D is for DAIKON April #IWSG and #AtoZChallenge

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

 

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.

Be sure to link to this page and display the badge in your post.
http://www.alexjcavanaugh.com/p/the-insecure-writers-support-group.html

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter is @TheIWSG and hashtag #IWSG

Ninja Alex J. Cavanaugh's awesome co-hosts for the April posting of the IWSG are Chris @ Madness of a Modern Writer, Madeline Mora-Summonte, Fundy Blue, and Chrys Fey

 

Anyone serious about marketing their published work is advised to join in the annual blogging #AtoZChallenge. In past years, I didn't use my participation as a marketing tool for my novels, so I have no statistics to share about results of publicity for my books during that time. My main objective had always been toward networking. But now I am more aware of the advantages and potential benefits of approaching the #AtoZChallenge in terms of marketing and publicity.

This year I will study the sites that employ marketing strategies so that next year I am better prepared to follow their lead. It will be interesting to watch how others approach these objectives with their posts. All in all, I see this as an expanded learning experience for 2017. (One caveat: my other blog site is applying this approach with an #AtoZ poetry theme. http://poetryfromthelanai.blogspot.com)

 

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

My daily #AtoZ posts combine two concepts in under-300-words per day:

an appealing food choice along with thoughts that spring to mind.

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Daikon resembles a white carrot and tastes like a mild radish. Its benefits include antioxidants to lower both cholesterol and high blood pressure. It is rich in the minerals Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium and Iron. Unfortunately, the only time I eat daikon is when it is shredded and served as a garnish (tsuma) under sashimi. Sashimi I would eat anytime.

Sashimi (raw tuna) decorated with shredded daikon

Although some folks consider it unacceptable or prefer not to eat the tsuma, it is okay to eat the daikon that decorates the plate displaying the sashimi. Considering the price of the raw fish, and the relatively small servings offered, the garnish helps to satisfy the appetite after consuming the main course.

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#IWSG Question: Where Do You See Yourself 5 Years From Now?

 

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Alex J. Cavanaugh's awesome co-hosts for the December 7 posting of the IWSG are Jennifer Hawes, Jen Chandler, Nick Wilford, Juneta Key, JH Moncrieff, Diane Burton, and MJ Fifield!

 

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The December 7 Question: In terms of your writing career, where do you see yourself five years from now, and what’s your plan to get there?

My insecurities do not lie in my beliefs about my abilities or the appeal of my novels but in an inability to attract the attention of readers who share those beliefs. Just writing the words makes me feel egotistical. Is it any wonder my marketing isn't top notch?

Nothing keeps me from continuing to write my novels, however. For NaNoWriMo2016, I typed all but the final climactic scene of my next Pepper Bibeau mystery. The reason I skipped over the climax was because I had a different solution in mind before I started writing. Near the end of the month, a much better solution presented itself to me. I was so excited about this new ending, I refused to write it. Sometimes, it's good to savor such pleasures for as long as possible.

This novel will also be the last one in the series. In the next five years, I will compile and publish a mystery short story anthology featuring sixteen Honolulu authors, concentrate on a new protagonist in a new mystery series, and edit my genealogical novel which is informed by my 20+ years of genealogy research.

But what about the marketing?

Ay, there's the rub.

 

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Mele Kalikimaka

&

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou

 

 

 

 

Mr & Mrs Claus greeting visitors to
Honolulu Hale on O'ahu Island, Hawai'i

 

 

Doing Just What I Want . . . Sort Of



The other day someone asked me how I liked retirement. In 2009, I decided to retire a bit early and enjoy life. That didn’t mean lounging on Waikiki Beach in the shadow of Diamond Head every day reading my fill of mystery novels; it meant researching, writing, and publishing mystery novels. It also meant paying closer attention to my blogs and participating in writers’ groups. But I do enjoy plenty of leisure time because I do just what I want . . . sort of. 

 

That means that although my goals are set and my projects outlined, deadlines are not carved in stone. If there is a deadline, I can begin the project far in advance so as not to be rushed. This year my goals include completing and publishing a novel; posting interviews with the 13 authors involved in the mystery anthology MYSTERY IN PARADISE 13 Tales of Suspense; and participating in Arlee Bird’s April 2014 A to Z Blog Challenge

by writing and posting twenty-six articles with topics ranging from A to Z.

 

Marketing is an area where I need to improve, another goal. My focus for 2014 includes the novel WITH FIERY VENGEANCE published in December 2013. As the third book in the Pepper Bibeau mystery series, and set in Hawaii, I am having fun discussing the settings featured in the story. 

Yesterday I spent time at Paˋina Café for the monthly local NaNoWriMo group gathering. I had been in a quandary about my WIP because of indecision over the story line. Scenarios had been swimming around in my mind since I completed the first draft last November. As I typed out my thoughts at the cafe, everything fell into place. Doing just what I want, letting my thoughts simmer until the time was right for a solution to develop, worked better than trying to force a decision. 

That’s what I like about my retirement state-of-mind: Doing Just What I Want . . . Sort Of. While I must still take the steps necessary to move a project toward its goal, I have the freedom to do just what I want at any given time. This is my idea of stress-free time management, an enviable luxury. 

How do you manage your time?

MARKETING THROUGH the SET-BACKS

 

It is the first Wednesday of the month and time for the Insecure Writers Support Group, a group of writers I've watched from afar for some months and finally joined last month. Insecurity doesn't always display itself surrounded by pink neon lights. It creeps up or jumps out of closets at the most inopportune time. Marketing brings it on for me.

Do you know what is harder than marketing a novel? Continuing to market a novel after you get a less-than-stellar book review or when someone points out a seemingly “fatal flaw” in your published story.

It doesn’t matter how expert I’ve become at rationalizing, I still wake up in the early morning hours trying to justify my work so I can confidently move forward again.



The difficulty of merging into
marketing mode again

It wouldn’t be so bad if I'd gained some traction with a time-tested marketing strategy. But doing the actual writing puts me so far into the brake-down lane that it is difficult to get back up to speed and merge into marketing mode again.

One area of social media that feels more like a game to me though is Pinterest. When I came across a suggestion (from Lori Sailiata on Google+  http://bit.ly/1i0kMr4 ) about using the picture boards to market my novels, a thought popped into my mind almost in the form of a dialogue bubble:

Soon I was having fun again, knowing the hours “wasted” gathering relevant photographs was actually strategic marketing time well-spent. Compiling the boards has also rekindled my interest in the characters and story plotlines, so my marketing is more focused on significant scenes. 

One of the new boards, for my novel DEADLY AS NATURE, is available for viewing on Pinterest: http://bit.ly/1fnJsYH 

How do you get past that “sinking feeling” after hitting a stumbling block in marketing?

QUALITY -vs- QUANTITY

Q is for ...

Which is better, I wonder, a quality sale or a quantity of sales? Is the marketing idea behind the sale of e-books sound?

When I sold VHS movies for a small, privately owned company in Minnesota years ago, I dealt with retailers who haggled on the price of a movie. My boss would grin and say, “Don’t worry, whatever money we lose on individual sales, we'll make up for in bulk sales.” The joke, of course, was that if one movie sold for 99 cents and lost money, selling one hundred movies for 99 cents each would still generate no profit.

Granted, selling an e-book for $.99 will get a book into the hands of a reader, but will the reader be inclined to read the book without additional motivation such as advertisements or word-of-mouth recommendations?

Hence the question: Is a quality sale better than a quantity of sales - or -  is a quantity of sales actually a quality sale?