promoting books – client k

How To Promote Yourself As A Helper

A book promoter reached out to me.
She told me
my covers were amazing
and asked what genres
I wrote in.

It was clearly
a mass reach out.
But the tactic
was extremely ineffective.

Because
if my covers truly were
amazing,
she shouldn’t need to ask
what genres
I wrote in.
That’s one of the goals
of a great cover.

And, as a book promoter,
she should know that.

Being a book promoter,
her job
is also to help a writer,
and decrease that writer’s workload.

Asking that writer questions
that could have been easily answered
by an Amazon search
isn’t decreasing that writer’s workload.
It is increasing it.

If your business seeks to help clients,
ensure your marketing helps them.
Or, at the very minimum,
doesn’t increase their workload.

Craft Your Own D@mn Promotional Posts

I posted on social media
that, when I’m seeking to share news
about a writer’s works,
I share their pinned post first.

A writer commented
and said her promo was
in her profile.
Would I promote that?

F*ck no.
If a person is too lazy
to craft a post for me to share,
I’m not sharing sh*t for them.

Good promo posts
take time to craft.

I ain’t doing all that work
for random writers.
Or even for best friends.

If you want people
to share your promotional material,
get off your a$$
and create the f*ckin’ promotional materials
(or pay someone to create it
for you).

Don’t expect unpaid people
to put in work
to promote your products/services.

I can’t believe
this has to be said.
But I guess it does.

This might sound
like a great idea.
Outlaw promotion
and writers (business builders) will be forced
to talk about other things.

Except we’re f*ckin’ busy, Dave.
We don’t have time
to talk about random things
without, at least,
having the possibility
of selling our books
(selling our products).

If you want to attract
writers and other business builders,
you need to offer
something that will help us
sell our products or services.

We’re MUCH too busy
to socialize with complete strangers
for sh*ts and giggles.

Let us promote our products.

Trying Tactics Again

I signed up
for a book blast,
a promo
that sends news
about my book release
to bloggers
and social media folks.

I participated in some book blasts
years ago.
At that point,
my biggest issue was converting
eyeballs to sales.
A book blast doesn’t do that.
A book blast merely
promotes awareness of a book.

So I stopped participating in them.

Today, my biggest issue is
promoting awareness of my books.
I’ve figured out conversion.
Now, the more people see my books,
the more people buy my books.

So I’m trying book blasts again.

It is okay
to try previously unsuccessful marketing tactics
again,
especially if your goals, your challenges,
your products have changed.

You are different.
Your results might be different also.