The Messy World of Marketing

I’m not going to be successfully accused of being a neat freak. There is a bit of “scatteredness” about me that could be seen as distracted with my head often in the clouds. But believe me, despite the apparent evidence, I have it all under control. Hmm? I see a few heads wagging in opposition.

Now, to keep things in proper order, life on the writing front has switched from a frantic race to an absolute crawl for me. Why? Well there are a few reasons which could be seen as excuses. The first factor was coming down with Covid. Not long after that, it was a whirlwind trip to visit three grandchildren and their parents. I found that not only my NaNoWriMo project was suffering, My efforts on Twitter which are focused on relationships and marketing my books had also slowed to a crawl, leaving me to wonder if marketing on Twitter had ever helped my book sales. Oh, I definitely know that the “In the Nudist Colony” anthologies owed their relative success to Twitter.

Once at my son’s home, we discovered that almost everyone in the house was sick. We then put on our grandparent clothes and did what we could to entertain the little ones. I don’t think I did any work on marketing my books on Twitter or elsewhere. The littles got all of our attention.

Back home, it wasn’t long before we began to exhibit some of the same flu-like conditions. Luckily for us, it wasn’t a Covid relapse. Let’s just call it the flu for me. For my wife, it was more like bronchitis. Argh! NaNoWriMo ended up having a two day respite from attention. Marketing? Well, you can guess . . . .

And then there was the issue of Medium, a site where I am regularly posting poems and stories about travels and psychology. The posts are short and sweet, and they make me some money. In less than two months on Medium I have made more than from the sale of my poetry books. over the past eight years. It’s addictive seeing the royalties for these small pieces grow everyday. Think of it this way. my royalty earning are the equivalent of thirty eBooks being sold. And I haven’t begun to draw attention to my published books. Marketing here means building up an audience that appreciates what I write.

My latest Naturist Fiction novel, Nightshade Publishing Company is being published one chapter at a time on Substack. Earnings there are surprising considering that there is an option to read the story for free. In just over a month, I have made over $150 for the year. I still have the option of publishing the novel at Amazon and other platforms without jeopardising my Substack earnings. Before publishing the eBook, I have already earned the equivalent of 50 eBook copies sold. This is a surprise as I had never thought that it would be another marketing portal.

And finally, I come to Twitter and Mastodon. Anyone already on Twitter knows that the platform is on fire with rumours of its demise. So many are jumping from that platform to a choice of others with Mastodon being the preferred option. It just so happens that I have a Mastodon account [thank you, Paul for recommending it in the distant past. I created two personae for Mastodon just because I want to separate the political activist from the naturist activist faces.

Somehow, I don’t think that either Twitter or Mastodon will ever amount to a good marketing tool. Now, with that all said, it is time for me to go to see my dentist for a root canal.

Oh, and just for your information, today is called “Little Christmas” in my French-Canadian family, This is also know as St Nicholas Day, or as Paul would call it. Sinterklaas Day.