The UGH in Marketing—And How to Compound Your Efforts

Part 1 in a two-part series about marketing.
 
I hope you don’t mind a bit of humor this morning, because sometimes self-publishing makes me want to type the word UGH across the page until my fingers cramp and curl into little arthritic balls of pain.
 
This is not a cry for help. Everything is fine. I’m a published author, and my books “sell” really well when I give them away for free. Ha ha!
 
Sarcasm aside, not everything about self-publishing is happy and exciting. Marketing, for instance, can be a slow and frustrating crawl. Which is also fine, considering I knew that when I jumped on this path.
 
Whether exciting or bland, the journey is what it is, and I’m here to share it with you. To me, the day-to-day of marketing has been mostly bland with the occasional spice of excitement thrown in. For many of you who have already published, I’m sure you can relate.
 
Steady She Goes
 
Every day I attempt to do some marketing for my sci-fi novels, The Jovian Duology. Some days are more productive than others. For instance, once in a while I have a guest blog come out on a popular platform and my author website enjoys a traffic spike and a host of new subscribers, or I do a Countdown Deal or Free Book Promotion and my books climb the Amazon rankings ladder.

Other days, I struggle to put together an interesting post on Instagram and garner about a dozen likes, and that’s the extent of my visibility for the day.
 
But I know I have to keep going, even on those boring days.

+ Because selling books doesn’t happen without effort.

+ Because we can’t just list our books on Amazon and expect them to take off.

+ We can’t snap our fingers and get the influencers to take notice.

+ We don’t have Reese in our phone contacts.
 
My first book, They Will Be Coming for Us, came out one year ago, June 1, 2021. And this is the point in my author career when I must remind myself to be patient. This is when the “I’m in it for the long haul” rears its head for real. It’s either keep going or give up, and you know I’m not giving up.
 
So … patience, it is.

Compounding Will Get You There
 
When not much seems to be happening even though I’ve been working diligently, I try to remember that there’s a little spark of energy in every effort I make. And those little sparks are coming together in the ether, gathering strength in the not-too-distance future. As a whole, that group of sparks is called “compounding.” And it’s a real thing.
 
Do you know the book, The Compound Effect? It’s written by the self-named “world’s biggest believer in consistency,” Darren Hardy.
 
Basically what Hardy says is that if you go at your goal like the tortoise in that legendary race with the hare—if you stay focused and develop a routine of positive actions—you will eventually reach a point where your efforts take off like gangbusters.
 
Sounds magical, but if you read his book, you will see there’s not much magic involved. This theory is based on steady, focused effort.
 
Over time, things that don’t seem to have a lot of significance start to add up and create momentum and movement in the direction you want to move.

Hardy uses the example of a water pump. In the beginning, when you pump the water, you might only get a few drops (of success), but if you keep with it every day, if you continue to pump that water, soon you’ll have a steady stream.

Have Faith
 
I am a believer in compounding. I have to be because there’s no way we authors can make everything happen for our books in a day or a week, a month or even a year. Not much we do marketing wise is quick and easy. Nothing is one and done.
 
So, when I’m feeling like not much is happening, I remind myself of the compound effect. I don’t have to do anything too big or demanding today; I just need to remain consistent and focused in my efforts. Make that post, write that blog, query that podcast, set up the promotion or in-person event—and continue to write.
 
Because that’s really what it’s all about.
 
Next week's blog post will list up some of the daily marketing tasks that if done consistently can help your book break out.

Kim Catanzarite is an editor and a blogger, and the author of The Jovian Duology. She reads books about marketing on a daily basis. Learn more at www.AuthorKimCatanzarite.com.