Do Obstacles Provide Smarts?

We encounter obstacles in life that (should) provide us with knowledge and experience. Going through hoops give us a clue as to why obstacles are there. Sometimes, however, we place them in our own paths.

If your marketing/selling ways are not working out for you, why do you persist in defending them? As writers, we are told to sell books and promote them, so why are boxes of your books sitting on the dining room floor? Excuses flow as we do not want to go through the effort to sell them one by one.

Perhaps you have a unique way of selling, but is it working for you? Do you need assistance but are too stubborn to ask for help? Befriending successful colleagues is a good way to leave bad marketing techniques behind and move on with what works. Stacking up on books, art, or paintings in your home is not only a fire hazard, it is not marketing your book nor doing anything for you. Break the literary/artsy fantasy bubble and get on with the marketing and selling.

• Sell your books on Craigslist under your genre, describe if it is fiction/nonfiction, say if it is a best seller.
• Make a 30 second YouTube commercial of your book.
• Put your book on every social network page you own, and create a book page.
• Rent a table during local festivals, better yet, get together with another author/artist and share table expenses.
• Go to book stores and offer to do a book event for them.
• Get a five minute radio time and sell your books at a discount.
• If your books are reasonably low priced, sell your book in the street, or subway.

Do what it takes to be successful, laurels are for winners who work hard and achieve results. Any other ideas? Please share them with us!