On small steps

I once envisioned that embarking on the journey to publish my novel would be the hardest thing I would do as an author.

In many ways, I was right, and in many ways, I was misguided.

As an author I expect things like the agony of pouring over my manuscript and looking for any little line or continuity error. I expect to think, at my must frazzled moments, that the story sucks. I expect to think that this is all a pipe dream. What I didn't anticipate, however, was the difficulty that would come after all the of the agony.

There was, in my mind, supposed to be a sweet period of relief where any time someone asked me what I'd done in the last six months, I could tell them with a smile: I've written a book. It's published. Let me oh so kindly direct you to my website.

However, that was not the case.

I have had those conversations, yes. Some have even visited the website and gone on to (inexplicably) buy the book, too. Though that isn't where the bulk of the work happened to lie.

I once tweeted to my followers on Twitter to, "Be your own agent." Because like an agent, you only get paid when you as the artist make a sale. You have to advocate for your work. You have to find avenues to work your way into so that you can share your art where you can. Sometimes, when you don't immediately have those avenues, you have to create them.

I retweeted, not long ago, an article on common marketing mistakes by authors and while I was in some form of denial that I could never make such amateurish mistakes, I find myself sliding from that superior thinking into the pitfall of any numbered bullet on the list. There is only one thing you need to know about marketing as an author. One thing you need to make stone number one and build on: it never stops.

You don't plop your book into the catalogue of the world, announce it's there, dust off your hands, and get back to work writing.

Marketing is a process. It is a journey that extends through the existence of the life of your book. From day one it's your baby and you have to take care of it. So. My advice? Take small steps.

Yesterday, I tweeted to my followers something that resonated deeply with me. "Make small goals that serve larger ones. You don't eat a whole plate at once; you chew it in bites." Just as you chew a meal in bites and are nourished, you have to market in small steps to sustain the life of your project.

It is never too late and it is never pointless.

You have to believe in yourself in order to make those steps happen but don't be fooled by the disappearing vantage point of the path ahead. It is a long one. If you take the steps as an invitation instead of a challenge, you will be rewarded.

I hope to continue that journey. I stopped and sat down for a while.

Then I got back up.

Grey