Trouble getting out of the gates/personal power - Discussions, questions

leorising Runner chic, love is the key.

RunnerChic85 » leorising Thank you, I appreciate your response Do you mean self-love or love for others? Or both? These whole 9 months, writing and illustrating this, and when I put this out there, I truly felt this came from a place of love, for people, especially marginalized children, and for society as a whole, and felt this book has a great purpose, really felt signs—just doesn’t make any sense why this is falling flat. Quite depressing actually, and making me really question whether I interpreted the signs correctly.

leorising » RunnerChic85 I remember your last posts on the forum, for what you told me .. I believe that love is missing inside your brain. the love your mother should have given you. the connection between you and your mother was not good, it has to be redone. from what I have already researched, this connection occurs when the baby is born.

Nani Nanook How are you marketing your book?

I’m going to put my business hat on right now...

It might not be the best idea to disclose the title here on the forum to protect your beautiful identity but, here is an example of a missed promotional opportunity.

Here are some things you can do:

I would suggest sending them to as many schools in WI as possible. See if you can get in contact with the guidance counselors. Also, counselors/child therapists. Maybe even the county economic health and services department. Ask them to put the book in the waiting room. Same goes for Pediatricians. Reach out to your local Chamber of Commerce. Small towns are great at supporting their locals. Newspapers are a thing of the past so, I would sent a Facebook message to the city’s page. You never know, you could be the next big story.

Definitely reach out to all your family and friends and ask each of them to tell 3 people about it.

Now here’s the thing, Prepare yourself for rejection. The rule of sales is that, “It takes 7 no’s to get a yes”. But, in your case, I think those numbers are high.

Decide how many you will give away as a promotional expense. You can increase the price of your book to cover those costs.

Switching hats...

Your book is how you tell the world you love them. The very essence of a woman’s nurturing nature. Financial gain is one side of marketing but there’s also that source of connection that is far more valuable. Be proud of yourself. Our cyber paths have crossed in these forums and I am proud of you too.

fishscales "I had a supervisor in the past tell me I just seem to lack that “it” factor, that factor that draws people in and influences them."

Sounds like BS to me. Plus, you´re selling a book...not something first hand where supposed "charisma" is a factor...I´m not saying you have no charisma... But a good salesman is going to talk alot of smack, and probably say alot of things that aren´t true...just because the buyer wants to hear them...And you don´t strike me as that type of person.

You are selling your work here. You don´t need to be a "salesman"... Let the work speak for itself.

But...

You do have to let people know your work exists. It´s a big internet out there, with alot of kids books for sale...

On that score, nani has some good ideas...

fishscales » Nani Nanook "Your book is how you tell the world you love them"

Switched to...

"This book is how ´runner´ tells the world she loves them..."

Hell of a line for a book jacket...

Maybe you should write the blurb

Nani Nanook » fishscales You are selling your work here. You don´t need to be a "salesman"... Let the work speak for itself.
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Yes, I agree. Another idea would be to come up with a pitch and dialogue. That can help eliminate the feelings of the “salesman” approach.

Second, you could consider hiring someone to do it for you.

RunnerChic85 » Nani Nanook Thanks for this info...my husband just came home from work, and I was talking to him, and actually another user...a book like this might sell better in schools than on online. One of the people that has already bought it is the owner of my kids’ daycare center.

“Your book is how you tell the world you love them. The very essence of a woman’s nurturing nature. Financial gain is one side of marketing but there’s also that source of connection that is far more valuable.”

This!! Making money is nice, but knowing I’m making a difference is far more important to me. Thank you for your kind words

RunnerChic85 » fishscales

Nani Nanook » RunnerChic85 You are welcome

It’s not a bad idea to offer both formats.

Because, Wow! You are also a talented artist! The illustrations are beautiful and reflect a vibrant imagination. You should definitely showcase this aspect too.

Would you ever consider making it a series?

Astro-Seek.com System message: Post has been written by user goldenlion32, who already deleted profile on this website:
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You have to market your book. Which is making a website. Using different social media platforms. Twitter, Facebook Groups that promote books for sale. There should be many other book seller websites. Then there is instagram. Usually you have to push your book sales yourself. Just publishing it on a platform will not move the book for you. Maybe might have to get on Periscope, Make a Podcast, and talk a bit about it. If you have the hard back option you might have to take some to local libraries. Maybe talk to book stores around you community.

Astro-Seek.com » RunnerChic85 System message: Post has been written by user goldenlion32, who already deleted profile on this website:
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One think you have to learn about writing books, is one book won´t get you anywhere. You´re competing with people who are putting out a short-read every week in non-fiction. And if you have long book with 300-500 pages it´s a lot of pushing you book as I stated.

There´s the business entrepreneurs who pay other people to write their books and just put their name on it. And you have the real authors competing with them. Which Amazon did get down on them because they were rigging reviews, fake reviews, and they weeded that out with some kind of bot. So, do not have fake reviews and don´t ask others to give you fake reviews. Since they know all the tricks and they do track your links around the internet.

