Women crawl all over me
I'm as smooth as a millionaire
Preacher always calls on me
I got a soothing way with a prayer
--Jeff Holmes/The Floating Men, "Long-winded Prayer"
A fortune teller in the French Quarter once told me that I would never make a good politician. "You're too honest, brother," he said.
He explained that in order to politick, you must be able to spin. In order to spin, you must be able to put yourself out in front of people, smile in their faces, and convince them to buy what you're selling without sounding like you're trying to convince them to buy what you're selling. I assume the same abilities are required for sales and marketing folks, who make a living convincing us consumers to plunk down money for things we don't really need and reasons we never entirely understand.
I'm not criticizing the practice. In fact, I'm rather envious. When I worked in newspaper, I sometimes made a point of expressing my appreciation to the sales and marketing folks for the jobs they do. Anyone who can beat the drum for the product day after day and not want to go home and crawl under the bed at night has my utmost, undying respect.
Last week, I finally released my time travel novelette Timecast (which I wrote about in my last post) to the world via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google eBooks, iTunes, and Goodreads. My confidence was boosted almost immediately when my first sale and first customer review appeared on Amazon.com. It was an unsolicited 5-star rave: "really enjoyable, well written, and nicely paced" the reviewer wrote. It was music to my ears.
That said, I can tell you that I'll never expect sales of Timecast to reach stellar heights. Not because of any fault with the story or its crafting. It's a unique short work of time travel fiction, if I do say so myself. The problem is that I'm an introvert, awkward at socializing in both real life and online. I can tweet about Timecast all I want, but unless I can sell you on it (establish it as something you want or need to read) you'll easily pass on it no matter how great I think it is.
What to do, then?
The only thing I can figure is that I need to find some way to play the extraverts' marketing game without creating undue stress and risk to my introverted nature. Although extraverts might think differently, introverts are most of the time quite happy being introverts. We are not broken extraverts. However, there are times such as these--when you're trying to market a book-- that being an introvert is darned inconvenient.
For now, I'm still figuring things out. Meanwhile, if you happen across this post, look me up on Twitter or Goodreads. Friend/follow/fan me and I'll friend/follow/fan you back if I can or should. Purchase a copy of Timecast for your favorite reading device (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iPhone/iPad, PC, Mac) and provide a review, if you're moved to do so. I'll do my best to support your work as well.
I know there are many of us introverted, reclusive storytellers out there struggling to be heard. And the only way we'll get heard is if we stick together and learn the promotional ropes because most of us will never, ever get a book deal that comes with successful marketing all gift-wrapped in a pretty box with a bow.
