Marketing a Book on the Internet (When You're a Dummy).

I’m exhausted. All day, I’ve been doing something I’m not used to – marketing. Oh yes, I post an occasional ‘hey-remember-this-book’ type post on Facebook or Twitter, but today I’ve been all over, multiple times, posting photos, videos and links to bookshops. My friends will probably all unfriend me if I keep it up much longer.

The truth is, Famous Animals Volume 1 has been out for over a year now. The promising sales at its birth have petered to occasional sales at local markets. Those market sales are still gratifying, because I’m able to see who buys them and why (like the man who bought it for his friend’s 65^th birthday), but they’re not exactly rushing in to buy it. Amazon UK has reduced the price again, meaning it’s wanting to get rid of the three copies it has sitting on its ‘shelf’. So my marketing is partly to try and give it a kick.

Another reason is that I have Volume 2 (Musical Animals) almost ready and I want to try to get it published by a traditional publisher. I’ve had a number of other traditionally published authors, and booksellers, tell me that it would take off much better if I did. It might be easier to do that if they think people are interested.

The third reason is the recent release of a ‘Famous Animal Leaders’ Calendar on Redbubble. I’ll write more about that on here very soon.

There is another reason, but I’m not going to go into it right now. I’ll wait until I have seen, first-hand, a book that is about to be released. If you’re British, you’ve probably already seen the author being interviewed everywhere and can work out why my interest has been piqued (and my pride dented somewhat).

On the upside – today I learned how to boost a post on Facebook (I’m sure they’ll appreciate the HUGE amount of money I laid out. At least one of them will be able to get Macca’s for dinner.) I aimed it mainly at British Grannies. I'll get onto Australian ones next. I figure they're the ones who buy it most - for their grandchildren.

I’ve also posted a video to Twitter for the first time. Now all I need to do is work out how you do that on Instagram. Gee, I do wish sometimes that I was thirty years younger, so I understood all this stuff.