I Need You!

I’ve discovered that there are two things you have to be in order to become a successful author. The first is you have to be a dreamer. You have to dream that the story you’re working on is the best in the world, that it will be snatched up by a big publishing house and go on to be at the top of the New York Bestsellers list. There has to be the dream of signing events, contests, prizes and general success. Dreaming is the easy part and I’m really good at it. I dream of getting someone like Scholastic or Penguin to pick up my book and say, “We have to have it!” I dream of winning the William Allen White award which I voted on as a kid and have wanted since I voted. I dream of seeing shelves of books with my name emblazoned on the covers. I could continue on for quite a while, but I think you get the picture. If nothing else, I am a dreamer.

But there’s a second part to being a successful author and that’s the hard part: you have to be a salesman. And that is the one thing that I am NOT! It’s not just selling the books to readers; it’s the attempt to sell the book to publishers and agents and the crushing reply of “Sorry, we’re not interested.” Worse are the publishers which send no reply at all. Granted, those ones are good about warning you that if they’re not interested they won’t send a reply. But in some ways that’s even worse. The invariable message, though not intended, is, “You’re not even worth the stamp to say we’re not interested.”

This is where I need you, the reader. I have to be a salesman, something I’ve never been good at. Because if I want my books to be successful and to see my dreams become reality, I have to work for it. And yes, the writing part is work and a lot of it! But I also need to be my own salesman until such a time that a big publisher provides one for me. So, what I’m asking is for your help. On the Jessica L. Elliott fan page I will have two questions posted. One will be things that you would be willing to “share” through Facebook and Twitter. The second will be which social media you use and follow regularly enough that you can “share” things. If you don’t see a suggestion or media that you use often, please add it to the list so that I can get a feel for what will be my best marketing plan. Social media provides a great resource for sharing things and getting the word out there. But by myself I can’t hope to get very far. But if everyone liked my page and then shared it with their friends and a few of them liked it and shared, we can get somewhere! The more likes I can get the farther the word can spread. And the obvious spin is the more likes I get the more people are going to read the books and hopefully become fans themselves.

So, today if you will just take a moment to visit the Jessica L. Elliott fan page and answer those questions, I would really appreciate it. If you want to share this with your friends, that would also be a big help. Every post and every like is one more step towards reaching my dreams. Being my own salesman is hard, but if I know that I have a fleet of part-time salesmen helping me out, it will become that much easier. Thank you for reading my books, for enjoying my posts and for helping me spread the word!


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