Am I the only one who thinks that marketing is the most difficult, frustrating, and downright annoying part of writing that could possibly exist? (Somehow I doubt I am.) But whether that’s really true or not, marketing still needs to be done, and I’ve sworn for YEARS I was going to get better at it. *sigh* I haven’t. In fact, I’m so awful at it that I woke up today inspired to start a new series of posts where we can all share our thoughts on marketing and lots of other subjects from time to time. I’ve found this writing /blogging community to be among the most generous, supportive, and helpful group of folks I’ve ever met, so I’m hoping many of you will be willing to weigh in on all sorts of topics coming up in the weeks ahead.

With that in mind, here’s what I’m wondering today:

What is your favorite way to market your books?
Which paid forms of marketing have you had the most success with?
Are there any types of marketing writers should be avoiding?

I’ll start by saying I’ve never marketed my books anywhere other than  through blogging, and local sales. For several years, I sold quite a few books at every wildlife talk I gave and really enjoyed signing them after the talks. Trouble is, many in my audiences now have all of my books, so that market has been “saturated.” I need to branch out. (And to have this brain fog lift enough to enable me to finish my WIP, because I understand new books are a great way to sell OLD ones.)

NOTE: Jan Sikes has been running a series of very detailed posts on Story Empire, going into the pros and cons of various types of marketing.  It’s an excellent series, and you can check out the first post HERE. Thanks for reminding me of this series, Jan! LOTS of great info!

Now I’m going to turn the discussion over to you guys. Please feel free to share any marketing or promotional questions, ideas, and worries you might have. And we’d especially love to hear about some things that have worked … or NOT worked … for you. 

Thanks for joining the conversation!

LET’S TALK!