Nailed or Failed It?

How successful were your marketing efforts?

Just like writing, marketing isn’t a do-it-once thing, it's a process. However, more so than writing, marketing is a constantly evolving effort. It changes with technology, your audience, and sometimes, for no apparent reason at all.

Building on last month’s article, "Does the idea of marketing your book make you anxious?" let’s take stock of your current efforts:

• You’ve picked (at least) one platform where you thrive, and you have leveraged the characteristic that makes you unique.

• You know that consistency and sustainability are important, so you made a plan about when and what you were going to post.

How’d it go?

This step can be challenging, even humbling. You must be honest with yourself if you want to be effective. It’s easy to get excited and overly ambitious when you’re planning and starting a new project, but we’re all busy, and for most, being an author is only one of many hats we wear. Despite the best laid plans, sometimes it’s only in practice where we see the true possibility (or lack thereof) of our plans.

So, how’d you do?

By: Tamara Cribley

Were you able to stick to your schedule and your content plan? Was it like pulling teeth, or do you feel positive about it? Maybe you’re almost there, but found the day or time of day weren’t ideal.

Were you overly ambitious? Maybe you were being conservative in your plans, but you found that you’re having a great time and you want to be more active.

If things aren’t going according to plan, take a few minutes to understand why. If there were unforeseen circumstances that arose, you might give it another month or two to see if your plans were generally on target.

If you found, in practice, your plans just didn’t Hit, before adjusting, understand what prevented your success. Did you Hind that the schedule just didn’t work? Was the platform you chose more intimidating than you expected? Did you have trouble coming up with content? Maybe it was a combination of things. Instead of ditching everything, start with your biggest challenge.

Find a different day or time to post. Follow other creators for content ideas. If you Hind your platform intimidating, don’t switch right away. Remember, this is the platform where you’re most comfortable. Chances are you’re not uncomfortable with the platform, but with the idea of talking about yourself or your work. While at some point you need to get around to talking about your writing, it’s okay to start by sharing things you Hind inspiring or interesting as a writer. They can be as simple as shared memes. The important step is to start engaging as your author self.

If you rocked it and feel like you have the bandwidth to be more active, what does that look like?

Once you decide how to adjust one, maybe two pieces of your plan, work it. Give it another month, maybe two or three. Then, review.

Note, what we’ve been addressing is your efforts, and not their effects. Marketing requires that you do something, and that what you do is well-received by your target audience. While the results of your efforts are likely to affect how your strategy evolves, we can’t effectively analyze them if they aren’t established and consistent.

How is your intended audience reacting to your current strategy? ‘Likes’ and reactions are a very basic level of interaction. We’ll take ‘em, but the goal is to get your audience to interact and engage directly with you. Comments, questions, and shares, increase the organic reach of your audience.

When someone shares your post, video, or page, you get to be in front of a whole new group of people. If your content resonates with them, you can increase your audience. The more shares you get, the wider the potential audience.

Comments and questions give you the opportunity to have a conversation with your audience. Anne Rice was one of my favorite writers to follow on Facebook. With over one million followers, she still engaged directly with her audience, inviting conversation and questions. It made readers (and authors) feel connected to her and her writing in a way that simply hearing about her didn’t.

We feel special when someone we admire interacts with us. We see it all the time on social media when a user gets recognized or mentioned by one of their idols. The bragging rights are supreme. And how cool is it to say you knew someone before they were famous—you saw their potential at the very beginning? This is your very beginning… it's your time to shine.

Are you building engagement with your efforts? If not, why do you think that is? If you’re thinking, “I’m just not that interesting,” that’s the wrong answer. Something that has become much more prevalent in recent years is creators being vulnerable, sharing their minor interactions from the day, or how something made them feel. Relatable, everyday occurrences make you approachable.

Sometimes when we overproduce things, we create a distance between ourselves and our audience. The point is, you don’t have to reach too far to Hind something relatable, and relatable is interesting. Do you have a

WIP? How’d you do this week?

Did you run down the thesaurus rabbit hole? Was the beautiful, sunny day completely incongruous with the dark, moody murder scene you’re writing?

It might seem obvious, but sometimes we overlook the power of asking a question. We often see this tactic in click bait. That doesn’t mean the technique is bad or unsuitable. It’s effective. People like to share their opinions. Unlike click bait, the best questions are ones that encourage discussion and prolonged engagement. Remember to acknowledge your commenters in some fashion, ideally with another comment.

As you start to expand the type of content you’re creating, what do you Hind resonates with your audience? Do they like the same thing all the time, or is there a variety of different topics or styles that people engage with regularly? Are there posts that go completely ignored? If you’re not able to see a pattern with the type of content, maybe there are some similarities with the day or time of day you post.

