My Adventures in Book Writing…

When I first saw the printed and bound copy of my book, I was overjoyed. Four-plus years of writing, researching, and editing had finally come to fruition. Little did I realize my adventures in book writing were just beginning.

Since October 1, 2021, the official release date of Five Hundred Moons, I’ve been involved with marketing, albeit at a relatively slow pace. 

It’s challenging to say the least.

I started with some posts on Facebook, sent out e-mails to family and friends, and visited the local independent book stores, which now seem to be limited to one per municipality. I found that about half of the local bookstores didn’t want to consign my book because I was on Amazon and didn’t use their preferred supplier, Ingram. To increase additional interest in the book I gave out free copies to local museums and libraries. I met a lot of nice people, but my book sales remained slow and slower. I encouraged those who had purchased a copy to write a review on Amazon, but those best-laid plans fizzled out as well.

Although I’m no Internet whiz, I did a promotion on Goodreads, offering twenty free Kindle copies to anyone who signed up for the drawing. (About 250 people entered). I paid $99 to BookBub for an advertising package and recently entered a Kindle Book Award contest as well as another Giveaway promotion. Sales have not soared, but at least I’m getting a little bit more tech savvy. Yes, I didn’t write the book to make money, but it would be nice to have more people read it!

On a positive note, I did catch the attention of a feature writer for the Monterey Herald, who did a nice review for her newspaper. I also got some press in the Soquel-Capitola Times bi-weekly paper and an interview in the Watsonville Pajaronian. A book signing in Salinas, an online reading for Santa Cruz Writes and a neighborhood pot-luck/book sale pretty much sums up my current marketing strategy. Oh, I must mention that I got recognition for my novel’s opening sentence in a recent edition of BookLife!

But it’s all good. I get flattered when people (mostly friends) say that Five Hundred Moons should be a Hollywood miniseries or that I need to come out with an audio version. I was particularly touched when my high school sweetheart from the early seventies sent me a Facebook message saying she read my book and really loved it. That was the icing on the cake!


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