When I think about all the marketing I’ve done for Unbeweavable (pre-order now!), I get dizzy. So much goes on behind the scenes that you guys don’t even get to see—until the book comes out. And the sad thing is, it’s hard to say what works and what doesn’t. As a hairstylist, my hair is a sign of my work. I rarely left the house without having my hair styled—I had business cards to pass out, doggone it! It’s pretty hard to do this as a writer. Imagine, me going up to someone and saying, “Excuse me ma’am, can I show you how to write a beautiful sentence describing the weather without using any adverbs? What do you mean no?” Yeah, pretty hard to do.
I’m so used to screaming from the rooftops, (or having my hair scream for me) “Hey, I do hair!” Now, I’m going around whispering, “Hey, do you like to read?” I’ve had to re-train my mind and work out different marketing strategies, seeing what’s worked (and what hasn’t) for me in the past, and seeing what works for other authors I admire.
Word-of-mouth is one of the targets that all authors are looking for. As a hairstylist, your hair is a symbol of how well you do hair. Get a few business cards printed, pass them out—and you’re on your way. If your work is good, then here come the referrals. With writing, it’s hard to figure out what generates word-of-mouth. I live in Houston, and for me, being a great hairstylist in Houston was enough. But as a writer, the word-of-mouth has to travel, across states–and for the fortunate ones–across countries.
And then there’s the budget. Most authors use most of their advance promoting their books. (Which is sort of like working at an office and having to provide your own pens, paper, computer…Not fair of course, but then what is?) Last go around with Six O’clock I spent ALL of my advance, (and then some) and I’m sorry to say that I didn’t see much results. If $5,000 gets you zero results, then what does, um, say $500 get you? Don’t get me wrong, I know I’m a newbie and have to develop my readers, but in what business model does the creative department also have control of the marketing department?
I guess what I have to say is, I love to write. I loved doing hair too, and the way to market myself and get more clients was to do what I loved—hair. It all went hand in hand. Now, I spend a year or more writing a book, and to market it I don’t use my writing talent, I use marketing skills that are sorely underdeveloped. I’m doing a few things differently with Unbeweavable, but only time will tell if it works out. Did I mention that you can pre-order now?
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