As you begin to see patterns emerge, start working them. Test your theory. Make minor changes and give them time to see if they’re working. As you establish consistency and become comfortable engaging with your audience, you can begin marketing efforts. Take a class. Hire a marketing professional. Learn paid advertising. Remember, as an independent author, it’s up to you to drive sales. You can do it!

You’re invited to join the Professional Indie Publishing Roundtable. If you’d like to be part of the conversation with industry pros and other independent authors, join me for periodic virtual meetings. Be part of the conversation, ask questions, and share your experiences, challenges, and successes. Visit www.DeliberatePage.com/ Roundtable to sign up for meeting access details and information.

***With Donal and the Guardian having left Yana with Kit, there are increasing numbers of “objects” growing by themselves in Yana’s hands, and no way to ask what they are. Or why. A side effect of the objects burned an Illusion down just as Ebbe and Emme were attempting to find the entrance to where the real Laws are being kept. Illusions should not be, but then, a missing Guardian should not be either.***

Ebbe strode through the rubble, attempting to ignore the wafting dust as the illusion dissipated once reality crashed down on it with each step. Placing a palm on the door, he motioned to Emme, who brought up Yana’s map of where the Laws of Progression were located. Running Hingertips around, he could not detect any seams or edges, yet the latch and coloring denoted a door. “It seems the illusion runs deeper,” he muttered.

“Or it is rebuilding,” Emme said quietly. “And how would that be possible?” Ebbe asked. Waving her hands to the dusty air around them, she said, “How wouldn’t it be possible? Look at this… this, something which should not be in the Hirst place. Why shouldn’t things continue in directions we didn’t know were allowed?”

“What makes you think this is allowed?” Ebbe held up his hand to stop her. “Never mind. This is where the Laws are; therefore someone high on the Path has allowed it. And stop grinning,” he Hinished, not looking at her smirk. Pulling his shelf forward, he tapped a rhythm with three Hingers onto the underside, revealing a newer shelf Hloating above.

“Hmm, looks as if you are learning a bit too much from Donal about how to push boundaries and be sneaky,” Emme said lightly.

“And aren’t you glad that I am, dearest,” Ebbe answered, searching through the elements, vials, and mixes. Writing a sigil in the air with his Hinger, he gave a tug, and pulled a few more items forth. He set them to the side, Hloating in the air.

“Are you at all certain any of that will actually work, even if it’s combined?” Emme asked.

Ebbe shrugged. “None have come to stop us, so it is doubtful there are alarms. The Concilium as a whole must not know about this, or that nosey, rude voice would have already been chastising us and alerted a Member. It is rather obnoxious.”

“And rude,” Emme added. “Is there anything you think will work?”

“Perhaps. But I need,” a swish of Ebbe’s hand brought forth a desk and chair, sizeable enough to Hit his frame, but small enough to hold only his shelf and other elements. Waving a seat for her into existence, he stared, willing anything to work without his knowledge, because, with all his learning on the Path, he saw no way to move forward.

The map Emme held in her hand Hlickered. “Oh dear...” *

Yana sat, staring out the window, trying to relax while eating her morning meal. Kit was showing up on their off days. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night, Yana didn’t particularly like the intrusions, but didn’t have the heart to stop her. Who else could she talk to about the unseen pains that had become her new existence?

Mentally willing the release of each muscle in her wasn’t working with Kit’s eyeballs attached to the back of her head. “Can you stop?”

“I’m worried about you,” Kit answered, Hidgeting with the food prep gadgets around her.

“Drilling a hole through my head is only going to annoy me,” Yana said, taking another bite. “It’s not like you can do anything about any of it anyway.” opened her mouth, and closed it.

Sitting down across from her, Kit began to Hidget with every item within her reach.

Flinching from an impact to her side, Yana kept eating. Kit’s eye lasered to where Yana assumed it had hit, most likely giving Kit a new and interesting glob of gory something to witness. The thudding pain of the impact wasn’t entirely gone when aching from the inside of her leg bone exploded. Yana winced slightly, recovering quickly enough to have Kit raise her eyebrows.

“It... it doesn’t hurt?” Kit asked hesitantly.

“It hurts a lot, as if someone planted an explosive inside the bone of my right leg and set it off. I can feel the shattering of the bone, the chunks and shards Hlying off... all of it.” Yana looked down at her solidly intact – but pounding – lower leg. “And yet, there it is.

“You need to stop staring at me. That’s not going to help anything either. I...” Yana’s breath left her as punch to her abdomen forced all the air out. Clearing her throat, and breathing evenly, she took another bite.

