I try not to toot my own horn too much, but at the same time, let people know what it is I do . . . which is write books. I'm an author . . . with 14 published titles to date. Being an author, I always have to be on my marketing game, looking for and taking advantage of opportunities to increase my exposure and sales. That pretty much means tooting my own horn constantly but . . . (go back to the top of this post and start over).
Catch 22 right? Even so, I strive hard not to bombard people with constant self-promotion, and balance my blog posts and social network statuses with other stuff too. Maybe a point to ponder, something to generate a laugh, a promotion of someone else's work, or a post of complete and utter silliness. For an example - I posted yesterday:
If my name was Gretel, that witch would have been homeless (thoughts of a sugar addict).
One of the responses I got was:
[She'd be] sitting in the wood on a cardboard box holding fast to her last pack of Reese's Pieces.
That cracked me up for about an hour!
But back to my point . . . what I found is - when I take a break from saying "look at me and buy my stuff" and then return to it - someone always pops up and asks me something like:
- Are you an author?
- When does your first book come out
- Is this your first book?
- I just bought your first book. When does the next one come out?
- I didn't know you had that many books out! I thought (book number x) was your only one!
I saw your first book for sale in Citi Trends yesterday. I would have bought it but I already have your first book.
My response was:
Citi Trends??? (a fashion store for the younger generation)
Which book? (since I know my "first" book is currently out of print and pending its upcoming e-release).
Her response:
Your first one. It was $3.99
Hmmm . . . Now my first book - Promise You Won't Tell Nobody - is retail priced at $11.95 - not to say that a retailer didn't find a case of them somewhere and mark them all down. But since that title was self published, there's no way they could be at a store like Citi Trends and I don't know about it. This led me to believe that she was referencing one of my six traditionally published mass market titles, which are priced at $6.99 retail, and could very well be discounted at $3.99. That's what makes sense to me . . . except by the time my first mass market title came along - I was already published three times.
So what "first book" was she talking about?? I have no idea because she didn't respond when I asked for more information.
So today's lesson is - it doesn't matter how many books you publish, readers always think that the first one they purchase was your first. I'm not complaining though. First, last, whatever. I appreciate anyone who purchases my work and they are welcomed to chronicle them in the order of their choosing.
And I guess I will be stopping by the two Citi Trends in my area to see which one of my first books they are selling . . . I am soooo excited about that! :-)
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