Marketing is not as hard as you think it is!
Learn how my nine and ten year old nieces inspired me to see that certain things were not as hard as I imagined them to be.
This will also open up your mind about marketing your book.
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The Story
I was on vacation and spent time with my nieces at my sister’s house. At their house, my sister has displayed several of their paintings. I thought that it would be fun to have my nieces paint pictures for me that I could post in my condo and be reminded of them.
My husband and I have not been able to have children, so I am really close to my nieces. They are like extension and being my own kids in a way. I really love them so much. So, I asked them to paint some pictures for me.
My sister and I went to Walmart and bought a couple canvases, some paint, and art supplies. I was surprised at how inexpensively you can buy supplies. We got the canvases for about $2 each, a 2 pack for $4, and the paint was $0.50 a bottle. I thought, “Oh, wow. I didn’t know it was this inexpensive.”
Then we went to paint and my sister thought that it would be a good idea to look at Pinterest for some inspiration.
I found a picture of a lighthouse and a picture of stars. I chose them because it’s part of my branding; Let Your Light Shine, It is Your Time to Shine. So they painted those two pictures for me.
The Lesson
I thought it would take a lot to start painting. I thought you had to be Picasso or you had to go to art school.
The lesson that my nieces taught me is that, what I thought it would take to create a painting is not really true.
You don’t have to be Picasso to paint. You also don’t have to spend tons of money for painting supplies.
I realized that it’s a lot cheaper to get started.
Yes, you can spend more if you want to expand later, but to get started and do some fun things, it can be done really inexpensively.
My nieces taught me that I can try painting. They taught me that I could actually be an artist and I could do some painting.
So today I went to Hobby Lobby and to Walmart and got some supplies. I got some paints for only $0.50 each. I also got some fun ones, like the gold glitter. I got some basic supplies all for about $30.
That is not much money. We can spend that kind of money in just getting snacks.
But with it, I can explore my creativity and start expressing myself through these paintings.
How My Story Relates to Marketing
We can have a misconception about marketing at times; that it is expensive, difficult and that it’s going to overrun your life.
I have talked to a lot of authors that are very resistant to marketing their books. They simply love to write, but they want other people to do the marketing for them.
To be honest, some of the marketing is best done by you. The voice, your content creation, and certain things you’re putting into place really needs to come from you.
I had misconceptions about painting. I thought you have to be a Picasso to do it and that you have to spend a lot of money. But I was wrong. And this is how it can be with marketing our books.
It does not necessarily have to be expensive or difficult and it does not have to run your life.
There are systems and strategies that you can use to make it inexpensive and easier.
With marketing you can get started with free strategies, and free tools. You can set up a system that runs in the background 24/7 so you don’t have sit behind your computer all day, every day. You can set it, and then forget it.
Yes, you have to do some work up front, but then it works for you.
Start Where You Are, Use What You Have, Grow As You Can
My husband and I were missionaries in the country of Belize for two years. We saw a lot of really amazing things that God did through us.
I was a volunteer physical therapist, while my husband did youth ministry.
During our time there, we saw people build their houses. They weren’t able to get mortgages like we can here, so they built their house brick by brick, stone by stone, and wire by wire. They built it with the money they had.
In the same way, I started out my business with what I have. I only used the money I had so if I didn’t have money, I didn’t invest. I started with free tools and free strategies.
As my business has grown I’ve invested more, but I use just whatever I have. Last year, we made six figures from our business by starting small with my first website in 2004 and growing slowly over time.
In AuthorAudienceAcademy.com, I teach authors how to work smarter, not harder. I share my author automation system that will help authors sell their books without being pushy or self-promotional.
Yes, marketing can be very expensive. You can put a ton of money into something like Facebook Ads and not see the return on your investment.
It could cost you a lot of money if you invest in a ton of tools up front, but I didn’t do that.
I built as I went.
An Invitation
There are free tools that you can use, even with your email list. I recommend something like Benchmark Email that allows you to have autoresponder emails. There are systems that you can use that don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg and don’t have to take all of your time.
If you have a small profit, I encourage you to consider reinvesting your profits back into your business through marketing. As your profit grows, you’ll be able to keep more for your family, to pay bills, etc.
Keep reinvesting back into your business. Just like how the Belizians build their house brick by brick as they had the money, we can build our businesses that way too.
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