THE MYSTERY OF PROMOTION

I knew that promoting this book was going to be a giant task, which is increasingly the author's job in this competitive market. It used to be that authors who were privileged enough to snare a publisher could relax after publication and let the publisher take over in getting the word and book out into the market. Those days are over. Anyone can write a book and publishers are only going to invest time and money in well-known authors. The unknowns are in charge of getting known. So, I set out on this journey thinking I had an edge because I have a background in journalism and public relations. Therapists are typically not promotion savvy, simply because we tend to be more introverted than extroverted. I was lucky enough to be born with a good balance of both, so I'm not afraid to promote something I believe in, although I have a really hard time promoting in person and receiving compliments. So, I expected that social media would be a comfortable place for me to promote. I had no idea how many options there would be and how hard it would be to know where to devote my time. One aspect of my personality is that I don't like to have too many choices. I'm not one to research for months before I buy a car. I'd rather go to a car lot and be told I had to choose from one of the five cars in front of me. I do better with less choices. Social media, then, does NOT lend itself well to my personality. I get easily overwhelmed by the possibilities and not knowing whether or not to invest money, time or both in getting the word out. I received some good advice early on to focus only on a couple of outlets, which I have tried to do: Facebook, Twitter, Blogging and YouTube. I have done that, but am somewhat disappointed with the results. Eventually, word of mouth has to do what Malcolm Gladwell termed "The Tipping Point" (great book by the way). It drives me crazy to not know where the tipping point is...I just know one exists and I have to keep promoting until it happens (or not). Any advice readers have for me would be greatly appreciated! Truth be known, I would rather just concentrate on my next book, which I have started, but am having trouble devoting enough time to it because of this unwieldy and unrelenting idea of promotion. Yes, I know that the creative process is what really matters and I must do it simply because I love it or it will just feel like work. Yet, creativity is not just about the joy one receives from the process of creating, but the other half of that is the joy in having others experience it. It's a tough balance to achieve.