Since I don’t have Oprah touting my books (but I am available in a pinch if O ever has a last minute cancellation – call me), and my small publisher can only do so much, I have to hustle every day to get people to learn about The Claire Saga. Books really don’t sell themselves.
For example, this morning I am getting to my blogging later than usual because I had to complete an interview for an on-line magazine called Bold Journey. https://boldjourney.com/
Thank you Anthony Rivera.
I will be sure to let you all know when it drops.
I love doing magazine interviews, especially since I am always guaranteed to be the oldest and ugliest subject on the website. If I were just another pretty face, I would be lost among all of the other much prettier and younger faces that grace most on-line magazines.
I mean, really, most of them are just beautiful. . . . and young.
I guess my image gives those magazines a Bukowski-esque edge. A counterpoint.
And I don’t give a shit, as long as it gets the name and books out there.
I have been very lucky landing on-line magazine interviews since the books started dropping, and I have never turned down a request. I just do not have the luxury of time to develop a writing reputation using a slow build. Strike while the iron is hot.
It helps that I am totally shameless. I am definitely not a mountain recluse.
There is an article in which I am included in The Fordham Lawyer magazine in early 2022: https://digital.law.fordham.edu/
There is also an author interview regarding An Alien Appeal in the November/December 2022 Uncaged Books on-line magazine: click here to have a look.
I was also blessed by having this really cool on-line magazine – LA Voyages – post an interview in 2023.
Conversations with Tom McCaffrey
Then Shoutout LA came calling that same year:
And then an other cool on-line magazine – Canvas Rebel – reached out in 2023 and did another article on me.
Not too bad for an old bastard that had no social media presence in the beginning of 2021.
Writing itself can be hard enough, but if a writer wants to be successful today he has to be his own PT Barnum.
And the hustle works. The books are being discovered.
Another example of an effective hustle is this blog. I started writing it in January 2021 because my publisher felt I needed to create an on-line presence. I didn’t even know what that meant.
But once you write the blog, you need to get others to read it. So, I started experimenting with re-posting the blog on other social media sites like Linkedin and Nextdoor.
Nextdoor provides an easy to understand, daily report on how many views your posts are getting over the first 48 hour period. It even comes with a cool graph.
When I started re-posting on Nextdoor in 2022, I would receive maybe 20-40 views for each post. I was thrilled that anyone would bother clicking on my random posts. I am thrilled right now that there are five readers reading this blog (Claire’s Theorem).
But as I was posting yesterday’s blog, I noticed that the past four days of blogging over the new year period was consistently landing in 800+ to 1K+ range. I was shocked. Thrilled.
So, I mentioned that fact on my one main Social Media outlet – my Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091444194790.
Now, a quick aside. I never did FB until my last book, Finding Jimmy Moran, was about to drop last spring. And I only did so because my dear friend and amazing psychic-medium, Kim Russo,
https://www.kimthehappymedium.com/
told me “you have to get on Face Book!”
Kim is on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/Happy2bMedium
And she is a powerful woman.
So I did as I was told.
Back to the story:
So I mentioned on FB how I use my daily blog – while reposting it on places like Nextdoor – to get other potential readers to get to know me, hopefully enjoy my writing and then hopefully go looking for my books.
And then, just like a Hollywood script, a new reader named Barbie came out of the ether to post a comment on yesterdays blog telling me she did just that.
Inside Shoes – WTF?!
Thank you Barbie. You and your husband rock!
So, the lesson here is that if you want to succeed at anything, you must not rely on anyone else to do it for you.
You must hustle. Every single day. Shamelessly.
And if I can get a few more laughs out of the deal, so be it.
Well, now my day awaits. Thank God it is Thursday.
You fine, five readers, have that cuppa, pull up your socks and try to survive until Friday.
I’m going to go cuddle some kitties and do my rounds.
And while we are all out in the real world hustling for our success and survival, let us remember to make today a great one.
Thanks for putting up with me and for the support.
