My journey continues down that long, winding road we call author-driven marketing, but it is a road that we must travel if we are to let people know that we have a book and encourage them to read it.
I, and others, have mentioned the need to stay active in social media. You must make time — hopefully regularly — as I try to do on my Facebook page and LinkedIn account, and daily on Twitter (I now have over 5,000 followers and growing). I also try to post regularly to my website. Believe me, I know it is not always possible, and it is time consuming, but who else really has more of an interest in seeing you succeed than you!
So try to set a time each day to spend on tweeting and posting about your work, but also on things that you think will be of interest to others, such as memorable quotes about writing, or daily events that may evoke in readers their acknowledgment, empathy, understanding — or are just plain funny. Connect with readers to make them want to read more from you. Share some of your work. Provide excerpts or chapters from your book, but be careful not to give too much away; and thought should be given to when 
and how, focusing on high visibility / traffic options. Think of it as enticing the readers to want more of what you have to offer. Give them a taste — but just a taste — so that they are hungry for more. As I said in my last post: BoomerCafé, a leading digital magazine for Boomers, ran a story, Christmas Morning, from my book Life at 12 College Road, and it turns out that it was the most popular story they ran during the holidays.
This all may seem daunting and, I have to admit, it is at times, but with the assistance of SOOP we are not alone in this journey. SOOP is there to help and frankly they have been doing more for me and the other SOOP authors than most publishers. But we have to do our share and provide quality work; it is after all our books we are trying to get people to read. So spend the time and effort to provide quality materials that SOOP can use in their own Twitter, Facebook, blog posts and mail blasts about your book!
In my last post I mentioned that BeachBoundBooks was going to be formally reviewing my book. I am delighted to report that Life at 12 College Road received a five star review.
At the end of the month I will be speaking to a seniors writers’ group in my local area about writing and Life at 12 College Road. I will let you know how it goes in my next post.
It’s not always the earth-shattering events that are most significant in our hectic lives. More often, it’s the small things, many long forgotten, that touch and shape us most deeply. Our memories of these events might bring smiles, or anger, or even a desire to forget. But every one of them helps to make us who we are today — and in some ways, who we will become tomorrow. Join Eric Mondschein at the unhurried pace of a cup of coffee for a surprising and powerful journey in which laughter inevitably mingles with tears, sorrow turns to joy, and loss almost becomes bearable.
Life at 12 College Road is available at Amazon.com!
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