Marketing Madness with Charlie Pulsipher: Writing and Marketing

So excited to host Charlie today! He was a fellow Death Camp student last year, and writes some awesome fiction. :)

Marketing is perhaps one of the hardest and scariest things for a writer. I’m no exception. It terrifies me. I like sitting alone in my office, swimming in words and ideas, while my worlds are created with the clickety-clack of my keyboard. That makes me happy, deep down in my weird self.

I don’t enjoy talking to people on the phone. Heck, I don’t even like drive-thrus. Meeting someone in person to pitch myself or my novel makes me sweat, unnaturally and lavishly. Just thinking about it makes me a little soggy. I just want to crawl back to the keyboard and hide behind my words.

I want to write. I’m a writer. There are reasons I didn’t go into sales or marketing. But, then I self published a novel and realized I needed to do some marketing, even if it’s small and feels like I’m a squeaky little voice in the crowd at a rock concert, just hoping to be noticed. I’m no expert on getting noticed, but I have learned a few things that any writer can do.

Write the best you can. Nothing will help your sales better in the long run than writing well. A well written novel will get read all the way through. People are more likely to review it, share it, recommend it, force it into a friend’s uncertain hands and tell them that if they don’t finish it in a week they won’t be friends anymore.

Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes & Noble are working all the time to improve how people find your work, but most of it relies on the feedback and buying power of readers. Your work will not float upward if it is not well written. If you wrote the best you can, that book will bubble to the surface. It may take years, but that’s without any work on your part other than the initial editing and revising that you should be doing anyway.

Crawl back to that keyboard. The more books you have out there, the more likely someone will find them. Simple statistics. If you throw four bottled notes into the ocean, which is how I feel about indie publishing at times, you are more likely to be rescued. One may just bob along unnoticed. I have two bottles in that dark ocean and, despite not being pulled from the water, they do catch more attention than they would alone.

If you followed the advice above, then readers will want to find more and will go looking for you. Make it easy on them, give them options. Keep writing. Always keep writing. It’s what we do.

Experiment.  I don’t have the budget to advertise in hundreds of magazines, on television, or even at the school baseball field down the street. This doesn’t mean I do nothing. I have played with social networks, making my friends tell their friends in a semi-obnoxious fashion. I spent a tiny sum on a science fiction website as a sponsor. I appealed to a couple book clubs.

Each book you put in readers’ hands improves your chances of being found by someone new who might turn into a fan for life. Believe me, you want those.

If you’re too terrified to try any of these, fall back on my first advice. Write the best you can. Keep doing so. It’s who you are, or you wouldn’t have read this far. Good luck and stay weird, my writer friends.

Charles M. Pulsipher lives in Saint George Utah with his lovely wife and neurotic dog. He writes sci-fi and fantasy with the occasional zombie guide thrown in. He's obsessed with surviving the zombie-pocalypse.

He draws cartoons on his blog that are usually funny if lacking in the amazingly artistic department. He spends his time away from the keyboard hiking and camping in stunning Southern Utah.

He neglects his twitter account.

His velociraptor impression is worth seeing, even if it makes grown-ups scream and hide. It's probably the coolest thing about him.

The Crystal Bridge

 

Kaden is a typical teenage boy, except he can open wormholes to far away worlds.

His first trip almost killed him. He’s been afraid to try another.

Aren is far from a typical teenage girl. She has the ultimate gift of empathy, seeing into the memories and souls of others.

Her gift makes her different and lonely despite how close it brings her to those she knows.

When these two meet, the existence of two worlds will be endangered as their abilities plunge them into a planet at war.

Their adventure may tear apart multiple universes…or they may just save us all.

 

Zombies at the Door

We all know it can happen, will happen. Be prepared and have a laugh at the same time. This basic manual will make sure you are ready to face the zombie hordes and walk you through where to meet, find weapons and food, and set up camp. It may even give you hope as you huddle in the bathroom stall at the mall.

Seriously though, don't go to the mall!

Learn the glow stick technique to distract zombies or how a paper bag might save your life or at least keep you from seeing the bitey end that's coming. Are dentist offices safe? Can the game of baseball stop the zombies from attacking? Is petroleum jelly something you should have in your zombie kit? Find out now.