This has nothing to do with baseball or softball.

Major media companies don’t assign articles and such to freelance writers: they expect writers to suggest topics for articles. These suggestions are called pitches.

I generally avoid them, because I don’t usually know the publication or the business niche or the industry/field of interest well enough to suggest something original. That’s one of the downsides of being a generalist rather than a specialist in content writing.

However, I am gradually learning to do this, because that’s where the bigger recognition comes from and that’s where the money is. Anyone on the internet can promise “exposure,” and many sites do use exposure as a reason to offer paltry wages for content or even demand free contributions of content. However, many sites don’t have the dedicated readership that justifies free or nearly free contributions of content. Writers have bills to pay, too. We also like to eat.

My first big-name coup was an article published by Newsweek just a few weeks after my son died in January. It was a cathartic exercise, a heart-wrenching article of grief and anger. Some readers were moved sufficiently to contact me privately, all but one of them offering their condolences. That one bitter reader’s cruel commentary didn’t deserve to be read.

My second big-name coup will soon be published by Hearst Communications. It’s a lighter topic, a practical topic, not at all controversial. It’s about litter box filler.

You see, I’m a cat litter connoisseur, having had cats for over 30 years and currently living with seven cats. Yes, seven cats. Yes, I am the crazy cat lady and, no, I don’t care who calls me that. What’s even more impressive is that all seven cats share one–just one–litter box. That heavy use makes me an expert on which cat litter performs well and is both readily available and affordable.

Here’s the link: https://www.seattlepi.com/shopping/article/best-litter-for-multiple-cats-16087101.php. 

The two articles haven’t led to publishers seeking me out and begging me to write for them. (Hey, it could happen … some day.) But I count them as small successes, gaining me valuable practice and credibility that can be used to pitch other publishers and perhaps command higher fees.

In the meantime, I’ll continue what I’ve been doing. I’ll spend more time with Teddy (the pony), the dogs (Selina and Moose), and the cats. We have chickens again, too.

Book marketing is an arcane, occult, complicated endeavor the defies my understanding. I “get” some parts of it: blogging, tweets, blog swaps, book/author events, etc. I do some of it. I need help with all of it. Therefore, I’m in the market to hire a new book marketer.

First, let’s get this out of the way: I like the publicist I worked with for 4-1/2 years and have no complaints about her service. She did everything she promised and more. I understand that no publicist or marketing expert can guarantee sales. She did grow my Twitter following from nonexistent to a few thousand. She did grow my Facebook outreach. Her efforts increased visits to my website. She helped with placement on blogs and other author-shared promotional services. Between COVID-19 and dismal book sales, I discontinued her service; however, I have and continue to refer her to other authors whom she might benefit.

So, what am I looking for? Here’s a quick list:

• Marketing strategy. I need someone to help me analyze the market and audience and figure out the best venues for reaching them and how to reach them. Show me what needs to be done and when and probably how.
• Social media outreach. Put simply, I am not particularly versant with social media, nor do I want to be. I need someone who will take this over for me.
• Advertising expertise. I need someone who understands and and knows how to create and execute effective advertisement campaigns on Amazon, Facebook, and elsewhere. This will include helping with determining the best keywords for searches, how to get the “extra” categories on Amazon, and so forth.
• Connections. This requires a marketing expert who knows the right people in publishing and in the media, someone who can help place my book with bloggers–and maybe even celebrities–and persuade them to promote my book. Simply blasting a tweet or other message to a disinterested distribution list doesn’t do any good and may do harm, as such tactics come across as “spammy.” People who don’t read the genre in which I write don’t want to receive book promotions for my books. A good marketer knows this and has the right connections.
• Website expertise. This effort needs someone who will review my website, analyze it, and help me with revamping it to be more effective. That may or may not require someone who can get into the back-end programming and manipulate the code.
• Long-term. I need someone who isn’t thinking of a finite book marketing promotion to last a few weeks or just a few months. I’m looking to establish an ongoing, long-term relationship, because I realize that marketing is not a quick or one-time effort: it’s a long haul that requires sustained effort.
• Affordable rates. Yes, that’s where the rubber meets the road. The definition of “affordable” varies for everyone and I’m certainly not looking for the lowest-bid provider. I don’t want a low-bid provider, but a professional who knows his or her stuff and doesn’t charge A-list movie star rates that exceed the value of the service provided … and this is a valuable service crucial for any author. After all, if the goal is to generate book sales for which royalties will at least help me break even on marketing fees, then any marketer who succeeds in that will have my continued business.

I’ll continue to supplement the marketer’s work as I’ve always done. I’ll seek out podcast interviews and schedule them. I’ll seek out in-person author/book events, register, and participate in them. I’ll seek out blog tours that work with my genre. I’ll continue posting in this blog.

If you’re a book marketer or know of one who can help with the above tasks, please contact me at henhousepublishing@gmail.com. 

Marketing is not my forte. That’s an understatement.

Like every author, I want my books to sell. Every single one of us dreams of hitting bestseller lists. Repeatedly. The reality is that most won’t and I certainly haven’t.

The reality of indie publishing is that an author uploads his or her book along to compete with thousands of other books uploaded that same day, more than a million uploaded in the previous 12 months, and tens of millions available earlier than that. The ocean gets wider and deeper, so the indie author’s one book is but an insignificant drop.

That’s where marketing comes in. It makes a book and/or author stand out from the overwhelming competition. Marketing strategy analyzes the audience and the market and finds them, then employs tactics to get their attention and build demand for that product–the book. Demand then converts, one hopes, to sales.

My basic understanding of marketing doesn’t translate into skill or inclination. I salute those who find the challenge exciting and who excel at it. Me? I’d rather muck stalls than devote my time and energy to marketing.

Because I know my limits and understand the hard necessity of earning a living, I hired a social media marketing consultant in 2016. I have no complaints about the service I received. She did everything–and more–that she promised. Unfortunately, book sales did not increase. They plummeted. My goal of generating sufficient book sales to pay for her service was never realized. When business took a steep downturn in 2020 (thanks, Covid-19), I could no longer afford that service.

Since then, I have maintained some of the marketing effort, such as blogging. I generally post a blog once a week here on this website and on LinkedIn. I also post every weekday on LinkedIn. I’ve used virtual book tour services, blog swaps, Facebook advertising, Amazon sales promotions, Amazon advertising, and other venues to build awareness and, I hoped, demand for my books.

Nothing seems to work.

Is it the sub-genre? Perhaps my writing stinks. Or maybe we’ve not done a good enough job at targeting the right audience and engaging in the right marketing tactics.

I truly believe that my work is good. After all, I’ve built a freelance career on it. People hire me to write (and edit) for them. The few reviews that my books have acquired are generally positive. To add insult to injury, I’ve read bestselling books by bestselling authors that were rife with copy editing errors and poorly written. These books have dozens, if not hundreds, of reviews, most of the glowing.

What am I doing wrong?

I need a marketing guru to take me on, to handle the marketing for me. I not only want to be a published author, I want to be a bestselling author. I want to actually make money from book sales. Yes, when it comes to authorial dreams, I want it all.

Who’s game for that challenge?