Lone Wolf Marketing

A big challenge, and also a big opportunity, is that I must do all of the marketing work on my own. I have no contacts, no industry connections, no help. I only know two people with even peripheral expertise, so their answers, while sincere, are only somewhat helpful.

On the plus side, I'm driven, I research compulsively, and I'm willing to try anything. I have a very very little bit of discretional money still to use for postage or for a few more books. And I don't know enough to know my efforts won't work :-)

My best asset is this: This is the Lord's book, not mine. He is guiding my footsteps, and my only responsibility is to keep walking. I truly don't care if I sell two copies or two million, because it is all for the Lord's glory. I have and will continue to only give Him my best.

This has been a tough road for me to get to this point. A few years ago I was able to capture the interest of my first-choice agent, and he shopped my manuscript around the CBA. All I could think of was getting a contract, having a book, being a published author. For a number of reasons, things didn't work out. Then due to an unrelated problem I had to stop writing for awhile.

When I got back on my feet, I still didn't have the emotional energy to write, so I undertook an in-depth study of story structure, and learned some amazing things. Then, something else.

But now, finally, I'm back in the game. My CBA opportunities were shot for this book, so it's being published by a humble new independent publishing company -- this is the first book out of the gate -- and now, we'll see what happens. It's funny; I'm at the point I'd dreamed of a few years ago, but to me, while it's satisfying that I made it, I don't need this now. Go figure.

Today's entry isn't so much about nuts and bolts, but attitude. But really, this is the most important thing.