The demon, Discouragement, has been visiting my house lately. Mostly this is due to me starting the preparations for self-publishing my next novella. I’m trying to assess whether my marketing efforts have made any difference. This can be depressing for most of us authors, and I’m no exception.
One of my resolutions for 2019 was to work harder on publicity. In particular, I’ve worked harder on my author newsletter. So many sources say that the newsletter is the goose laying golden eggs, and if I can bring that to life, I’ll sell tons of copies.
Studying up on this, I followed the format of asking a clever or gripping question, followed by my schedule of appearances, and finally a snippet from a featured book of mine. I’ve included subscription links in every e-mail and blog post, my author pages on Facebook, Amazon and Draft 2 Digital, and more.
The response has been… nearly nothing. As far as I can tell, I haven’t sold a copy of anything through it. Each monthly newsletter seems to result in another bounced e-mail. Likewise, my personal author page, which I update weekly, generates no sales that I can tell.
Hence, my demon, Discouragement, comes knocking.
That doesn’t mean I haven’t sold any copies. They trickle in. It seems like the best response I’ve been getting is from my blog and the connections I can forge with other writers. So maybe what Discouragement is telling me is that I have been trying the wrong things. If the monthly newsletter and author pages aren’t working for me, then I need to let go of them.
A good example of this is how much response we’ve had to the blog visit last Saturday by C. S. Boyack. Even if folks mostly came to cheer Craig on, they at least got a look at Wyrmflight, too. Rather than work hard on a newsletter nobody notices, maybe I’ll just blog and hang out with you, my virtual buddies.
But, Discouragement, you really can go away at any time.
Did you know I have an author newsletter? You can get it! I’ll even give you a free e-book for signing up. Just click here.
Wyrmflight 
Pulls up a stool – Most of what I try results in a trickle of sales. It takes time to build a fan base, and even after 13 books it’s still small, but loyal. Blogging has always been the heartbeat of my promotional efforts. Some of this is laziness. I freely admit that. I don’t want to maintain a newsletter. BookBub seems to have some promise as lesser competition with a newsletter. I sometimes do a paid promo that sporadically brings in results. Blog tours are tiring, but they’re also a ton of fun. If you need a place to promote, you’re welcome to come back anytime. There’s also the theory that a lot of trickles can make a river… if you have time for that.
I guess I felt like I wasn’t really trying. Now, I have been trying. If I decide to change tactics, it’s because of knowledge and not just assuming that a certain thing won’t work.
As a reader, I like authors’ blogs better than newsletters . . . I guess because of the comment section.
To me, a blog post seems more personable for that reason. The author is talking to me, and I can talk back. It feels more like a personal interaction whereas a newsletter feels more like an advertisement.