The past couple of months have been pure madness. Not only have I been racing a deadline for submitting my third book to my publisher, I’ve been preparing for the launch of my second book (Crime Times Two) and a 99-cent flash sale of my first book (Crime and Paradise).
I’ve come to find out that writing is only one facet of an author’s life. The other world belongs to marketing and, boy, am I ever learning a lot. This summer, I launched my Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook pages. I’ve added to my web page, started a newsletter, and joined some new writers’ groups. I’ve networked with other authors represented by my publisher and joined forces on a couple of marketing events. My answer to every invitation to participate in a promotion has been “yes.” There are more and more and more. This is in addition to keeping to my writing schedule. No wonder I’m experiencing symptoms of marketing madness.
This was an area I feared and hated in equal measure a year ago. I am a writer not a promoter. But it’s true that you have to be both these days. If I don’t promote, I won’t sell books. If I don’t sell books, eventually my publisher will drop me. I could self-publish, of course, but that solves nothing. I still would need to promote and without a publisher, that road would be tougher. Sigh. This is a harsh reality.
So…fast-forward to the present. Folks, it’s tough but not as bad as I anticipated. Even though my life is crazy at the moment, I’m finding that marketing is sort of fun. I’ve met authors from around the world through this process and we’re all experiencing similar issues, whether they’ve done this for years, bestselling authors or new like me. At the end of the day, we’d rather spend our days writing and are scrambling to keep up with the latest wave of social media requirements.
For the next couple of weeks, I’m on a screaming-fast blog tour. Other authors are featuring my book and posting interviews about me. Lots of work and also lots of fun, it turns out.
Here’s are links to some of them:
https://www.jeanmgrant.com/visiting-authors/
https://janarichards.blogspot.com/2018/10/julie-howard-in-spotlight-newrelease.html
http://gretaboris.com/2018/10/11/crime-times-two/
http://roxannedhoward.com/new-release-julie-howards-crime-times-two/
http://www.tenastetler.com/interview-julie-howard-author-of-wild-crime-series/
http://rebecca-grace.blogspot.com
http://chriseboch.blogspot.com
There are a number of blogs I’ll be on in coming weeks before I take a break for the holidays. Two exciting upcoming events for me is my appearance on the popular Night Owl Romance chat on Oct. 29, and the Blood Sweat and Words Podcast on Dec. 4. These are big opportunities for me and I’m nervous, excited and grateful to participate. Here are links to these sites.
https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Chats#NextChat
https://www.bloodsweatandwords.com
My writing life has changed and I don’t think it’ll ever return to the days when all I do is write my books. This is part of the package I signed up for when I sought to be an author.
There’s far more to learn and 2019 will bring more changes and opportunities. What I know for sure is my desire to write books has only increased. I have just as much time to write as I did before this marketing madness descended on my life.
I can do this.
