Today I’ve been thinking about publicity and wondering how much time other authors spend on this necessary evil.
It’s my least favorite part of being an author, but I understand the importance of getting my name out there, so people will discover my books and in turn, tell their friends about them so they might buy my books.
In recent weeks, I’ve gradually morphed my week into a situation where Wednesday is publicity day. I check through my various sites (Blogger, Twitter, Facebook etc.) and tweak the pages, add information and think about how best to advertise to the widest audience available. To that end, Wednesday has been completely taken over by this process – a situation which I both accept as necessary, and grumble about because it’s taking me away from what I really want to do – write and edit and produce new works.
I was sitting here today and wondering – what do other indie authors do to publicize their works? What other forums do they use? I have discovered one thing, throughout this odyssey – which is that many, many independent authors use a ‘blueprint’ which everybody else is using. Looking through many blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds – it seems like there is almost an ‘Ikea’ type feel to what people are doing – a repetitive nature to their advertising which I’m not entirely sure can be a good thing. I’m pretty certain to capture an audience, you need to find something new and unique, something which every other author isn’t doing.
Of course, that’s easier said than done. I’m not a publicity agent. This doesn’t come naturally to me. So what can I do, which is different to what everyone else is doing, which will capture an audience, interest them and get them to feel enthusiasm about buying my books?
I wish I had the magic answer. Unfortunately I don’t. But I guess, like everyone else, I will plug away, looking for the ‘right’ formula.
D.S. Williams 