I’ve seen a lot of authors say that marketing is a waste of time.
That it’s time you could be writing. I disagree. Even time spent marketing is time spent writing. Everything I write is an opportunity to write better. Even these stupid posts give me an opportunity to edit myself. (I’m not saying I always make the most of that opportunity).
Choice of words, the flow of thought, the decision whether or not to make a joke at the expenses of someone who shall remain nameless (read as John) – all of these things are the kinds of decisions I’ll have to make when writing a story, so this is practice.
Everything I write is practice. Even if it’s some smart ass tweet, I’m going to phrase it the best way I can to get the most laughs or hurt the most feelings.
That’s why I don’t look at marketing as a waste of time. It is time consuming, yes. But, a waste of time? I don’t think so. Plus, anything that helps make new friends or bring in new readers is hardly a wasted effort.
Agreed! It is when we allow those promotional words/efforts become too large a percentage of our writing that we get into trouble. So easy to eat the candy and forget the veggies. Without that next book there is only promo for backlist (Also not a bad thing)
Thanks for the reminder that this is a marathon and not a sprint of words.
Christine London