Books don’t sell themselves

Okay, so you’ve written your book. Now what? Contrary to popular belief, books don’t sell themselves. Once you’ve published, the work has only begun. If you’re self-published, you’ve got a long road ahead of you. And even though my book is selling, and dear friends and new acquaintances have been promoting it… Yet, I’m not feeling the love. 

I wrote a book about BTS and ARMY, so you’d think, what better place to promote it than on Twitter. Wrong! The vast majority of my followers (over 1500 as of March 2022) aren’t paying any attention to my posts, and they certainly aren’t sharing the news with their friends. I feel ignored and abandoned. While I certainly don’t expect everyone to buy a copy simply because they’re ARMY, I would hope that my followers would at least pass along the news to their friends.

ARMY is great at spreading news like wildfire. Ask anyone who’s familiar with their enthusiasm and methodology. For instance, they’ve put together benefits for charities around the world with lightning speed. And if someone has wronged BTS, OMG, they’ll rally and “hang” the offender quicker than a speeding bullet. They have tenacity and the power to inspire others. Yet no matter what I do to promote my book, they haven’t been rallying for me. 

This week I’m running a GA (give-away) for a signed copy of Discovering BTS, with little enthusiasm. Not sure what else I can do to spark their interest.

But don’t worry, I haven’t been putting all my eggs in one basket. I’ve been doing my homework all along and listing my book everywhere I can. I even set up an account with Ingram Spark last night, to enable distribution to libraries, bookstores (including Barnes and Noble) and the like. I’m still very hopeful and am aiming my sights high. That’s what I do. However, this morning it still leaves me shaking my head about the lack of enthusiasm on Twitter. Your guess is as good as mine.