As Finn hits the digital shelves, I have been thinking about promo. Probably too much but nevertheless, that’s me. Over-analysis is my thing. Mainly because people have been asking me if I did anything special to promote Finn. I have to tell you that no, I haven’t.
But I guess that’s kind of wrong. Because this blog is part of my promo – I’ve had it for about four years now – and people have been reading it. And I’ve had a bit of an online presence for a while too which has been really good in terms of meeting my CPs and chatting with other writers. Like any business, contacts within the industry can be extremely helpful when it comes to getting your name out there.
But apart from the blog and Twitter (and Facebook to a lesser extent) I really haven’t done much in the way of promoting myself. Mainly because I wasn’t sure what to do. How much is too much 
promo? And where do you start?
I complained about it to dear Dr Jax, who is a bit of an angler,and I thought his take on promo was an interesting one. He thought it was a bit like fishing. You go out onto the ocean, where you think there might be some fish. Then you drop in a line. If you’re lucky, there’ll be some fish and they’ll like your bait and you’ll hook one. More often than not, you’ll sit there for hours waiting and nothing will happen. In which case you might try a different method – perhaps with a lure this time. If you’re still not catching any fish, it may be the problem with the lure. Or your bait. Or that you’re fishing in a spot where there aren’t any fish. Problem is, how do you know if there are fish there or not? Well, you don’t, not for sure. Most of the time you’re casting your net or your line and hoping that some fish somewhere are attracted by your bait and might swim close enough to check it out.
Anyway, I guess the point I’m trying to make is that there aren’t any certainties when it comes to promo and worrying about it can eat your head. It’s certainly been eating mine for the past week. What is clear to me now, from the reviews I’ve had on various websites and feedback from readers, is that when someone REALLY likes you, they want to keep reading your books. So really, the best promo you can do is keep writing. Keep putting books out there for people to buy and read.
Because all the promo in the world isn’t going to help if you don’t have the books for people to buy.
Anyone have any other thoughts on this?