So you have to play by the platforms rules no matter what one, you lose sales, you get black listed if you get with the wrong peeps that are cheating others out of the business. It´s quite a journey, so don´t take it personally if you´re not making money just sitting there. You have to change the key words sometimes. Sometimes the cover. You have to find out what your audience is hooked into buying.

ram_goat » goldenlion32 I think goldenlion is right here.. it´s marketing. You have to flood the channel with your message to get noticed, and it´s a very crowded space. People aren´t going to just "find" you, or if they do, it´s going to take a long long time. It´s just how it goes. Even silly books like tell-alls that have only a brief moment in the sun, get relentlessly pumped by their authors and publishers. If don´t have the time or the energy to promote, then you´ll be waiting a long time. This doesn´t have to be a bad thing. Be a player of the long game..

J.K. Rowling was a fluke. Most authors live and write in obscurity for many many years before they are discovered. You have to accept that and be content with that dynamic. And children´s books is a very crowded space to begin with.

It´s ok to not like marketing. It can be vile.

Nani Nanook » ram_goat So let me ask you and Golden, how many stories have you read to a child on kindle?

As a mother, the children books I find are usually from a library, my local bookstore, my kids school fundraisers or are a recommendation from another parent or adolescent professional.

I also know what it’s like to live in a small town in Wisconsin. There’s an old fashioned way about the people.

I’m not saying, don’t use the internet for marketing, at all. But It can be very impersonal and a bit overwhelming to someone that doesn’t have a degree in the field. I think she has a degree in child psychology? Not to mention, expensive to hire someone to do it. A tangible product attached to a personal connection is just another reason to buy it.

Starting locally might just be a good first step and a boost of confidence. It could also open doors to more opportunities where she lives to creating business relationships with other professionals in her field. Emphasis on building the community and strengthening.

ram_goat » Nani Nanook how many stories have you read to a child on kindle?

Zero.

It´s all about the book.. the one on one time.

Somehow kindle just doesn´t cut it.

Hold the book, look at the book, turn the pages of the book,
turn them backwards, forwards.. You hold the book, I hold the book,
point at something on the page..

it´s an event and an experience in its own right.

and none of that quite carries over in a kindle version.

To be honest, sitting an reading a book operates and teaches things to a kid on many many levels. Kindle for older ones, maybe.. teenagers.

Young kids learn to sit (somewhat) still, not be spazzy, focus, concentrate, interact with another person, not talk over eachother..

there are 1000 subtle lessons and practice of lessons that have nothing to do with the book, but are catalyzed by the book. A form of socialization and social interaction. The practice transfers over to things as diverse as table manners to behaving right at school.

rohini moon » ram_goat I still buy actual books. Have a whole lot of them...I never liked the Kindle idea. At all. For reading for long periods of time (which I will do) staring at that bright computer screen? It´s damaging and torturous to your eyesight! I always thought that was the stupidest idea for people To read books on. No offense to anyone personally who likes it, but my eyes don´t.

Nani Nanook » ram_goat You are absolutely right about all of this.

I would totally sit and listen to you read a story.

Ram_goat...community Handy Man and StoryTeller

ram_goat » rohini moon I can only do it with night mode. My eyes can´t handle black text on a white background either.. I go snowblind reading that way.

Other than that I am ok with reading off a screen. Books are cool too but I don´t like the clutter anymore. I too have tons of physical books, but you can only have so many.. and.. silverfish!!

rohini moon » ram_goat My eyes can´t handle black text on a white background either.. I go snowblind reading that way.


Yes!! It´s bad. I hate that..!

RunnerChic85 » goldenlion32 I’m already using Facebook, that’s really the only social media platform I know well...I’m trying to learn more about Instagram though, and my husband’s friend said this afternoon he’d help me with marketing. Yeah marketing is something I don’t know much about, and I don’t know many people who do, so I’ll either need to search for people who do, or research ways to do it myself. I also plan to email the local schools, since school is starting soon.

RunnerChic85 » leorising Thank you—I think you hit it right on. I have a general love for humanity, and love for individuals once trust is gained and I am able to let down the walls, but self-love is something that’s a work in progress—slowly getting better, and stems back to childhood.

ram_goat » RunnerChic85 Donate a few copies to libraries or hospitals.. get your name out there.

And don´t stress. These things take time.

RunnerChic85 » ram_goat Good point—March to May when we had to do virtual learning because of Covid, their teachers had them read e-books, but my kids preferred hard copies.

RunnerChic85 » rohini moon I swear this is why my eyes are terrible—I stare at a screen all day when I work! I filter out the blue light and dim it to 50% so that helps. For me what’s the worst though is a black screen with white text—we have a system that has that—kills my eyes.

RunnerChic85 » Nani Nanook Thank you 😀 And yes, I’ve thought about a series, even thought about where the next one would start off 🙂