Robert Rosell
  • Books
  • Robert's Blog
  • Author Bio
  • Buy a Book

You just get lucky.

9/3/2012

2 Comments

 
            “So, how are you planning to market your new book?” a friend asked this morning.  I thought for a moment, smiled and shrugged.

            This is the primary challenge facing writers in the era of open access publishing. It’s equally true whether your book is being released by a big NY publishing house, a small press, or you are going the independent route. If you don’t have an established base of readers who follow your work, how will you connect your stories to those who would enjoy reading them?

            Most of us try the usual things, Facebook page, product website, Tweet yourself silly, blog-on, all of which is good to do but has a limited effect. So you look at what worked for the much-publicized new publishing superstars, writers like Amanda Hocking and John Locke. They were prolific, wrote well… and got lucky. Ahh - there’s the rub.

            There’s a serendipity factor in how audiences connect with new writers, which by definition is impossible to control and therefore very frustrating until it happens, at which point it becomes magical and wonderful. This isn’t new. In the old world of publishing, you got a lucky break and found the great agent or the perfect Big Six company to shepherd your work. Or someone somehow got a copy of your new book to Oprah. In the new world you load your book on Amazon and Smashwords, let everyone you’ve ever met know about it, send free copies out to bloggers and reviewers you think might be interested, cross your fingers and start outlining your next tome.

            The barriers to publishing have been smashed, Amazon is ascendant, paper is giving way to digital, the world of words is wide open. At some point new marketing avenues will emerge to provide a credible connection between writer and reader. For now all I know to do is write my best work, set it free, hope I get lucky - and start writing the next one.
2 Comments

    Author

    Have you read any of the Civitas Rising series? Please share your thoughts about the Great Change, the impact of technology on our lives, healthcare, the role of government, and anything else the books got you thinking about.

    Thanks!

    Robert.

    Get this Blog via Email

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2013
    May 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011

    Categories

    All
    Amazon
    Authors
    Black Friday
    Book Launch
    Budget Cuts
    Commerce
    Community
    Compassion
    Default
    Dementia
    Ebooks
    E Books
    E-books
    Economic Crisis
    Economy
    Education
    Entrepreneurs
    E Publishing
    E-publishing
    Family
    Financial Crisis
    Future
    Greed
    Health
    Identity
    Inside Job
    Literature
    National Debt
    New Authors
    New Book
    Political Crisis
    Political Parties
    Public Safety
    Publishing
    Self Publishing
    Self-publishing
    Small Business
    Taxes
    Tea Party
    Thanksgiving
    Virtual Reality