Why I No Longer Want (Unsolicited) Advice On Book Marketing

Purchase Woman Manifested: A Poetic Tale
By Lashuntrice
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A long time ago I dreamed of one day becoming a writer. I wanted to learn how to write in as many ways as possible. Just to name a few, there's scripted television writing, newspaper writing,  television news-writing, blogging, and of course book writing. I wanted to be a writer and every writer eventually publishes books that they expect others to read. I was not an exception.

I wanted readers. It's why I always found someone to share whatever I was writing throughout my school years. It's also why I went to college for broadcast journalism, but also took a bunch of literature classes that had nothing to do with my minor in psychology. It's why I spent years blogging on here and thinking I was building of some kind of audience that would purchase books when I was finally ready to publish. 

If you've been following this blog from the beginning there has been a lot of entertainment posts. I've also made posts where I specifically highlighted other people's accomplishments. However, in between talking about celebrity gossip  and cheering someone else on, I made sure to highlight my own poems and short stories. In publishing these stories I've gotten some good feedback. This feedback helped me decide what kind of topics I wanted to focus on once I became that author I always knew I'd become. 

Others knew this time in my life was coming also. They also knew (and still know) that in order for an author to succeed, they have to be willing to purchase that authors book. Well, they also have to be willing to read and talk about the book whether its good or bad. It seems like that concept is understood for everyone, but me. 

Since publishing my first book in March through Createspace, it has received a lot of exposure. I was able to sell some copies, but not a good enough amount for the exposure it has received. Only a few of those people who purchased the book actually took the time to read and leave reviews (whether on social media or Amazon). I'm thankful for them. 

However, I learned a huge lesson this year when it comes to book marketing. I can't take unsolicited advice. One of the advices I was given over and over again was that my first cover of 'Woman Manifested: A Poetic Tale' wasn't good enough. The cover was a photo I took from my personal collection and then spiced up for distribution. There were few problems with it, but it was my start and I loved it. Yet somehow I managed to let others talk me into changing the cover so the book would sell more copies. The book didn't sell more copies though. Instead it decreased in sales and as of now I've seen that second cover (while a nice cover) on another person's book. 

I also had people telling me that I was marketing the book wrong. For some reason, they saw it as a problem that I was marketing the book to my Facebook friends and Twitter followers. There are quite a bit of people on my Facebook friends list that knew about my passion for writing long before Facebook's existence. There are also a lot of people on Twitter who followed me because of this blog. Yet people were telling me that they weren't my audience. My issue is if they're not one of my idols, then why would they even take the time to check out whatever I was writing in the past? 

Purchase This Is For The Lover In You by Lashuntrice on
Amazon Now 

The biggest reason I no longer want unsolicited advice is because what works for one person doesn't work for another. My name is Lashuntrice and I'm doing everything to figure out what works for me. I'm not some other author. I don't have the money authors with lots of marketing avenues have. However, I am a damn good writer and I'd rather see purchases than hear whatever people think I'm doing wrong.