I started a new book today and probably shouldn't have. I finished Jungle Rules last week and the characters and storyline are slopping over to the new story. I need to give myself more time between books. The story line and action from Jungle Rules, are still very vivid in my mind, especially the last two chapters that are loaded with a lot of action and dialogue. The voices are still bouncing around inside my cabasa. The problem is that I need to write, I can't seem to stop. I spent time on face book and worked on my blog trying to make since of the marketing and selling side of our chosen field. I swear, I would rather knock out a couple of suspense-filled chapters than play nice on face book and come up with ways to entice readers to visit my website to make that all important sale. Years ago I took a sales course at UCLA. The entire semester could have been summed up with these four steps.
1. Make the appointment.
2.Sell the product.
3. Sell the price.
4 Ask for the order.
BINGO! Deal closed. Now that I think about my writing career, the same marketing principles apply. Just substitute the first step from "Making the appointment " to "Write the Novel", then follow through with the other three steps. Sounds easy, right? NOT! All kinds of factors jump in to keep one from success. In our industry it is supply verses demand. Too many of us after that Holy Grail, a number one best seller. Thank God for all the new electronic publishing and gizmo's coming out. It gives us a fighting chance against the system. Am I thinking about this right? Let me know what you think. Are we just little critters without a chance or are we lumps of coal turning into diamonds.
Thanks for the blog follow, Mike. Yeah it's a tough thing to figure on whether to sell yourself or make more of you to sell. Everything is so subjective that you can't just sit on one book, or two, or three (how many do you have?), etc. But there is a balance to work and promotion. I have no clue what it is; if you figure it out, please let me know.
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