“How?!” Kit exploded.

“How what?” Yana asked, nonplussed.

“How are you not on the ground, curled up in a ball, crying in pain... something?! Something that isn’t just... this?!” Kit waved her hand at a seemingly relaxed Yana, still seated and eating.

“What...” she paused as another breath was knocked out. “What good would that do? You’re the only Mortal who can see what is happening to me. I can’t even see what I’m feeling. At work, when something painful happens, what would you have me do? Run to a physician, and show what, exactly? Nothing! Because there is nothing there!” Yana held up her hand up to stop Kit’s tirade. “Don’t tell me it’s nothing, I KNOW something is happening, but I can’t see it. A physician can’t heal what cannot be seen!”

“Well... that’s true,” Kit said forlornly, realizing Yana was right. “What can anyone do about something no one can see?”

“Exactly.”

“But, how do you just... sit there? I can see what it’s doing to your body, the pieces missing, the blood... but you’re just... just... so calm.” Kit put her chin in her hands, cocking her head slightly, brow furrowed, as if your point,” Yana said as she cleared her throat. “I’ve been hurting like this for long enough now, I’m... I’m not used to it, but I have a job to do; a life. I can’t stay curled up, so I breathe and do my best to not let anyone see when one hits.” She ended with shrug.

A zing to her skull had her bringing a Hist up, a twist, opening the palm and a shove, and... something... was pushed out into the world. Yana envisioned a wave pulsing through space, shoving stars and planets... somewhere... opening paths and portals to...

Kit was now used to her unusual hand movements, and waited for her to Hinish.

“You haven’t done anything wrong, nothing to deserve this. Stories of the Oracles mention punishments, but I don’t remember anything like this. It’s not right,” Kit pouted.

“No, it’s not, but what do you think I can do about it? The Guardian hasn’t been able to give you a good explanation. Who knows where everyone else is?” Yana said. “For now, this is it.”

A crack and thud of his body weight on his shoulder, and Donal found himself rolling down an embankment, smearing dirt thoroughly into his clothing. Pushing to sitting, he looked at what he could see and decided it wasn’t worth the effort of any attempt to be clean, not even a swipe of his hands. Standing, he realized the cracking noise had been his exit up from the ground, through a roof and some trees, and up from different ground.

“Cursed portals are going to Higure out how to kill me,” he muttered. A quick glance around and he headed to the left, his feet barely touching the memorized path.

A disheveled Guardian ghosted in next to him, keeping pace.

Slow, thudding throbs started at her elbows, traveled down toward her Hingers, before stopping midway, the thumps pulsing from inside the bones. Yana inhaled, deep and even, keeping her eyes on her food, her twisted frown the only hint she was in pain.

“Compared to some of the... attacks...” she resented saying the word out loud, giving the concept life in her world, “these are nothing...”

“But, this is like...” she paused as Yana’s mouth twisted again, “maybe hundreds. Just for this morning. If you really have Higured out a way to temper the pain, who knows how bad it was last night… or any night.”

Yana snorted with a mouthful, chuckling and hacking simultaneously. “It’s not close to that many, but I get

“How did you not go crashing up through layers of realms, yet still end up looking as bad as I do?” Donal quipped.

“What makes you believe that I did not do just that?” the Guardian asked.

“I don’t see leaves, shrubs, or dirt on you. It just looks like you went through a tempest. An especially breezy one,” Donal said with a grin. Pulling a lever from the air, he slid it up the side of a locked entry and opened the door. Looking over his shoulder. “You have to promise not to tell Ebbe about this place.”

“I will do no such thing.”

Donal turned, determined to stare down the blackeyed Guardian. This time.

“Yes, you will, or I won’t let you in, and you may not be able to Hind your brother without what’s inside.”

His stare did not waver in the slightest, but his hesitation to answer expanded the silence.

Donal hoped his inner glee at Hinally making the Guardian speechless was not radiating on his face.

“How did you know he was my brother, when few knew there were two of us to begin with?”

“That is rather simple. You’d have to be identical in abilities and appearance, or everyone would know there were two. What else makes sense, besides identical looking brothers?” Donal answered with a shrug, shadowed with a hint of smugness.

“Indeed.”

“Now, that promise?”

“I am assuming much of what’s inside has illusion to it because it is hidden from all, which is illegal, but which you have never shied from, and I also assume you have accumulated many other illegal items, some of which could get Ebbe or Emme, or both, into turmoil with the Concilium.” The Guardian spoke matter of factly, though Donal heard the question in it. “Promise?”

