Marketing and the menace of "should"

Heads up: There is a COVER REVEAL and PRE-ORDER PUSH at the bottom of this newsletter. Why didn't I mention that in the subject heading? I think the rest of the newsletter will make that obvious.

I often say that I hate marketing.

This is not entirely true. I most certainly hate advertising, which is a lot of trying to make good ads when I am not a designer, and then trying to get those ads to make sales instead of just sucking away my money to Facebook and Amazon without appreciable return. I'm not good at it, and I can't seem to get better at it, though I'll keep trying.

But this newsletter is technically marketing, and I love writing it. Giving away free copies in author promos is marketing, and that's a lot of fun. (Latest promo is 2nd Best Thing To Take To Bed: July Rom Coms +, which you really need to click on just to see the probably-AI heading image. That dude's hands aren't right.)

Marketing is basically saying, "hey, I wrote some stories that you'll probably like if you're my kind of reader." It shouldn't be hard! And yet it is, for two reasons:

1. My brain

When I am writing, particularly when I am heading for a deadline, I am spending my author time writing. I find it difficult to drag my head away from the manuscript long enough to do anything else. I don't mean that I am actually writing that whole time–often I am just thinking about writing, or clicking around antique furniture websites for an hour so that I can describe a room–but it feels as if I do anything productive but writing, I am betraying the manuscript. Like if I take my eyes off that particular ball for even twenty minutes, it will drop.

I mean, yes, obviously this is bonkers. There is not truly a life-or-death choice to be made between the One Big Task (+ associated procrastination) and All Other Things. But deadlines stress me out¹, and stressed people don't make great decisions.

2. Comparison paralysis

A lot of authors, particularly indie authors, are really, really good at marketing! They stack promos! They co-ordinate newsletter takeovers! They post content at whatever the approved time is to hit their demographics in the best time zones!

And their socials, ohhhh, their socials are things of beauty. Funny, sharply edited, well-lit, on-trend and yet original? Amazing.

And so, when I wanted to make videos for my Instagram and TikTok, I hesitated. I love watching well-lit sketches with multiple takes to allow for different sightlines and characters, or sardonic voiceovers over long shots, or takes on the latest meme. But I couldn't see myself doing it, because that is obviously a ton of work, and I couldn't imagine me doing that much work which wasn't writing.

Which is weird! I also like watching buff Scottish farriers shoeing horses/hot women in flannel chopping wood/this guy and I don't feel compelled to create that kind of content--it's just because other authors are doing it that I felt the need to make the cool author videos.

But about a month ago, in the middle of deadline hell, I could feel myself giving up on the image of perfection. I clipped all my butterfly clips into my hair, picked up the phone, made a weird little video, and then posted it. It took like two minutes.

"Okay," I thought. "That was easy."

Now I am all about weird little videos. My hair sits somewhere on the spectrum between "wispy mess" and "perfect curl", frequently managing both on different parts of my head. I don't put on makeup for those videos, because I put on makeup maybe half-a-dozen times a year. I don't worry about the lighting. (I could probably worry a little more about the lighting.) I just talk, about writing, or mashed potatoes, or how the emotional weight of the stuff in the back of my car is crushing me. I do weird sound effects. Sometimes I sing about sandwiches.

This is not good social media marketing. It's probably not selling a lot of books! But a) it's better than no marketing and b) I'm having a great time.

SPEAKING OF MARKETING (I can do it!) here is the cover for XO, Xena, the last Olympus Inc. book!

Polyxena Troiades is struggling with the loss of her career and the man she thought she was going to marry, drifting while she tries to find what comes next. Cressida O'Brien is trying to reclaim her identity as a burlesque performer while she cares for her son and deals with Dammond Argive, his unreliable father.

When these women meet at Lotophagi, a new, luxe music and arts festival, the attraction is immediate. And scary. Because all is not well at Lotophagi, where Dammond is calling the shots, and the festivities quickly turn deadly.

XO, Xena is very special to my heart. It's coming out July 9th, and it would mean the world to me if you pre-ordered - it's available in most eBook retailers!

¹ So why do you have deadlines, you ask? Because then I get finished books.