But Writers Hate to Market!
I hear the same thing at every writers conference, workshop, and write-in I attend.
Writers hate to market and don’t want to bother with building a brand.
Writers are introverts who want to be writing, not hocking their books.
Most complain about the time spent on social media and find it a distraction.
I get all that. But like Author Aaron Michael Ritchey says, “You gotta sell it like Amway.”
Yes you do, and here’s why:
- Publishing houses save their big marketing dollars for big names and sure things, never for first-time writers.
- Over 100,000 books are posted to Amazon every single month.
- If you don’t market, you don’t sell books.
- Mystery and romance genres sold more than $2B worth of books in 2018. People are reading but there’s a big competition.
- People visit libraries more often than they attend concerts and go to the movies- it’s the #1 activity outside the house in 2019.
- Readers want an experience, not just a product.
I get that writers hate to market their work, but I look at it like this: I hate being on video. But the video is not about me, it’s about the person on the other side. I’ve had to get over it and participate in someone else’s benefit. That put things in perspective for me. So, get to it. The world wants your story.