The One About Motivation

In which I have not much, but need a lot

Photo by Jean-Karim Dangou on Unsplash

I just read a fascinating depressing article in WIRED about how social media platforms are gaming us for our hard earned author dollars. No real shock to me. It is as I suspected. Anyone with even a little bit of experience in sales or marketing or selling things online could’ve guessed it was happening. I have done nothing but sales, marketing and selling things in my half-century-plus of living. So yeah. I pretty much understood that all of it — the “boost this!” and “reach more people with paid thats!” — was the proverbial snake oil, supplements/quick weight loss with no diet option/make money with bitcoin sort of opportunity. Breathless, eager, and, brightly colored, and earnestly composed invitations … for me to toss my money into the toilet.

And yet, I did it. With hope and much glee. I even paid Super Experts to (repeatedly) teach me how to aim better to ensure that the money landed properly in the toilet bowl. I’ve attended so many webinars and zoom chats and social media groups swearing that if I but follow their program/secret sauce recipe that I, too, will be raking in the Big Dollars and fending off movie optioning and whatnot, I am somewhat loathe to admit it. But here I am. Admitting it. Yes, I did a tik tok or two that made no sense to me but got me several hundred looks and no sales. See: the Heated Tool.

I am was prime sucker #1 for a MORE BOOK SALES sales pitch. There was a time in my 15-year authorial career that I clicked every last link in every single email I received promising me THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF TWITTER VIEWERS or A BA-ZILLION CLICKS or (my personal favorite) GUARANTEED RESULTS. The only guarantee was that of disappointment. I got super duper great at self-justifying it, though. “Next month,” I said to myself. “Next month I’ll see the results.”

I have since had that quote about “insanity” and “expecting different results” tattooed onto my….consciousness. And I keep it on a post it note nearby for good measure.

I hit this realization that maybe, just maybe, these various operators of promotional opportunities had nothing but their own interests bank balances in mind, about the same time that I was struggling with the decision whether or not to self publish everything I ever write going forward. Those simultaneous lightbulbs were both blinding, and discouraging in the extreme. I mean, I only have so many dollars to work with. I can’t justify pulling money from the household budgets for my favorite pastime: watching as the greenbacks swirl around before disappearing into the sewer with so much as a backwards glance, or a guarantee of success. How in the world could I justify just going out there and “marketing” my “self published books” without a five figure budget?

The answer: I might as well.

I don’t want to stop writing books. And I have enough material to release a book a month this year, which I am going to do. And I will use things like my newsletter that communicates directly with 3k+/- engaged readers, a bunch of newsletter exchanges and swaps, and some of my more realistic (read: realistic) groups to co-market, as my tools. I’m even going to throw a couple of thrillers out there Published by Yours Truly this year because why the hell not?

I had planned to revive my social media ad plan and Prepare to Launch More Dollars towards the general bathroom area. Then I read that dang article which basically told me what I already know.

The big influential social media sites give a Giant Teddy Bear to one or two rubes (who are now NYT best selling authors with movie deals and 6-figure incomes from writing thanks to a heated tool and yeah I write romance but not THAT heated tool), shove them out into the midway and tell them to tell everyone that YES! You CAN win a Giant Teddy Bear if you just over there and give that guy with the hat and the big grin your money in exchange for something to throw or shoot at something else that is 100% Guaranteed to be rigged against you.

As you can see, this is de-motivating in the extreme. But hey, I have material, I have a teensy fan base, I’m on all the socials and have been known to toss out a video or 3 on the site with the clock name too. But I will be damned if I give any of the current millionaire owners of any sites any money ‘cause that teddy bear bit isn’t fooling me anymore.

Oh hey I listened to an awesome book series this year and can highly recommend it if you like 100% made up worlds that are creative, female centric and/or gender balanced.

The Broken Earth series by N.K. Jesamin is excellent in audio.

I’m halfway through HORSE by one of my favorite authors, Geraldine Brooks. I’ve taken a break from it though because I see a plot thing coming that I dread and I don’t know if I want to read it yet. If you haven’t already, you should read People of the Book or The Year of Wonders by her. She has an amazing way of telling a story by weaving histories and storylines of different people together. Her novels are so intricate and well thought out is almost hurts my head on some levels. But I’ve yet to read anything by her that I didn’t enjoy.

Finally, I recently read and enjoyed a holiday romance novella by Kelly Reynolds. Meet Me in Los Feliz has well considered fat rep, a non-traditional alpha hero (he’s short and he likes to paint his nails but he's a Dom), and a lot of fun (read: explicit) scenes with sex toys. It definitely feels like a set up for a series as there were more side characters floating around than typical for a novella but they were intriguing. Some of the pop culture references went over my head because I am an Old (and I'm not a fan of having as many as this book does, but that's just me).

Kelly is the host of a romance podcast called Boobies and Noobies and she’s fun to follow on the required socials.
4 stars. Lively debut of a no-doubt future best selling author.

My new series about a fictional pro soccer team set in Detroit will release this year. Book one: RED CARD is out next Tuesday, Jan. 31. Book two: SHUT OUT releases Feb. 28. Both are pre-order-able. If you like Ted Lasso (for soccer, comedy, and workplace romance) and also like This Is Us or Grey’s or Euphoria for angst, soapy plot twists, and family drama, then you will enjoy this series. Those titles are clickable. Check ‘em out. Or not. It’s a free country.

Oh here are the requisite marketing graphics for them, complete with arrows.

The Black Jack Gentlemen, Detroit’s pro soccer team

Players are winning matches and hearts in this Ted Lasso-style soccer series with banter, sexy times, and drama.

Until next time.

Liz