All's Fair in Love & Book Promotion

A Literal Literary Loser Will Try Anything

Update: Last week, I wrote about a Potential Publishing Possibility. I sent the contract to be reviewed by a legal literary expert. They had some changes. The contract went back to the publisher. We’ll see what they say….

In the meantime, ‘tis the season for promotion!

When you’re a writer of figure skating murder mysteries, there is no better time to promote than the every four years PR bonanza known as the Winter Olympics.

As I wrote a month ago, paying for promotion during the month of January proved to be a dud. Yes, sales went up a bit, but not nearly enough to justify the cost. Still, being the eternal optimist, I hoped February would be better.

And February is better. Obviously, the Olympics kicking off helped. The figure skating event being rocked by yet another scandal, also helped.

But, because you never know where your sales are coming from, it’s impossible to tell whether the uptick is due to the ads I’m paying for, due to the non-stop promotion I am tweeting out and putting on Facebook, due to some guest posts I’ve written on the topic, or simply due to the Olympics prompting people to go searching for books about figure skating.

That’s why marketing is a science!

That we are all doing in the dark.

Meanwhile, in the midst of doped up 15 year old figure skaters getting a pass from the Olympic Committee - while, at the same time, that same committee announcing that, if she wins, there will be no medal ceremony so two other athletes will need to suffer for a crime the girl… didn’t commit since she is being allowed to compete anyway (uhm… what?), the Amazon hit series, “Bridgerton,” just released their second season trailer.

Why is that relevant to my life (and marketing efforts)? Because, in addition to figure skating mysteries, I also have two Regency romances available for sale. Including one, “The Fictitious Marquis,” which the Romance Writers of America named a first #OwnVoices Jewish historical.

Which means now is an excellent time to promote it, as well.

Yesterday, on Twitter, #figureskating was trending. #RegencyRomance was trending.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I had my finger on the pulse of American pop culture.

What a shame I wrote “The Fictitious Marquis” 28 years ago. And the figure skating mystery series, 20 years ago.

I am either a late bloomer - in that I am only just now realizing what people are interested in - or I was ahead of my time then.

Either way, this is my moment. I can’t wait to find out how I’m going to screw it up.

Literal Literary Loser has got to Literally Literarily Lose, after all… Or else there goes my brand.