out?"

0.o

As with most things, my advice is: Be a big, ol' whore. If you worry you're a slut, you're probably not. And when it comes to promo, most people are downright prudes.

Happy whoring!