I’ve had a bit of a writing lull recently, finding it hard to motivate myself, and one of the reasons is the relative lack of success (expecially in garnering reviews) from my latest novel, tEXt me. I genuinely think it’s the best I’ve released so far, and got me thinking about my (lack of) talent in pitching and marketing.
One area I reviewed for myself, and identified as a general problem, is that I’m not one ‘sort’ of writer. Going through my working files I’ve so far published several poetry collections, and three very different novels, dystopian, lit fic mystery and romcom, and an academic primer on the American civil war, but the works in progress are Sci Fi, Modern Fairy Tale, Urban Realism, Mythology, plus a non fiction on caring for someone with Dementia, local history, enough material for 2 short story collections, 3 illustrated children’s books, a pror graphic novel, half a play, half a screenplay. How the hell do you build an audience for such a diverse range of content? Really, I want to know!
I think I need to research more into how to market. I’ll be honest, having been through the very long-winded traditional publishing route and tried pitching for that (back in the mists of the last century), but I much prefer being able to write and publish what I want, and see the end of publication in sight. I don’t have an agent, which I know would help, but I think that is primarily for the trad publishing route (where they can make their money too), so how to build an audience. I don’t like bothering people with constant adverts (which annoy me), and which don’t seem to help with sales much. I’d rather let the works speak for themselves, but to do that you need a critical mass, usually reviews, to get going. That’s where I’m really struggling.
These are just my musings, I don’t have a solution yet!
Stay safe,
Kit