Have You Had it With Marketing?

What?! That shouldn't even be, you say, a question most published authors would say, especially those represented by small, traditional publishing houses, where most if not all marketing efforts are done by the authors themselves.

Well, a few months ago I would have said the same thing. I was in the throes of heavy marketing, doing all I knew to do: book signings, library visits, a heavy online presence including Facebook, Twitter, my blog, guest blogging, book reviews, etc.

It wasn't getting the job done! At least as far as sales were concerned.

After several months of frustrated marketing attempts, I crashed and burned. I'd had it with marketing and promotional work! I took off the months of July and August, and barely registered a presence at my groups during that time and even into September.

But all those emails from the different Yahoo groups kept coming through my inbox, and I had to spend time reading and clearing those. Finally, I got to the point where I quickly scanned them, and deleted most of them without reading them.

I--finally--realized what the problem was: I'd lost my joy with writing and writing associated projects. More to the point, I was burned out.

"Oh, this isn't me," you may say. And I say, "good for you!" But perchance it is you, what's the next step?

Become less obsessed, and take it easy.

That sounds simple, and perhaps wrong. I mean, how are your books going to sell if you don't promote them, right? Right.

But, if you're burned out, like I was, you simply have to take a break, lean back, breathe deeply, and learn to enjoy once again the simple act of writing, of being less intense, and doing what you know to do, and quit stressing about the rest.

I mean, really, once you've done all you know to do, and can reasonably do, why should you obsess about what you can't do, which markets you have or haven't already found, and so forth?

So, what was my prescription? Lighten up. Make it a goal to be less intense. Unless you're superwoman or superman (and we know some of you are, right?), you're going to flounder under the stress and pressure of marketing. Rediscover the joy of writing and writing related activities, and realize the world isn't going to fall in if you aren't stressing about marketing and promoting your book.