Have you ever done anything embarrassing in your professional career? I most certainly have during my IT career. But I want to talk about my first real embarrassing moment being an author.
Hand in hand with publishing a book is marketing it (of course). Whether publishing traditionally or self-publishing, it's expected. How else will people find your book unless you put yourself out there so folks can get to know you? When you self-publish, the onus is completely on you to market yourself. That's not an easy task, especially first time out of the blocks. But forge ahead, you must do.
There are the usual ways of social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, your own website and blog). You have to post regularly on each of them (something I need to improve on). Even then, it takes time to build up your following. So you can expand your marketing to include ads on Amazon, Bookreads, email distribution lists (such as BookBub and BookSends), etc. All have limited results.
So you try to expand your reach even further by requesting podcast interviews, and work towards even higher-reaching avenues like TV and radio interviews.
I've been fortunate to have been interviewed on 2 podcasts, Indie Author Connection and Reading and Writing.
The Indie Author Connection went live today and can be heard on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI8PY7kto0w. That was a fun interview. Check out my FB page, KadyHinojosaAuthor, for a list of other platforms that will play it was well.
The 2nd interview, with Reading and Writing, occurred on Nov 5th, and will be live in a few weeks. That one didn't go so well, from my perspective, and can easily be placed in the Embarrassing category. There were a lot of 'Ums' and 'Ahs', my thoughts were scattered, and I didn't even talk about my concerns with social media and app games (the subject of my first book and why I told him he should interview me when I requested it!). I hope it's not too embarrassing when it goes live. Geez!!!
I am thankful for the opportunity I had to talk with two interesting interviewers. I just wish I had represented myself better with the 2nd interview. Ah well, lessons learned. :)