I’ve written about the writing process before. Writing comes naturally to me. That is, stories come naturally to me, since I’ve led such a colorful and insane life. I also write every day: Blog drafts, working on my newest novel, or just composing posts on Facebook.

I’ve been blogging for more than fifteen years, I’ve got three books up on Amazon and I’m working on three more. The writing? That’s the easy part. The worst part, and the most difficult thing about writing, is promoting it.

I’ve tried out Google ads as well as Facebook ads, and I’ve come to a conclusion: I could A) Continue to buy ads from Google Adwords as well as Facebook ads, or B) I could drive down the street and toss money out of the window. Both seem to have the same affect.

It probably doesn’t help that I’m going down the literary fiction road. There are people writing genre fiction who are doing healthy business. I only have respect for people who write Fantasy or Romance or Crime thrillers. That kind of genre writing is tougher than it looks! I gotta say though, it seems an easier sell.

I occasionally admonish my friends to help out, just by a cheap Kindle copy or two, and maybe leave a review if they have the time. It’s not that I think I’m going to rake it in if all of my friends buy a copy, it’s that the more it sells and the more reviews a book gets, the higher its visibility on Amazon and on search engines. It’s just kindling for hopefully better sales.

I guess I don’t have the marketing chops. Maybe I’m just not using the right keywords or don’t have a knack for composing good ad copy. Maybe I’m not going after enough followers. Maybe… I don’t know. There’s something I’m missing. Occasionally I’ll hit up “How to market your book” articles or videos, but they just tell me to use tools that I’ve already utilized.

I did talk to a friend of mine who has a lot of experience with fundraising and promotion. She basically let me know that people have extremely short attention spans. If you don’t catch their eye in the first few words they’ll scroll on by. If you don’t pique their interest in the 0.65 seconds that they scan your post/tweet/ad/whatever, they move onto the next thing.

Because of short attention spans? Probably. But also because there is so much stuff and gunk and junk on thee internets. Having a Facebook page or Twitter means you have the tools to potentially reach millions of people all over the world! It also means you’re competing with everyone else who’s promoting themselves out there.

There are tons of people promoting their writing. Trying to get noticed in that forest is a challenge. This is so even though the writing community is really supportive. Writers on Twitter are constantly doing writers lifts, hashtagging with #WriterCommunity to follow each others accounts, retweet book promos of other writers, and offering support and advice.

Even so, hawking books still feels like an uphill battle. I’m still looking for that hook, that ad, that blog post, that spark that will start something, that will go viral, or semi-viral. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get on the news for something ridiculous, and then I’ll see my book sales start to take off.

A marketing manager said that if you have any kind of website that shows content, you should just keep throwing new content up, because there is no way to predict what will go viral. I’ve stood agape when a laughing woman playing with a Wookie mask took over the internet, or that “What color is this dress?” meme that went all over the place. Truly there is no way to predict what will take off, and what will really get you out there.

I soldier on!