Last week, this website was a living, breathing, evolving creature. Thanks to my friends at MakeShyft, who took a broken, neglected and out-of-date piece of the web and gave it new life, quickly and economically. I’ve appreciated everyone’s comments about it and hope it’s easy to navigate now.
Make the Media Want You is now on sale. Several blog posts and reviews have been written about it including a wonderful one by Erin Davis. My friend Dan recommended the book during his presentation to a public relations class. Readers are also saying good things about it on social media.
The real test is reviews on sellers like Amazon and Kobo. There are just a few so far and I wish I could impress upon everyone who reads a book that it’s crucial for the author to have that book reviewed. Sometimes reviews aren’t very kind but as long as they’re honest, it’s part of the process that an author must accept.
Years ago, on Amazon I believe, I responded to a terrible review and I shouldn’t have done that! But in my defense, the reviewer had written a long, poor synopsis of The Naked Truth, chapter by chapter. It had mind-numbing detail and was a terrible rewrite, not a review. I couldn’t resist saying so. However, it’s best that I remain a detached observer who’s thankful that the book was read at all. And I am thankful. I’m still in awe that anyone wants to read something I’ve written!
Carolyn Arnold, international best-selling author, is a friend as well as a valuable writing resource. She and her husband George deserve the credit for making MTMWY look as good as it does. They’re the duo behind Hibbert and Stiles publishing and they guided me through the entire process. My previous three books were eBooks only, so delving into print was a new experience. Carolyn is a prolific writer of crime fiction series (Madison Knight, Brandon Fisher) and – my personal favourite – the Matthew Connor adventure series. She has more than one-million downloads to her credit and George knows all of the ins and outs of the publishing world. He is also very patient when the author (me) asks him a question for the third time in as many months! I can’t thank them enough for their expertise and influence, and I highly recommend them.
Like so many writers, I don’t have a budget for a big marketing campaign. I’m not tied to a giant publisher who will promote on my behalf. I’ll have to knock on some doors to get the physical book into local stores. (Ugh, not my strong suit, but I believe in it so I will do it.) So it’s up to some social marketing, word of mouth and reviews to spread the word. MTMWY is like my little baby bird. I nurtured it (fed it worms!), taught it to use its wings, and now I’m pushing it out of the nest. I can’t wait to see how far it will fly.