Time to ADVERTISE

I've been holding off on advertising. Well, I've advertised to my family and friends, but not really to the general public as of yet. I felt that I should have both of the novels I just released completely ready to go before I advertised. I thought people would be disappointed if they came to my website and found that one of my books was available in paperback, but not in ebook as of yet. I figured they'd shrug and forget about me and never come back.

Then, as I studied the marketing strategies on smashwords, I discovered I was wrong.

One more thing among many.

Learn from my mistakes!

Smashwords exec, Mark Coker, says if you have already published, and are just now marketing . . . you are behind the power curve. Coker says you should build up pre-launch buzz about your book.

Oops.

Now the challenge is before me. If I don't advertise, I won't sell a single copy of my books.

So, it's time to advertise. It's time to see if anyone likes my books. Is it scary? You bet. My husband says I'm a nutcase. He says I'm moaning one minute about no one buying my books. But, then when someone does purchase a book, all I do is lament, wondering if they'll LIKE my book or not. I can't win. This business of self-publishing is a bit nerve wracking.

Yesterday I published Sierra to smashwords and kindle. I had to peruse my manuscript about five times as I checked to make sure it was correct in all of the different formats. It was tedious work. But, through the process--as I got lost in my manuscript a few more times--I remembered why I was doing all of this. I LOVE my stories. They make me happy. I loved writing them and I love re-reading them.

In the end, that's all that really matters. And I can't lose sight of that.

But it sure would be nice to sell a few copies too!