The Author Has Many Roles in Today's Market

Sales and marketing are not always an author’s strongest trait. As authors we focus on the writing, creating worlds and characters to tell a story. With the ever changing world of book publishing, these days authors have to fill many roles, walk in many shoes, including sales and marketing if we have any hope of our books being seen and making sales.

Sales and marketing is not my strongest trait. In fact, it’s my weakest trait. I believe in the books I write but trying to sell them to the public is difficult. I would like to blame it on my Minnesota upbringing—you know, the nicest state in the Union—but it might not be just that. It just isn’t easy to do what I feel is pushing myself on others.

I publish a book and I feel invisible. It gets buried in the pile of millions of books. Even a week or two after the publish date when I search out my book on Amazon it’s difficult to find. I tell myself, well, I write to write, the passion is in the writing. The truth is, without sales, writing is not a feasible endeavor. Yet I continue to write and publish, hoping that eventually my books will be seen and purchased. It’s a passion.