Okay, so I didn't get around to doing sneak peeks last week, or question of the week. I have been overwhelmed with everyday life. If you don't know it already, I have five children: 17, 16, 14, 12, and 4. Teenagers make me want to run away from home, and my four year old makes me want to shoot the television (I can't take another rerun of Good Luck Charlie, ICarly, or Shake It Up). I also work over nights, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and I am in an externship Tuesday through Thursday. I also have a husband, aging grandparents, and a host of other willfully mentally unstable family members, a house to clean, shopping to do, and countless other things you're already bored with.
What is your point, you are asking? I am self-published. While I have good friends help me with editing, and passing the word on about my book, for the most part, getting others to recognize the fact that I wrote and published a book, and that the book is pretty decent, falls primarily on my tired shoulders. I'm learning as I go along, even though I've read helpful information on the blogs of other well-known authors and some that are not so well-known. I spend hours googling ways to advertise my book without giving up my first born. I don't have the resources to run ads in magazines, newspapers, Facebook, etc. Sometimes I get lucky and find free ads, that may reach a few people, but overall, it costs money, and time, both of which I happen to be short on. I have business cards with the title of my book on it, along with where to find it, and how to reach me. I did run a weekend Facebook ad, but I could only afford so many clicks a day.
Many authors suggest blogging, tweeting, and other types of social networking to get noticed. Not to be the cup half empty person, but yeah, the cup is half empty. Blogging doesn't mean jack if no one is reading it. How many followers do I have? One, and I had to make the page for her! Could others be reading and not be a follower? Very possible! Honestly, I understand. It's a pain in the neck to make a page. Could people be reading my tweets and not following or retweeting (not that I say anything retweet worthy)? Possibly. Is it also possible that people are looking at the description of my book and just on the fence because I'm new and the book is $4.99 plus tax? Possibly! Anything is possible!
Did I lose you again? Back to my point...My primary source for getting the word out about my book, or making people interested, is through this blog, my twitter, and my facebook page (which gets on my last nerve). I can't hand my social networking responsibilities over to anyone else, because it's supposed to be about me, who I am, what I am about, and in extension, I suppose, what kind of book the reader will be cracking open. I am failing a little bit at this, because I don't blog everyday. I don't tweet everyday, and I don't even remember my Facebook password right now. I don't discuss my book all day and everyday to people I encounter. It's not that I'm not passionate about my writing, or the fact that I have a book out there. I am, and I think about it CONSTANTLY. As I mentioned before, I am overwhelmed with life. Sometimes my kids come before the blog I need to post. Sometimes I have to listen to my 80 year old grandmother tell me the same story she told me the day before instead of tweeting about the woman I just saw on the street with a camel toe. Sometimes I have to remind myself that my marriage is probably more significant than the corrections I have to make on my book or the other few books I am currently writing.
The truth is, I often feel like I am blogging, tweeting, and FBing to myself, and that no one is really paying attention. It doesn't get me down, it is what it is. No one knows who the heck I am (yet). However, when I miss a blog, or go days without tweeting, I think "Well, it's okay, because no one is really missing it anyway." So, there. That's why I didn't do my sneak peeks or my question of the week. I'll do them tonight, for sure, after a funeral that will prove to be very interesting...Tell you later....
If you ARE paying attention, I apologize for slacking and I will get better.
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