Promoting a book you’ve written is pretty hard.
Not only do you have to solicit reviews, design graphics and flyers, blast social media, enlist the help of friends, and host giveaways and chats, you have to believe in your book…and yourself.
Gulp.
As someone who works in marketing full-time, most of these things don’t scare me. Is it work? Yes. Do I cringe internally every time I hit send on a message begging a book blogger to read my book? Yup. But I know those things are part of the process and nothing fantastic comes easy.
But the hardest part of promoting a book, for me, is consistently believing in my book, no matter what anyone else says.
My first review on Amazon was 4/5 stars, which sounded pretty good initially until I saw the first sentence: “From the blurb, I thought Cailin Riley would be a lot funnier and kinkier than she actually is.”
Woof.
As an author, comments like these can slap hard, but I’m slowly learning to see things from a wider standpoint. For example, this book is just one part of who I am. Maybe that reader wanted something more risque than I offered. That’s fine! But that’s just one opinion, and that reader doesn’t know me personally. (As for how kinky I am, let me go survey all my past hookups and get back to you.)
It’s just as tough to keep believing in your work when you hear no feedback at all, like a tweet that goes nowhere. Feeling like you’re yelling into an echo chamber can drive anybody to feel like they want to quit.
But nobody else is going to do the work for you. Many self-published authors also have to be graphic designers, event coordinators, and publicists all rolled into one.
It’s hard work, but it’s also very satisfying to look at something and know that you were the one that made it happen.
Cailin Riley 