No worries--that's the great thing about the business of being an author--we can all use different methods of reaching our audience. 🙂

Yes I can't imagine someone asking someone else to do that! 😉

d

Thank you! 🙂

The huge irony of the necessity of marketing is that 90% of writers are uncomfortable about doing it, largely because we tend to be introverted and struggle with "putting ourselves out there." This of course makes the hurdle of asking for feedback on our work hard, writing query letters (and OMG talking to an agent in person!) hard, asking for book reviews hard, and all the rest.

None of this is easy. How I wish it was. But as someone who was terrified of so much of this I can honestly say just taking it a bit at a time and slowly expanding your comfort zone will pay off in time. We start to meet challenges tied to this career a bit differently, and while it's never easy to try something new, step out onto a platform, or put our emotions out there, it does get easier because we look back and see all the small challenges we overcame and how we're grown. The realization that we've come a long way gives us strength to keep going and growing. 🙂

Go slow and take on small challenges. You are so much more capable than you might believe, I promise! You've got this! 🙂

Thank you Angela, and Laura, and everyone. I haven't even written my book yet, so I'm nowhere near ready for finding an agent and publishing and marketing... somedays I freak out and go 'I'll never make it!' and other days I'm like 'I can do this!'. This post, and its accompanying comments has both opened my eyes and freaked me out a little. I'll still write. I will always write. And I definitely do want to publish (if I can). I just now know a little more of the realities behind it. So, thank you.

This is a common misconception, and Laura's right on the money here. Publishers do a little but the lion's share of the marketing work will be up to the author. That's why it doesn't matter if we are traditionally published or self-published--we need to learn to get comfortable with doing some marketing in both cases.

Yes, getting people to follow through can be a bit of a struggle, and you will always get some who will not. What I do is be very clear on what the objective is, and what I am asking them to do. I use forms so people can "sign up" for what they wish to help with, and then I check in as we do to make sure people have what they need, and if it is reviews, I send out a gentle reminder to review by a specific time if possible. I know some people who specifically ask for someone's link to goodreads or amazon for book reviews so they can watch for when it goes up. I would like to say that this isn't necessary, but sometimes it might be. For example, if I send out 50 ebook arcs, I used to only get 30 reviews. I am now a bit more insistent because I may have 100 or more people asking to review an arc. It's not fair to the people who don't receive the arc if someone who did receive it doesn't follow through.

I think also good communication about the importance of something is also important. People who are not authors may not get why you really need that book review and especially at the start when a book first goes up. They assume they can just put it up whenever and that you'll have lots of others. So it's important that we explain why each review is critical and getting those first 25 -50 reviews is key. Then they'll more likely get their review up in a timely way. 🙂

The other thing I recommend is to join a street team or two yourself. Once you see how others manage communication with their teams and what they ask for (and how) it will help you see how to manage your own team. 🙂