MARKETING OVERLOAD?

Things are bit crazy this week as I’m gearing up for Monday’s release of The Billionaire’s Matchmaker by Entangled Publishing.  I was barely finished with my latest manuscript when I started writing blogs, sending out review copies and issuing press releases.

Can I tell you that I really hate promotion?  Ironic, seeing as how I worked in public relations for two decades, but I seriously loathe all the marketing that needs to get done when a book comes out.  I miss the good old days when I could simply focus on storytelling.

I blame the Internet for this.  Along with the explosion of independent publishing.  Now that there are so many good authors and good books out there fighting for attention, a writer can’t simply sit back and write.  He or she has to sell themselves.  Which is fine – you want to be read, you need to tell people you exist.  But sometimes it feels like the promotion side outweighs the writing side.  I hate feeling that if I don’t push, push, push, my book won’t succeed.

Re-reading that paragraph, I realize it sounds really hypocritical.  Or maybe a better word is snobby.  As if I am above promotion.  Please don’t get me wrong.  I’m not.   What I am against is feeling like I have no choice.  I’m even more against that panicky feeling I get when I see other authors embracing marketing so effortlessly.    And so because I believe in my books – believe they are good stories that deserve to be read – I will push same as every author in the world.

Of course, all this rambling does lead to a question: at what point do readers get fed up with the marketing?  I’d love to know. Trust me, I really want to know.