I think I’ve lost sight of why I’m writing this blog, and why I decided to put Make a Move out myself. I wanted the blog to help people out – provide good information and suggestions/warnings for other writers looking to self publish – in the hope I’d be able to connect with people who shared my interests and goals. Thing is, I’m not that happy talking about myself – I’m not doing this to get famous – but that seems to be what I’m doing; I’m promoting myself as a product. That was never the plan. It’s also not much fun, and that was the whole point of starting this.
I love Make a Move; it’s an awesome book, and writing it pushed me to new levels of creativity and inspiration. It made me happy. I’m trying to sell copies of Make a Move, but I’m not marketing it, I’m marketing me. That probably explains why I’m not enjoying it as much as I thought I might; printing and typesetting and retailing aren’t fun; ideas and creativity and kick-ass dialogue are fun.
I need to dig words out of the book and get them into the wild. I need to find new ways to market the book using Freddy, Jay and Holly as my spokespersons. I need to play to my strengths and let my writing do the talking for me. I’ve already got some cool ideas…
I’m not giving up blogging about the process of self publishing; I’m getting some good traffic and I still feel I have a lot to offer those just starting out. I am, however, going to be looking into my writing more; I’m going to tone down the technology and focus on the ideas. After all – I want readers to enjoy the site as well as writers.
When I told my friends about this refocus, it confirmed my decision, as they immediately returned with topics they wanted me to discuss. I had three friends with me throughout the writing and editing, but more arrived after the book was done, and they want to learn more about the process that brought the book into being. I’m going to write five posts covering the subjects they asked about, and publish one a day next week (7th-11th June).
There. I’ve said it now, so I have to do it. It’s going to be a busy week.
Tags: Dialogue, Make a Move, Marketing, Retailers, Self-publishing