Self-Promotion is Important

As many of you know, my first published work, Lost Haven-A Shine Novella was published in March. Having prepared for this day, I had my self-promotion tools lined up and it did very well. What many of you may not know is that I own a trophy company with my hub. The month of May is what I like to refer to as our 'hell month' as it is end of school awards time. Unfortunately, with long sixteen hour plus days, I barely had time to eat much less keep up with my promotions. With constant deadlines, I barely thought of my debut novella. My numbers plummeted.

I knew self-promotion was important, but after this experience, I now realize it more than ever.

So, I'm going to share 3 promotion tips that I've found to be the most important.

1. Consistency- This one has been made painfully clear for me. You have to keep up a consistent effort to promote your work. It won't promote itself. You can't expect to promote for a short amount of time, then just stop and it'll keep being seen by new readers. You have to put in the time and hard work...and it will be lots of time and hard work.

2. Be Shameless- I don't mean spam, but you can't be afraid to share your work. If you're anything like me, you feel self-conscious when you talk about your work. I've had to figure out how to get over that...I'm still working on that one...and you must get over it also. If you don't tell people about your work, no one else is going to either. Your friends' posts include pictures of their kids, their political leanings, and even the annoying post about what they eat for every God loving meal. So why can't you share what you're doing?

3. Hone your craft while you self-promote- If you're a writer like me, write amazing blog posts, share snippets of your writing, participate in blog hops that bring people to you. If you're an artist, post samples of your work on Pinterest. If you're a musician, post samples of your music on YouTube. This will give people a taste of your voice, style, or sound and create interest that will bring them back for more.

And now for my shameless plug *grin*, Check out my debut novella, Lost Haven, on Amazon today in e-book or print version, coming soon to audio. And if you've already read it, please be sure to back and leave a review.