The Guardian pursed his lips. It was the most emotion Donal had witnessed to date. The Guardian spoke Hirmly. “I will not promise to never tell them, and depending upon what I see, the danger levels may necessitate an immediate response, but, for the moment, I will say nothing.”

“Danger, but not illegal levels?”

“It would seem that more than you delve into the illegal, as the inability to communicate with either Ebbe or Emme, or any in the Hereafter unless on that plane, and the continuously malfunctioning portals...”

“I’ll take that as a ‘Yes’, then,” Donal chuckled. Turning, he opened the doorway. What seemed to be an entry to a small room began to expand rapidly at a snap and Hlick of Hingers. The rushing of air told of continued expansion, even when the sight of it was no longer possible.

“Impressive,” the Guardian said.

“From what I’ve been able to discover, this rivals the libraries of the Stars and the Concilium combined,” Donal said with pride.

“You did all this?”

“Yes, well, no. While Spirits, this was Yana’s passion more so than mine, though I actively added to it. Since my Mortal death, I’ve taken the time to explore and add more. She put a lot in here to simply have somewhere to put it; at least I thought that was all it was. But the more I’ve gone through things, the more I’ve wondered...” the Path, that knowledge could be literally at her Hingertips right now,” he answered.

“If she knew she was the Leveler.” It was a statement from the Guardian, not a question.

“Yeah. I think she knew, and I think she hid more in here than anyone else about who she is, was, should, or is supposed to be,” Donal said, not sure how to quantify it.

“That changes much of what we assumed about her,” the Guardian mumbled.

“But the Divide in her memories...”

“Is still there, or her body would perish. Mortal minds cannot hold the vastness of what is learned as a Spirit, however, you should know from your own Mortal time, knowledge and memories can come forward, if needed, to assist in you on your Path,” the Guardian Hinished.

“True, pieces did show up,” Donal muttered, Hingering the side of an endless bookshelf. Stepping to the other side, he kicked his foot against the Hloor twice and slapped the top of the shelves. Appearing from nowhere, a dais stood between two rows. Tapping out a sigil in the middle and pressing his thumbs on each side, a soft glow pulsed, growing until it lit the entirety of the chamber.

“Most impressive.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

A raised eyebrow was Donal’s only answer. Donal touched a blue panel Hloating above the dais, and a map, in full dimension, opened. “So this is the map of this place. An AI I built updates it constantly. Let’s see here...” he muttered and began pushing, pulling, tossing entire sections to one side or the other.

“If you don’t stop to look at what you’re tossing about, how do you know what you are looking for is not in them?” the Guardian asked, genuinely confused. “Intention.”

“What?”

“Intention. The AI is programmed to know what I need, without me having to say anything. It reads my mind, my intentions. See?” Donal reached toward a previously ignored section. “It didn’t glow or turn on or change colors, so it has nothing I need in it.”

“How...”

“Before you Hinish that question, do you really want to know the answer?” Donal asked without looking up, continuing to toss.

The Guardian paused, “Perhaps not.”

“Didn’t think so.” Donal pushed and tossed, Hlicked open, pinched closed, silent and intent for several clicks. “And here it is: an exact location. But... Yana made this – recently,” Donal whispered in wonder.

Glossery of Names and Terms

Alil–AH leel (husband)

Alili–AH leelee (wife)

Ama-(Ah mah) - mom

Concilium–cohn SIL eeyum (a council of high gods/goddesses who guide others on the Path of Progression and oversee much of the running of the Hereafter)

Corrupt–the dead whose Mortal life choices and doings align them with evil and the Demons

Datter-(daa tr) - daughter

Deisos–DEE sohs (after death “paradise”)

Deisos Teacher(s)–Mortals spiritually and higher skilled than Oracles, rarer too, few known, can talk to/see Ebbe/Emme when allowed

Donal–DOH nul (male protagonist)

Ebbe–EH beh (Cycle God)

Emme–EH mee (Cycle Goddess)

Gods/Goddesses–those who were Incorrupt, then passed their various tests and trials in Deisos, allowing their ascension to godhood on the Path of Progression; god(s) is often gender neutral, as they are equals, but lazy, and the word is shorter to write/ say Ochuroma–O schu ROH mah (after death “hell”)Hereafter–the life continuation along the Path of Progression that occurs after Mortal existence endsIncorrupt–the dead whose Mortal life choices and doings align them with the gods/ goddessesGuardian–a guide, helper, from Deisos, who assists Mortals

Oracles–Mortal version of prophets, seers who can talk to/see the Incorrupt, Guardians, Void - realm of the Demons (devoid of light)

Yana–YAH nuh (female protagonist)