Publishers in today's market simply cannot afford advertising budgets to sell their books. This applies to the big six national publishers as well as the multitude of small presses. Unless an author is a household name or the book reaches the best seller list, authors are stuck developing their own marketing plan. Recognizable authors don't have much difficulty with this. Unknowns must use every social media available to spread the word, and even then, without positive reviews from major writing publications, the marketing efforts seldom reach anyone beyond friends and family. 

I have failed miserably in the marketing of my novel OUTLAWS. Sales on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Musa Publishing have come to a screeching halt. I know it's my own fault but self-promotion and sales makes my stomach tighten. I tried selling aluminum siding when I was a young man and quickly learned that selling was not for me. Salesmanship revolves around the salesman selling themselves. I could never do it. Oh, I'll work a small ego plug into casual conversation once in a while but flagrant bragging or self-promotion simply hurts my insides.

Yet here I am with a published novel to sell and I sit on my duff hoping others will enjoy the story so much that they will tell others about it and word-of-mouth will spread like wildfire. You might guess that I'm a dreamer and not much of a doer. The truth is I feel guilty even doing this blog. My mind wanders, thinking that my fingers moving over this keyboard could be writing a story. Anything else is a frustrating waste of my limited time on Earth.

The novel is due to be released in print near the end of July and I will have to go to small book fairs and libraries for signings and to sell the books. A a chore I am not looking forward to. But since most of my friends say they still prefer a paper book over an e-book, I will do it. Mostly I'll sit behind a table with books on display and hope someone asks me about the novel.