I wish I could say that no one told me how hard marketing was going to be.

I wish I could say that even though I took all the marketing strategies, advice, and warnings seriously that I was well prepared to dive into marketing my book.

I wish I could say a lot of things like, “I am so successful this book markets itself.”

But I can’t.

I am happy with being a self published author. I have control over all things. Which includes control over all the negative things too. For example, I am still on the macaroni sculptures and scribbling outside the lines stage of creating art. I have worn black T-shirts and jeans since third grade so I didn’t have to worry about “does it match?” I know nothing of color pallets and aesthetically pleasing designs. Yet somehow I am in sole charge of marketing my book.

Here is a list of 5 things I wish I would have done, done more of, learned, or else received from a genie trying to grant me three miracles.

1. I wish I would have written a slightly less ambitious book to start with. My series, The False-kin Chronicles, is wonderful, fun, and so very different. But maybe I should have gone with something a bit more subdue, if you will. Like a dark romance, or a retelling, or even stuck to one genre instead of blending many. I am not throwing any shade at these “simple” stories of course, they can be far from simple in terms of plot. But I think these types of stories are much simpler to market. I don’t think Booktok is getting off the masked shadow-daddy train anytime soon. Or what’s more clear than pointing at your book and saying “this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling” or “Perter Pan if it was dark and full of terrors.” In The Masks We Wear I don’t even have good tropes I can point to other than a bit of “found family” and “coming of age.” The best I can come up with is “new adult urban portal fantasy about a first contact gone horribly wrong… with gnomes.”
2. Spending more time officially learning about marketing and marketing terms. I am sure there is some online classes I could have taken, Udemy probably has something, that would have prepared me for the amount of acronyms there are, like SEO (search engine optimization). There are tons of ads for SEO AIs and bells and such, what’s worth it and do I need it? Do I need to hire someone off Fivrr, or can I do it myself? How do I design good ad campaigns? What are bids and how do they work to boost ad visibility? Is it better to over bid and aggressively show my ads to everyone, or underbid and play a longer game? What are Amazon keywords on KDP and how do I leverage it better? I have 7 boxes to put phrases in, so do I need 7 versions of “Best urban fantasy” and “top contemporary fantasies books” or can I simplify it by typing a string of words like “best top favorite urban contemporary fantasy book novel” into just ONE line and letting the computer sort out the parts of that phrase it needs? I have questions. And very little answers.
3. Had a better understanding of the color wheel and art in general. At this stage of my life I don’t think anything short of an act of God would be able to help me. So… maybe instead of all my degrees and certifications and experience in Psychology, I should have become a graphic designer. It also would save me so much money. I could do my own cover art, formatting, marketing designs, brand logo, character art, etc. *sobs* No, really, I’m fine.
4. Paid more attention to my website, newsletter, and blog. Full stop. No context needed. These can be powerful tools for discoverability. Google likes to see your website have activity, so creating blogs regularly is a great way to boost your SEO (or so I read somewhere). So now I will be using my blog as if it were my diary or else be doomed to go insane for editing the rest of the books in this series. (Dear diary, I suck.)
5. Finally, drink more water and eat less sugar. This is not a writing or marketing tip (if any of these are tips) this is a life tip. Go drink some water and eat a carrot. Self care in important. You cannot pour from an empty cup. Empty cups have no words. Empty cups are empty.

If you want to check out The Masks We Wear it is out now on Amazon and anywhere you buy books. We do have plans to record and audiobook in Aug. 2024 as well as publish a dyslexic friendly version of out print book by the end of the year.

Book two: The Beasts We Are is expected to be out early 2025. To be in the loop, give me a follow on Amazon or sign up for my newsletter on the Home page.