Once I have physical copies of “Her Ride or Die” in my hand, I’ll be able to get a photo of all six of my books at once. Until then, this one will have to suffice. It represents how I typically set up my tables at my readings and appearances where I also sell copies of my books.
Surprisingly, promoting and marketing my books and myself are things I really enjoy. I didn’t think it would be that way when I jumped into writing full time because I knew how difficult it would be, so I was dreading it, in fact. However, I’ve found it to be much easier to get appearances than I first feared it would be, and much more enjoyable.
Don’t get me wrong — it’s still very hard to get a “yes” from libraries and even harder to get one from a bookstore, but I just ask away and see what happens. More often than I’d imagined, I receive a “yes” to a request, and more and more often now, librarians and event coordinators are approaching me instead of the other way around.
That’s what I really like — when someone I hadn’t even thought of contacting reaches out to me to ask me to speak at an event. Those tend to be the best attended and the most lucrative, too, so I appreciate them even more.
I still have a very looooooonnnnggggg way to go in getting myself “known” as an author, but I’ve definitely made strides, and after watching this season’s “Big Brother” on CBS, I don’t feel even the tiniest bit bad when librarians and readers don’t want to take a chance on me because they’ve never heard of me — there was one houseguest on that show who had never heard of Emily Dickinson!!!!! Another doesn’t know who Kevin Costner is. What?! If one of the jewels of American literature isn’t known, and one of the best living American actors isn’t known, then little old me really isn’t going to be known by very many people at all.
But more and more often nowadays, I have moments where someone does reach out via email because they’ve “heard” of me, or someone stops me in person to ask how the writing is going, etc. Those are great moments. Magical moments, in fact.
No matter what I do, though, to try to sell myself, the very best way for me to become “known” and “read,” and maybe even someday actually make a living at what I love, is from word or mouth.
People tend to buy into me as an author if they hear about me from someone other than me.
So, if you ever feel like telling others about my books, please do so. You never know what it might lead to for me — a sale perhaps, a speaking engagement, an opportunity to appear at a great event, etc.
I’m actively lining up appearances to promote my 6th book. You can see what I’ve added so far on my website under the Readings and Appearances page. Here’s a link to my author page: author website
If you belong to a group who would like to listen to me talk about my writing life, let me know. If you’re active in a book club or with your library and would like to have me come talk to the group, let me know. I’m open to about anything, especially if I can promote and sell my books while I’m there. I do sell a few online via Amazon, but I sell most of my books at my appearances.
I will be having a launch party for “Her Ride or Die” on December 3rd at the Neligh Public Library at 2:00 p.m. If you can make it to Neligh that day, I’d love to see you. Wear Harley apparel if you have any!
I’d have the party sooner, but I’m off to Mexico on Sunday to see my friend. When I get back, it will almost be Thanksgiving, so I thought it best to wait until December — early December, though, to steer clear of Christmas. I’ll have all of my books available that day, though, so if you have readers on your Christmas list, I know what you could buy them!
See? Marketing myself and my books isn’t so hard. Doesn’t mean you’ll buy them, but I’m letting you know they are available through me or through Amazon. I do hope you’ll get a copy of at least one if you don’t already have one. Here’s a link to the Amazon page, too, to make it easy for you: Tammy's Amazon page
If you’re a paying subscriber, I’m including the next three chapters of “Her Ride or Die” for you below — the prologue and first two chapters were included in last week’s entry. If you’re a free subscriber, those chapters are beyond the paywall. You can opt to subscribe and gain access to things I share there as well as to the full archive of all my weekly posts.
Until next time.
Tammy Marshall
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