Marketing Tosh

Visit my static website here

In my pursuit of a million sales for my books, I’ve read quite a few other books about marketing and most of them are full of…it.

Today I downloaded one that says I know a hundred people (I don’t) and all I have to do is email them all a simple message saying that I’m writing a blog and will they sign up to follow me. They will all say yes. They all know a hundred people too and will joyously contact them about my blog and soon I will have millions of followers.

Er…no. I know some people but none of them are interested in my blog which is mostly about self-publishing because that’s what I’m doing. None of them want to follow me. None of them are SF or fantasy fans and none of them want to read my books. Therefore this entire brilliant marketing strategy falls down at step one. Millions of followers, I shall not have.

The writer advises against emailing strangers with spam and I agree with him there.

There’s another one about getting reviews which begins with the assumption that everyone you know – even vaguely – is gagging to review your book. They are not. The only people I’m in touch with in the SF community are fellow reviewers at SFcrowsnest.co.uk who have too many books to review already, same as me. I am a member of some local writing groups too. They want me to read their books. We’re all in the same boat. The internet is awash with people who have books out shouting for attention, including me. Ignore those other people! Read mine! Consarn Christmas and Other Stories is available at all good ebook retailers. So is The Brigstowe Dragons and so is Five Little Horrors which is ABSOLUTELY FREE.

I’ll be quiet now.