The plod
I am realising that selling my books becomes the plod. Plodding along, taking opportunities as they present themselves. There is no magic, wahoo, though I am hoping the work I am putting in is slowly gathering momentum.
I have booked again at the Whangarei Mind, Body, Spirit event next weekend, and for the first time, at the Taipa Christmas market at the end of the month. While the Taipa market won’t exactly be my target audience, who knows who someone might be buying a Christmas present for.
My third book, Ty’s Roller Coaster Ride, a children’s story, is currently at the printers. It would be awesome if this was ready in time for the Taipa market as I am sure a children’s book would appeal to a wider range of people than my spiritual books - perhaps grandparents buying for their grandchildren or parents, for their own kids.
There is always that feeling of anticipation that comes with a book at the printers. How will it look? How will it appeal to readers? Will this be the one that will make my fortune? At least this time around, I won’t be hiding the book away as I did with Who Is Me? such were my fears of exposing my spiritual side at that time.
A friend was asked recently what her marketing strategy was for her book and she said she had none. I would have given the same reply at one time. After my first book, I realised the difficulty of procuring sales. I thought a traditional publisher would be a better bet the next time, until someone told me that one still has to do much of the marketing themselves. So, I decided to self publish again for my second. I still have so much to learn on the selling front and I know there are heaps of avenues that I haven’t even explored yet. But I do know that the plod does work, putting in appearances here and there, the odd sales here and there. Put them together and they do mount up.
I took the same approach when I started my massage business. I would sit all day on the New Plymouth Coastal Walkway with my massage chair, sometimes, only seeing one or two people. That could mean only $5 or $10 dollars for my efforts. But it didn’t take long before these people were coming back to my clinic and their friends too. I was so busy by the second year that I had to give up the Walkway completely. The plod strategy had worked well there.
This will be my second appearance at the Whangarei Spirit event, the first one being in May this year. I wonder whether the readers amongst the visitors, will have already bought the books with fewer people wanting to buy them. However, I won’t know until I try. If the lesser sales prove to be correct, I needn’t go again, but at least I will be satisfied that I have given it a go.
My first peek at my children’s story shouldn’t be far away. The book was put on the couriers on Wednesday evening. How long does it take NZ Post to get a parcel from Wellington to Northland? I guess we do need to add an extra day for RD delivery but I am hoping to see it either today or tomorrow. Exciting. And so the next plod will begin.