Self-published authors are fully aware that perhaps the easiest part of the writing journey is the actual writing. Well, compared to the marketing aspect I believe it is.
I have read a lot of articles, suggestions and tips and tricks to market the book to the reading public. It is, to say the least, a lot harder to market eBooks than perhaps their hard or paper-covered relatives.
This is despite the millions of eReaders out there.
Then there is that other fickle part of the publishing cycle, the need for reviews.
Proper reviews of course.
As we are learning, reviews can be bought, and in more ways than one. What happened to finding writers of the same genre and offering to buy one copy and write a review in return for a buy one copy and write a review.
I’ve noticed that all the current best selling novelists do the same for their fellow novelists though I guess when you get to be a best-seller, you might not have to buy a copy, so I can only dream of attaining such lofty heights in the publishing world.
But until I reach such rarefied air, I guess I have to figure out how to appeal to my fellow writers, and, of course, hope that my work is good enough.
It might be a start in getting through that difficult cycle, more reviews means more sales, etc. And getting those first sales and reviews …
Therein lies the conundrum. It is a question of paying for advertising or working it out for ourselves. I guess if I were to get more sales, I could afford the advertising … yes, back on the merry-go-round!
And yet, the harder the road, the more I enjoy what I do. It is exhilarating while writing, it is a joy to finish the first draft, it is an accomplishment when it is published, but when you sell that first book, well, there is no other feeling like it.
I am inspired.
Bow as for that advertisement and where to post it…
Thrills, Spills, and just a dash of Romance 
Here’s how you appeal to your fellow writers for a review. You ask them. Personally. Contact them and politely tell them why your novel might be particularly interesting to them personally (which means you need to know something about them). And they say yes, I can, or no, I don’t have the time, sorry. And you say thank you either way. These reviews don’t happen by magic. They happen by intentional effort.
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Yes, I know. It’s not as if I haven’t been doing just as you say for the last six years, with varying results. But the interesting thing is, rather than being treated as a writer, I seem to come from some odd place no one, at least on that side of the world, has heard of, or wants to. And yes, I get the odd condescending remark that makes me feel so much better about myself.
But, as this may come as a shock, I don’t write because I want to get rich or be famous, it would be nice, but I’m too old for all that nonsense now, I just like to write for the hell of it, and sometimes people like what they read.
Sometimes, when the aches and pains get too much or I read about how good people get treated very badly in the name of religion or politics, I get a little pissed off.
So, sorry if I got you annoyed, and sorry if you got the impression I relied on magic or that I lack the intention. Well, maybe I rely on magic a little, if only to make make some people aware there are other countries in the world other than the US.
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