The Hazy World of Marketing and the Peace of Surrender
From Know thy Heart
Savy authors, who I am not (yet), know that if you or your publisher do not know how to market your book, it will not sell to people who are not your friends. Your friends like you, and want to support you so when you say, “I published a book, here it is” often they buy it. It does not matter if the book is awesome or not, they buy it. That is love. Friend love.
It is especially nice when you find out that they liked it enough to go back to the store and buy copies for their friends and relatives. When that happens, gratitude follows, sincere gratitude that someone sees value in this little piece of yourself that you put on some pages and thrust into the world. Really, it feels great. But those sales only go on so long and have a limit.
Limit is not a word I like to use anymore, limitless has a much better ring to it, but I cannot apply that word to my friends' pocketbooks. So, I have taken a stab at marketing my book to the public. I've tried Amazon ads; I did not see results. I tried Facebook ads; I might have gotten one or two sales but the ad is disconnected from the sale so I am not sure. The thing is, if someone buys your book, even in the local bookstore, you do not know who it is or how they found out about your book, so it's hard to target future ads. I tried using influencers, I think that might have worked for a few sales, but I'm not sure. Marketing on the internet is hazy and disconnected. Trying to figure it out brings up some primordial longing to succeed that is complicated by disconnected market feedback or none at all. The experience can become very personal if you let it get under your skin. I bought some digital marketing advice. I sent off some emails to book stores and still no brick and mortar sales resulted.
And so, I surrendered. I stopped worrying about it. I stopped spending dough on ads. I stopped reading articles about marketing and listening to YouTube experts. I just stopped. No despair or worry about it, I just hit pause. I've got a day job that I love, so it is time to let this book sale obsession go. In this process over the summer, I received some awesome professional and customer reviews, the book is good by those standards, so I've carried out that much and maybe that's enough. I like the book. “Let it be” echos in my mind.
In the last couple of months, I've shifted my focus to mediation with my free time. It is competing with my book time, but that's okay, it feels right. The last time I seriously meditated was related to my relationships with grey-haired beings, two and four-legged beings. The meditation lasted a few weeks and then I forgot about it. The time before that my daughter was a baby and I stuck with it longer, but it was also related to finding peace in a challenging time so when things got better the meditation went out the window. This time, it is different. I'm meditating, not to solve a particular problem, but to embark on a path of discovery. I've got no agenda. I am a tourist in the cosmos. I am noticing that I'm a wee bit happier and quite a bit calmer. I can hold my tongue better at times and find the courage to speak at other times. I could do that before, but not as well and I lacked grace. I've got a better handle on something, I'm not sure what, but something.
With this change, I had fallen out of the habit of checking my revenue reports for my book for a few weeks. Until last week when I moseyed across the bookmarks bar on my screen and hit up my Ingram Spark account to see if anything was going on. Hey ho, there were some sales of my hardcovers after a lengthy dry spell. Coolio! This, of course, reignited my commitment to put in some effort to further push the needle in the right direction. I sent out a couple of more emails to bookstores, but my effort and focus were brief. I'm over it, I now have a take it or leave it kinda vibe going on with this book. I checked again today, and I've sold more books. I am selling books with no ads and little effort. WTH? I am knocking on wood as I type and thanking those lucky stars floating above my very still, chakra-loving, cosmic touristy, head and heart. For now, I will live in the belief that the peace of surrender is real.