Friday

BLABBING ABOUT YOURSELF



As a published author, I can’t help feeling pretty darn proud of myself. I had a goal, I worked really hard non-stop, I never gave up, and I accomplished my goal of getting a children’s picture book published. However, getting the word out has been a difficult task.

I am probably one of the worst sales person you’ve ever seen. I’ve always said that if someone wants to buy your product, they will. But, if they don’t even know about it, how can they buy it?

The bottom line is, it might be difficult and make us want to puke our guts out with nervousness sometimes, but if we want to get the word out and sell our books, we have to blab about ourselves.

Everywhere we go we should be passing out business cards, bookmarks, whatever we can give to let people know we’ve written a book. And we can’t just do this for a couple of months or so. It has to be ongoing.

I’ve had months where I blabbed about myself and sold some books but then the months that I don’t blab to someone… I sell nothing.

In the words of Susan Sundwall from Writers Weekly:

“Anyone can do this. Whether you live in a huge city, a suburb, or small town all of the activities I've mentioned here are available to you in one form or another. Of course it's important to map out your plan in a computer file all nice and proper. And it's kind of silly to think you can include in that plan spontaneous blabbing, but do keep it in the back of your mind. Understand that wherever you go someone will be pleased to know you've written a book. It's well known that word of mouth sells more books than anything else. Why shouldn't that first mouth be yours?”

How about you? Have you blabbed about yourself today?

9 comments:

  1. Puke your guts out nerves, oh definitely. I'm that person. I have taken to carrying around my stickers and when the moment strikes, I hand them out. I hate talking to people, it scares me. But you are so right. I need to get better at this. Uck.

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    1. I'm right there with ya, Courtney. I need to get alot better at it!

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  2. You're right, Allyn. I'm not at the point where I have to "sell" my books yet, but when that time comes I know I'm going to have to suck it up and do it!

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    1. Katie,

      You'll be there before you know it. I'm rooting for you!

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  3. I think you can make your presence known without blabbing too much about yourself. At least that's what I strive for. ;)

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  4. Hello my writer friend. You are so correct. But I'm like you...it's hard to talk about ME. Of course if anyone brings it up, then they can't shut me up I know over time my sales have grown, but more importantly the people who have read my books enjoy the fiction but also feel the hope God gives us. with that I'm glad. That is my goal...to share God's love and hope. Anyway, I'm blessed you are my friend and you won't let me sit back too long. I'm going to go blog as soon as I catch up reading all of yours. You write with such wit and such entertainment. Go blab some more girl. And BTW I'm excited about book 4. I loved it the minute I read it. I knew a publisher would snatch it up quickly.

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    1. You hard to talk about? ha ha, just kidding! Thanks for all your kind words about my writing. And you are so right, you were put on this earth to write insirational fiction and inspire us all!

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  5. Certainly it does help to get the word out about yourself and your book. Although I am not at the point where I need to try to sell books, I am trying to get my name out there. I can understand your feelings and wish you much success!

    ~Jess
    http://thesecretdmsfilesoffairdaymorrow.blogspot.com/

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