Coming from a heavily-religious background, I learned to not put myself forward. I would bend over backwards to avoid drawing attention to myself because I had to be humble. Pride, after all, is a sin.
So I took no pride in the things I did, or if I did take pride in them, it was quietly, so that no one knew. I got used to not getting a lot of attention for any other reason than that I'm a girl. But that's another story for another time.
I cannot count on that single thing to bring attention to myself. And not putting myself forward is the exact opposite of what I need to do to market myself. So how do I do it?
I find it difficult to talk about my stories. Even my husband doesn't know much about them aside from when I ask his advice on how the male gender would react in a certain situation, lol. So I have embarked on a "quest" to talk to someone about them as often as possible.
In this internet age, I find myself often doing this on Facebook or Twitter. Particularly on my Twitter account, which is @AmberSManuel, I find other authors reaching out to me in unique ways. One messaged me saying something along the lines of "I'd drink bleach to get you to look at my novel...don't make me do it!" While that is a very unique and attention-grabbing method, I feel it distracts from the story. For instance, in college, I had a class in Comp & Rhetoric. Almost immediately, I became intensely bored with the class, and only a handful of things stick out from it: 1) the professor ate a piece of chalk and 2) the cursing in literature paper I wrote.
Can you tell me what the second thing was without looking back up? If not, then you had the same reaction I did: I remember vividly where the professor stood, what he wore, and the disgusted expression on his face as he masticated the piece of chalk, but I have no clue what point he attempted to drive home with that tactic.
That being said, it certainly stuck out in my mind. Does it make me want to go back through my notes from the class and figure out what we were talking about? No. Did the author's "I'll drink bleach" tactic work? I'll admit that I checked out the link, but I didn't buy the book because it wasn't a genre I like.
So how do I grab a potential reader's attention and get them to my page and to actually purchase and read my novels? Well, I liked another Tweeter's method: start up a conversation in instant message. Ask a question to get the conversation going and then lead the conversation where I want it to go: like my page, buy my book, etc.
I tend towards shyness (another trait that I firmly believe is a product of my "humble beginnings") but it can't be harder than striking up a conversation with the person in line in front of me at the grocery store, right?
I'll get back to you on that once I learn more about this method from a personal point of view.
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