Marketing Yourself is
just as important as Marketing your Work.
When I first decided
to go public with my work, I was
terrified. I was more afraid of no response than negative response….although I wouldn't want people hating me either. I had
to fight that lovely little voice in my brain that says: ‘You are not good enough.' ‘You are stupid.' ‘Who wants to read your drivel.'
That nasty, picky, negative, self-doubting
bastard, that never goes away. So I really wanted to put my work out and not
tell anyone.
Makes sense right!
Not at all. How are people supposed to know who I am and/or buy my work if they
don't know I am writing?
I one day decided
that my life was worth more than sitting around and getting wrinkly, and I took
the plunge. When I did, I was shocked and
elated by the outpouring of support from my friends and family. Most of them
didn't even know that I was a writer.
Whether they thought my work was top notch or not was beyond the point. Their
enthusiasm and joy for me was enough to bolster me into taking a next leap of
faith and hit the public eye.
This was the next
fearful step. Now I was open to unbiased
general public opinions, which we all know can be cruel. However, I have found that the writing
community are very supportive of each other. Even if something I write is
grammatically incorrect, there were
decent people out there that took the time to communicate with me privately and
say hey you have a problem. They assisted me in learning and changing. Now I
have new friends, an editor, and even a mentor. For those of you that do not
know me, I have only been doing the public forum
since Jan 2016.
The
point is that I have a few followers that read my work regularly, not because I
am an awesome author but because they have gotten know me and want to support
me, or give advice, or read my next little adventure. I return the favor as
well, I started leaving reviews, check out my Google+ page, of all the new
authors I have met. I support their work and help advertise it by sharing. So others may purchase their books too. The Indie marketplace is so vast nowadays, how would you
know where to begin - this is where!
So Marketing who you
are as a real person is very important. Don’t be shy, get out there and meet
people and join forces, like they say, “Two heads are better than one.” And I
sure do have more than two heads assisting me now. Although I don't have a lot published yet, I send out stories to magazines and contests. I am working on an Anthology
with fellow Indies. Which if you want to be a part of, the details are on my
Google+ page. My first Novel is in editing, so I am constantly writing and hopefully
improving.
Thank you to all my “followers/helpers”
without you, even this simple blog would not be.
Happy writing,
Theresa.
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