To market to market to buy a new book

It's not long now until my debut. Less than three months.

Okay, three months is quite a long time. Time for two London trips, one work, one fun. My daughter has to rehearse and I have to endure watching a dance show. I'll go through two cycles of the monthly work data stuff that underpins my day job. The clocks will go forward. Snowdrops will elegantly foreshadow spring, followed by garish daffodils colouring the city walls.

Book number three will be finished.

And yet it doesn't feel like long enough. There is so much for an author, especially a debut author to do. Ten years ago I might have planned a signing at my local bookshop and bribed all my friends to come, had an interview in the local paper - and then I would go back to writing. Now a writer needs to be able to market themselves.Constantly.

Well, this should be easy. I know all about marketing - just look at my top rated post to your left. See, I am a guru. That post went mildly viral one day. Marketing should be as easy as eating cake for me!

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But there are so many channels now. I don't know where to start.

I blog. A few people read it *waves*. But it was always meant more as a sounding board rather than a marketing tool. Hence the long navel gazing posts.

Who wouldn't want pictures of this on their Twitter feed?

I tweet and try and keep down the ranting/pictures of cake/puppy stories/parental boasting and occasionally succeed. It's a great conversation tool and I have bought books by people I chat to on Twitter so it does work but I would need ten/fifty/hundred times the followers for it to be a useful selling tool. (I promise you here and now that I will never ever schedule those awful auto tweets with links. Or DM spam you. Ever.).

I have a Facebook page which I forget is there. I know for optimum useage I should be posting something daily, I don't. I will try.

I finally have a website! It's industrial grey, I mean chic and understated but it features buy now buttons (tick) and an author photo which is the best out of a bunch I persuaded my husband to take.

(Him: This isn't going to end well.

Me: It'll be fine

Him: ready?

Me: I'm not relaxed!

*cue tears and tantrums*)

Hurrah for photo editing features on a standard lap top.

That should be enough, right?

No! I should be sorting out blog tours. I have no idea what, how or where but did you know some blogs fill up SIX months in advance?

and baking. I can't help it. Successful
baking feels like a miracle!

I should be utilising instagram (untouched for a year), Tumblr (am clueless), Goodreads (according to Goodreads I am still reading a David Mitchell that was a Book Club choice in 2012. I have no idea how the author side works. Or are they combined?). Pinterest. Is it even possible to do all these things, write, hold down the day job, parent, walk the dog, read, bake and learn the quickstep from my new Strictly fitness DVD?

I doubt it. I'll do my best but if you want me I'll be over at Twitter posting pictures of the very fluffy dog, Tatty Devine necklaces and trying not to rant too much. Come and say hi. I'll never ask you to buy my book (but the links will be there if you want to find out how).