I often get asked why I did not sign with a literary agent. It is not a simple answer, Finding the right agent who shares your passion is difficult. No one will pay you a significant amount of money upfront unless you are a celebrity. Furthermore, agents and publishers can delay your book launch for a significant amount of time. Lastly, they rely on the author to build a social media presence. Writing the novel is a great accomplishment. A successful sales effort is an author’s validation of success. From my study of the publishing industry, signing with an agent should give you the marketing support many self-published authors want and need. Unfortunately, unless you are already a successful author, that support might not be what you thought you were getting. The challenge for any self-published author is marketing the novel. While Amazon and Barnes and Noble have made buying the book easy, getting your book reviewed and widely publicized is hard work, To begin with, your book has to be marketable. Most of the books that dominate the top sellers are children’s books or romance novels. Women dominate the profession and buy most of the books. Bridging the divide and leveling the playing field dominated by the top five publishers is social media. Using Instagram and Booktok is a must to realize a viral sales moment. Otherwise, selling your book can be a grind. Finding someone who understands how to market through social media is difficult. There are many who say they can but are nothing more than scams. Using Amazon ads doesn’t guarantee sales either. This month, I will be at various Barnes and Noble stores in North Carolina hoping to break through the book marketing clutter. Always open to speaking with Social Media experts. Thanks for reading the blog. Remember, a five star review on Amazon and Goodreads goes a long way!
