Marketing and Writing and Bears, Oh My!

No, this blog post has nothing to do with bears. Although, perhaps that may be an interesting subject to touch base on . . . bears. I'm actually deathly afraid of them, fun fact. Not quite sure why, for the only bears I've ever seen were stuffed in a museum or far away at a zoo, but the thought of running into one in the wild gives me the massive shakes.

Anyways, it's been a few months since I've made a blog post, and in those months, life has been a bit of a whirlwind. My husband and I relocated from Arizona to Alabama, courtesy of his new job (which he LOVES, by the way!) and we drove cross country in a U-Haul with his Jeep on the back of the trailer. We took the "northern" route and went through central/northern Arizona, Albuquerque NM, Oklahoma City, Amarillo TX, Little Rock AR, and eventually, our new home. Huntsville, Alabama.

Between unpacking and settling in, I've been oober busy with my next novel, "Yellow", which is co-authored by the lovely and talented Cheyenne Jo, otherwise known as: My Best Freakin' Friend. Within six months, we managed to consecutively write an astounding 80,000+ words, and together, we created a world, a universe. We told the tale of Juniper Holt and Jace Adams, two nearly-thirty year old's on a journey to safety in the post-apocalyptic world. Straying away from my usual genre, thrillers & psychology, I've entered the realm of dystopia. Quite frankly, I've never been so excited!

But between the process of writing and re-writing and editing and proof-reading and MORE editing, I've lost base with my debut novel, "Catatonic", which was released only seven months ago. Social media has been my strong suit, responsible for an astounding 80% of my sales, and I've realized that once I stop advertising, my sales start to plummet. Surely, this is normal, considering most of my followers have either already snagged their own copy, or they're just not interested. Either alternative is okay, but I find myself thinking of ways to market my book even while I'm working on another. After all, even after "Yellow" hits the market, "Catatonic" won't just disappear, and it won't be forgotten about. So, how to plan on juggling the two?

Writing and marketing tends to go hand-in-hand. What I've created is a form of art, a beautiful book, (my beautiful baby!!!), and artists must get paid. After all, they don't call us "starving artists" for nothing, now, do they? (Don't worry, I'm fed. Sort of.)

The primary goal is to recognize my audience. Right now, mine seems to be a little all over the place. I've sold copies of "Catatonic" to teens, and I've sold copies to people in their 70s. I know, crazy age gap, right!? Anyways, this makes things a little difficult for me, because I'm unable to pinpoint exactly what age range is interested in my particular style of writing. It appears that those in their early twenties and early thirties seem to enjoy the story most, (based off of reviews), so I'll go with that. Anyways, by acquiring a target audience, it makes marketing just a tad-bit easier. I may seem repetitive when I constantly advertise, but my goal is to reach my target audience in any way that I can. Besides, you never know who will be on the prowl for their next favorite read, one day.

I guess the point of this incessant rambling is that regardless of your numbers, regardless of your sales, never quit marketing. Someone is always waiting to find a new book to read, and even if you're busy working on your next big break, take a step aside to focus on the reason that people even know your name in the first place. Who knows, that one tweet or facebook post could reach someone super special, someone who could recommend your story to their friends and spread your name like wildfire.

The beauty of marketing and social media is that you never know who you're going to meet. Who you're going to inspire. Who you're going to influence.

Never stop marketing, and never stop writing. Besides, the two seem to go together pretty well. After all, every piece I've ever written seems to be stuck to me like glue---etched into my skin, like an abundance of invisible tattoos.

(Wouldn't that be read as all hell?)

Anyways, keep reading, my friends. There's no better way to broaden your imagination and escape reality, even just for a little while.