However, the keyword here is possible. The problem arises when you, as a creator, operate on the belief that just because something can happen, then it's going to happen. Because that is where you start getting tripped up, and running into serious problems.
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| 17 Black... what were the odds? |
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!
Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!
Better To Have A Plan You Don't Need
We've all had those daydreams where we imagine ourselves as massive successes. We contemplate how many copies we could move at a convention, and we fantasize about how nice it would be to just write all day without worrying about bills. Those of us who treat our writing as a job will take it a step further and research keywords, marketing strategies, trends in the genre, and we'll put together plans for how we're going to reach our target audience. And a lot of us will try to build momentum by putting out small samples of our work, building our audience, and trying to snowball interest.
But even if you workshop your plan, massage your metrics, and come up with a plan that looks perfect on paper, that's no guarantee that it's going to work. And that is important for you to acknowledge.
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| Well, it's not quite what I was expecting... |
Just because you have an interview with a prominent YouTuber or TikToker, that's no guarantee their audience is going to buy your book. Just because you have a large newsletter, that doesn't mean it will translate to large sales. You could have amazing artwork on your cover, a prominent booth space at a convention, and so on, and so forth... none of these things will guarantee that your creation is going to find the audience you need, or that you'll make enough sales to turn this into your career.
As such, it's important to use the Cheese Cloth Method when it comes to actually selling your book.
Think back to when Covid first became a pandemic. Social distancing was one of the first methods to avoid transmission and spread. However, it wasn't always possible, and even then there were people who still got infected. Masking was also used as a way to prevent the spread of the disease, as well, stopping the infected from exhaling germs, and preventing the uninfected from taking in a viral load with their next breath. When the vaccine came out, it represented another way to prevent people from getting infected in the first place.
Individually, any one of these things might fail. But the more layers of protection that were put in place, the more defenses one had against the sickness. Consider your marketing strategy the same way. Because any one aspect of your strategy may fail, or simply not get the results you want. However, if you put together a layered approach then you're more likely to get the results you want.
But it's important to remember that more likely is also not the same as guaranteed. Even if you put in the work, and do your best to come up with all the possible angles, there's still a chance that you don't get the results you wanted... but you've got a better chance of getting there if you have a plan.
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That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!
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