Marketing...ready, set, GO!!!

This past week I kicked off my marketing campaign.  This means family and friends were bombarded with announcements about my book and blog.  It resulted in only a few more purchases; but not enough to even reach the minimum revenue mark with Amazon so I can get a $10 check in the mail three months from now.

I am not deterred.  I have set a goal of sending a blurb about my story to five reviewers a day.  It is more than a blurb, it is this:

I have tried to make the review request look as proffessional as I can, or at least as proffessional as PowerPoint can make it look.  I started out with a list of reviewers offered under the resources portion of the blog: http://www.write2publish.blogspot.com/ (a great blog for self-publishers to follow, by the way).  Most reviewers have other reviewer blogs they follow so a potential reviewer list can quickly grow into the hundreds.  After I have a substantial list, I will post it here. 

Five e-mails a day is not overwhelming, and is just enough to make me feel productive.  I send out the review request as an attachment, plus the various mediums in which they can get to my book (including a 'free' coupon via Smashwords).  I never send the book unless they ask.  Speaking of which, five e-mails will only result in about one response.

Many reviewers are closed to submissions or their requirements exclude my book.  That is ok, I leave them alone - for now.  I still keep them on my list so I can check back regularly.  Hopefully, I will see the first reviews a month or two from now, and I will include them on my review request, hoping to attract the big league reviewers.

That is all for now - happy requesting everybody!