Shoveling Manure and Marketing.

The Marketing Game, AKA “Sales”

Artists are usually terrible at marketing; worse than terrible. There is no interest, no skill, and no ability. It is a strange foreign land best avoided. There are plagues there, and wars, terrible diseases and piles of manure.

I just finished a David Baldacci thriller, and in the acknowledgments section he thanked all the people who helped him get the book out. There were many editors, consultants, proof readers, and a few who he thanked because, “books don't sell themselves.”

Well, that's for sure, even for a known writer like him.

A writer who enters the market with his first novel must work hard to get his work noticed. But how? There is very little chance of getting a big publishing house to take you on, so it all has to be done by the poor writer who just wants to go to his corner and write. Some may delude themselves into thinking, “If I build it they will come.” Not likely.

So the writer is forced to learn to sell. It is a terrible situation. To the writer, selling is like learning to speak Chinese with a mouth full of Laffy Taffy, or maybe Ivory soap. It is a daunting task. It can strike paralyzing fear in the hearts of the artist who just wants to create. Someone else can do the other stuff. Please.

If the writer has a nice fat bank account, he can spend a fortune on publicity and promotional campaigns run by people who do those things. After a while, if his work is good, he might get noticed, and maybe even get a nice buzz going. But he will probably never recover all the money he spent, unless someone like Speilberg comes along and buys the movie rights.

There are hundreds of thousands of currently published books out there, maybe millions. That means there are just about as many authors who would dearly love to be noticed, and maybe sell a few or a lot of books. Me included. Readers mean appreciation and validation, and that is a great reward for the work. A little money is nice too, unless you need sales to pay the rent, and then it is a terrible and usually hopeless necessity.

After almost a month of being on Amazon my first novel ranks around 381,000 in sales in the Kindle store. Honestly, I don't know how many books are available, maybe 381,001 for all I know. But I have sold a few copies, twenty five or thirty, and I am very happy with that. I have not done any promotion at all, and maybe half are family and friends. So half are strangers! Yea!

Smashwords reports only a couple sales, but over 200 free downloads from the first week, so we will see how the free ones convert to an interest in the follow up novel. (Amy Allen: Superhero will be free on Smashwords this weekend 4-26 and 4-27, and you don't need a kindle or a tablet. There are several formats offered.)

So, I will move out of my warm and cozy writing corner and take the cold marketing plunge. I am going to run a couple ads in our paper, and try to get a book signing lined up at the local book store. The print copy will be available next week after I finish doing the final approval. I will put out a press release, and our little weekly will likely print it since it involves a local author. Those are my big plans. So stay tuned.

And if you are so inclined, you might want to review my books. Reviews help, and people read them.

Maybe I'll get a sign board and hang out with the sign wavers over by Costco! Fat chance. Can you see me dancing on a corner doing the Happy Dance, waving the cover of “Finding Amy” around? We can have a sign waver convention and barter. I'll buy your pizza if you buy my book! Or maybe I can do the homeless beggar on the street corner trick. I can make a cardboard sign saying: “Desperate writer and Viet Nam vet needs readers. Just a page helps. God Bless!”

But right now I am going to shovel manure. I am not being sarcastic or injecting a clever metaphor. I really am going to unload a truck full of dairy manure for my garden. And you thought I was talking trash about being a salesman, didn't you! Well, I thought about it, but the manure is real, and the stink is too. Sometimes we just have to dig in and shovel.

Huge Tent Gathering for Easter!

       Due to an amazing response to my writings, I will be signing autographs and selling my books at my house. I expect two or three of my family members to show up, so arrive early to avoid the crowd.
       I will be serving complimentary rhubarb stocks to chew on (the crop is huge!)and home made fizzy water. I have set up a grand pup tent to hold the crowd, so don't stay away due to weather.
       Free dog petting and chicken chasing will be provided, and if you are among the first to arrive, you will get a chance to weed my garden. It is an amazing opportunity to go green and help the writer who must miss weeding to do more writing. It is a duty after all. My fans demand it.
       This event is scheduled for Easter morning about 5AM. I must use this time to limit the uncontrollable crowds that are expected. I have to hire a group of off duty deputies to handle the parking, and my income from book sales will limit me to only five deputies. I hope they can handle it. But if you find the roads clogged, please persevere, and you will be rewarded handsomely.
       And Amy Allen, the star of my books, will make a surprise appearance. She will be in disguise though, so you need to look closely. She did not tell me what to look for, so I will be trying to find her too. Since you have read my books, you know how good she is at disguises. But if you find her, please do not ask her for money. She is building a new city after all, so needs it all. Besides, I already asked, and she turned me down. Bummer.

Can I do it?

Welcome to my new blog. It will be interesting (to me) to see if I can maintain a flow of worthy writing over a long term. It may be that I find it detracts from my novel writing and my painting. But it may add balance too, so we will see.

I recently published my first and second novels as ebooks on Amazon and Smashwords. I also have print versions published, but I need to check out the published drafts to make sure they are right side up and all that.

My goal here is to document the process of writing, publishing, and marketing. It is a tough nut to crack for an artist to move to the marketing side of things. Most of us can't do it, and don't, or at least don't do it very well. And it helps to be a political animal, and know where to lay down the strokes that count without compromising integrity. I don't even know if that is possible. Most artists have a keen sense of honesty in their work, and refuse to compromise or bow to public opinion. (They may cry over rejection, but they won't change!) Of course there are a lot of great artists who never sell anything, and there are terrible ones who sell for outrageous millions.

I will include the process of marketing and selling original art work. Similar problem, but different market, and it requires hands-on retail in the difficult arenas of galleries, shows, and street fairs.

I was thrilled to see that my first ebook submission to Amazon actually sold a few copies in the UK, Holland, and Canada as well as the USA. Not a lot, but for me, just starting out, it was fun! And I just got a notice that I sold through Smashwords too.

My Amazon Author page is https://www.amazon.com/author/timruggenberg and my Smashwords interview page is https://www.smashwords.com/interview/timrugg

Next thing I need is to have my friends and family read the books! Problem is they are busy with young families, work, and all the typical diversions of young adults finding their own space and time. Then it would be nice to see a few comments and ratings. But I won't get pushy. Many of my family and friends are readers, but their chosen interests are not exactly in line with my writing. My books are adventure, fantasy, thriller, combinations, perhaps most suited for young adults. But I don't even know for sure. I await comments to find out.

But right now I must leave. I have two loaves of sourdough bread ready to pop in the oven. And I just finished some vegan cookies for that part of the family's Easter celebration. My wife puts on a great egg hunt for kids and adults. Money eggs too! She raided my wallet yesterday.