Everything about being a book writer screams, “Don’t do it!” From actually telling a story worth reading to getting readers to pick it up, the journey has challenges every step of the way when you’re independent.
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Imagine standing in the middle of New York City jumping up and down while waving your hands. You’d think someone would notice you if not everyone around you. Now imagine everyone on the same sidewalk jumping up and down while waving their hands at the same time. How do you get readers to pick your book out of all the other books?
A new book writer will think that writing the last page is where the job ends. Funny notion! No, my friend. That’s where the tough part of the job begins. If you were born to be a writer, telling the story was the fun part. Now, it’s time to get out there on the sidewalk and jump up and down. Don’t forget to wave your hands while you scream as loud as you can.
There are some rewards to the next step actually. If you make it fun for yourself, you can have a good time getting ignored by all the readers who are looking in the direction of Stephen King and Margaret Atwood. In fact, YouTube is the perfect example because that’s a place where you can get creative.
If anyone who is anyone out there teaching new writers how to market their books online, they’ve mentioned the Book Trailer. That is important. For me, there was a learning curve and by that I mean, I had to learn about making a book trailer in the first place. There is no video for A River in the Ocean. I looked. It was that long ago that I had to remind myself that I didn’t know anything about doing that back then.
So, I created my first trailer when I wrote The Deeper Dark. I watched a tutorial and off I went on my own…
Here’s a test: Was it interesting? Do you get the gist of the book? Does it make you want to buy it?
Here are the answers: Obviously not!
It didn’t go spiraling through the Inter-verse. It was only viewed 13 times. But don’t let that bother you if that happens to you. That’s just an opportunity to do better next time and with the Internet, there is always another chance. So, I tried again…
A little more exciting and faster paced, it might be too fast-paced. Keeping up with the words can be difficult and the sexy lady blowing fire…it’s a nice visual. But it really doesn’t have anything to do with the book.
It reminds me of the old perfume or clothing brand commercials that had models posing and saying words, but nothing really connected. But hey, my new video doubled in viewership. I was on a role. In other words, I still didn’t know what I was doing.
With Joker Joker Deuce, I’m trying to take those notes and do so much better. It’s like I think I’ve actually learned something. But I’ve created several shorts and a few longer videos. I may have gone overboard with the mission. This is the one I think nails what the book is about in the most interesting way, especially the music accompaniment that sets the tone…
I think I’m going to write a few more articles about the journey of an independent book writer. The next installment might be about the consequences of pulling your hair out or finding a good mental health facility near you.
