Yesterday morning Howard blogged about Hold on to Your Horses. This was it. This was the big moment when people would either plunk down money, or they wouldn’t. The first order came in and I almost cried. Someone who I’ve never met or even heard of before liked the book enough to spend money on it. It was a small piece of proof that I’d helped create something that people could love even if they didn’t know or love me. Over the course of the day lots more comments and orders came in. There were many emails, some from friends, some from strangers. Each one brought me joy. I am so grateful for each and every one of these messages.
I need them all very much because not as many orders came in as I’d hoped for on that first day. A couple of days ago I talked about feeling like a sky diver who had already jumped from the plane and not yet pulled the parachute cord. I talked about hoping for a solid parachute. Deep inside I was actually wondering if I’d pull that cord and have a jet plane pop out. That’s what happens for Howard’s books. His pay for themselves in less than 24 hours. But he has spent 8 years carefully building a fan base. Not all of those people are going to be interested in my project just because I’m married to Howard. They’re his fans, not mine. (Except for a few of you. Hi! Thank you!) Hold on to Your Horses still has a long way to go before it pays for itself. It has an even longer way to go before I could feel good about investing time and energy into another self-published project, which I’d dearly love to do. I guess what I really want is a hang glider rather than a parachute. I want this project to have wings. I think it can, but I’m going to have to put even more work into it. I’m going to have to get that free PDF out there. I’m going to need to arrange blog book tours. I’ve got other ideas as well. Mostly I need to feel good about where we’re at, instead of whining “Are we there yet?” before the car even gets out of the driveway.
So here is the request for help. If you read this blog and you have thoughts or ideas about how I can further market my book online, please comment. I can’t do any physical appearances until after I have books in hand. Right now I just want to get the pdf out there to as many people as I can so that they can fall in love with the book and come buy it.
Edited to add: If you have friends who would be interested in Hold Horses, I’d love for you to tell them about it, but PLEASE do not perpetrate spam on my behalf. Thanks!
Addendum: My sister reminds me (and she is right) that what I need to be shooting for is “sleeper hit” status, not “blockbuster” status. This lets me see that things are going really well. We’ve already had more than 3000 downloads of the free pdf.
Two last things. I hope that no one feels obligated to buy my book, particularly if finances are tight. Bills before books. I hope that no one feels obligated to blog or email people about my book. If you don’t want to for any reason, no excuses are necessary. Thanks again.
*sigh*
This makes me *really* wish that I had the income to afford this.
I’ve forwarded the page link to friends with kids. Hope to get a copy myself, as soon as we close on our house (this week or next).
Please don’t feel bad for making wise financial choices. Bills before books.
Thank you for forwarding the page link. Every bit helps. I hope your house comes through, not so you can buy my book, but because houses are nice things to have.
This is me, pimping your book. I’ll definitely be ordering one soon.
Are you going to have a shipping party? And will they be available at MountainCon?
I’m glad you said this, because that is where I sit with my Hubby Zap out of work. I do plan on ordering a copy when things are brighter, Roo could use a little help holding on to some of her horses.
Ona
Thank you very much! We’ll have a shipping party if there are enough orders that I can’t do it by myself. I’m not sure if we’ll be at Mountain con or not. Hopefully we’ll be launching Howard’s next book in September and that may conflict.
I’m planning to blog about it for those few people who are on my list and not yours, but I was waiting a few days so that my friends who are on your f-list (and Eric’s, and Jim Hines’s) would not be flooded with a million posts about it. It was on my radar, and will happen. (Not that I expect that to sell millions of copies of your book, but it’s a little thing I can do, and I think your book is awesome, so I want to.)
I have spoken to mom, and she’s going to see about books in the school libraries, and I’m sure she knows librarians…
In addition, I’ll be taking the PDF and showing it to the local library, and see if they might be interested, and I’m gonna find out who in peoria takes care of books in local schools…
Oh, and pre-order made. 🙂
Can mine have an autograph of the young lady this book was writen for too? 😀
I think this is one of those projects like Jonathon Livingston Seagull–no big splash at the beginning, just a climbing wave of growth as more and more people discover it and like it.
Um… so, none of these are online marketing ideas, but maybe they’ll be useful in the future:
You might try talking to Mom about incorperating it into one of her storytelling routines, or taking fliers with her when she visits school districts.
Elementary Schools and Elementary School Libraries are going to be your friends. Any connections you can make there would be good.
I’ve also heard that it’s possible to sell books on consignment at local bookstores and even some of the big chains if you approach them properly and offer a sizeable discount off the cover price. If you’re interested, I’ll forward you what little information I have on the topic.
Good thinking about spacing things out. Thanks.
I would definitely be interested in further information about consignment sales. Thanks.
Coming via email…
no suggestions, just thanks.
I don’t have any suggestions, but wanted to lend moral support. I’ve been reading your blog for probably two years now, and I’ve been waiting anxiously for Hold on to Your Horses. I was so much like Amy. I bought the book for me. I love it, it’s everything I hoped it would be and more. My husband and I clear all purchases over $10 with each other first, otherwise I might have been your first order.
I love reading your thoughts on parenting and I’ve learned a lot from you. I feel certain that I have become a better mother because of everything you have shared. We always struggle to be ‘a better mother’ and you’ve helped me a lot. I want to thank you for that.
Getting into libraries would be great. Thanks!
I know. There’s a slight family issue that came up the night before last, but Mom won’t leave for KC till friday, so she’ll look at the PDF, and she knows the rest of the district’s folks, and bloomington/normal public library folks, and folks in central IL…
I’m gonna keep on her about this. Like I told her, I wanna do what I can to help this take off…
Re: no suggestions, just thanks.
The moral support is greatly appreciated. I’m glad the blog has been of help to you. Knowing that it matters to others makes my eyes get all leaky. Thanks.
Bartering
I would be happy to exchange a dragon or two (if they’re small) for a book. 🙂
Re: Bartering
I would love to barter. I won’t have books available for trading until July though. There may be other things we could barter as well. We have Schlocky stuff that Chalain would probably enjoy.