Today is my oldest son's 18 birthday, and what am I thinking about? Of course...marketing.

Ok, it's not all bad. I did wish him a happy birthday at midnight last night, and this morning. And likely will again tonight. When he gets home from work.

But, amongst all of this, I'm thinking about marketing.

And the Catch 22 of marketing.

These days the publishing landscape is such that, in order for your books to sell, you have to have them in front of reader's eyes. Well, ok, that hasn't changed from the days of old. If the reader doesn't know your book is there, they won't buy it. That's simple common sense. Or logic, which ever label you prefer.

So, how do we get our books in front of readers?

That's where the Catch 22 comes in.

In order to get mass exposure, you need to be on some best seller list. Well, you can't make it on a best seller list unless you have....exposure. However, once you catch the wave and hit the best seller list, the monster should feed itself for a good while. As long as you have a quality product, that is.

So, don't even think about the best seller list until your cover, blurb, and most of all, story, are right.

Anyway, this Catch 22 issue.

To hit the best seller list, you need mass exposure. But, in order to get that kind of mass exposure, you need to be on the best seller list. So how do all of those books get onto that best seller list? Well, lots of ways, actually. How can you get yours on there, is the question. 

The answer is...any way that you can.

Seriously.

Whether you have to run a paid ad in some publication that guarantees thousands of eyes are on it, or you get lucky enough to run a free add in some publication, or you have to bribe 3,000 of your most willing neighbors to download a copy of your book in Kindle format, you do what ever you have to do, to get those downloads going.

Tell friends and family they can throw away the ecopy after they pick it up. You don't care what they do with it, as long as they download it. The key is to get it downloading, so it raises in the ranks and hits the best seller list, so other people that may actually want to read it will SEE it and download it themselves. Remember, just because YOU know it's a work of art, no one else knows that until they read it. And they can't read it till they see it. And they won't see it unless it's visible.

So...what back door method can you come up with to hit your best seller list?
 
Here you are, minding your own business and next thing you know, a flash of inspiration hits you. An idea. A seed. You've been "seeded" or....inseminated. This is the pleasure point.

Then you feed and nourish the seed, helping it grow. You have to constantly feed it so it doesn't wither away. As you feed it, and it grows, it requires more time and nutrition to fatten up, to flesh out, to form something resembling the finished product. This may last a few months.

Once you've gone through that process, the time is close to polishing your baby for the world to see. You now begin to labor through the important stuff to consider keeping for it's long term life. What will be best to help it prosper for years to come? What will make it as healthy as possible? What will help it get along with others? Or even outperform others? This stage normally needs input from other, more experienced people.

Now it's time to share your new creation with the world. You're nervous and anxious. You're excited and glowing. You're sweating and bloating. And that's all normal. You've spent months getting to this point. Now you're ready to push the final creation out to the world at large. There are likely to be screams of anguish side by side with craving love and support from family and friends. "Will the world like and accept my new creation?" This is one question among many flying through your  mind.

You realize you'll have conflicting emotions about your new creation for a lifetime to come. You'll have unending love and pride, alongside disappointment and fear. But, you figure you'll handle those as they come.

Finally, you take that last deep breath, squeeze hard one last time....and push your new creation out to the world. It's time to set it free and let the world love it or hate it as they will. Either way, you'll always love it.

Wow...who knew giving birth to a kid was so similar to giving birth to a book? Ok ladies, you have my permission to now bash me over the head. Just leave the bricks at home when you do so. Thank you.
 
When we think of rebound, we normally think one of two things.

When you're playing basketball, rebound means you've grabbed the ball after it bounced away from the goal, and you threw it back in there successfully.

The other thing that comes to mind is when you just got out of a bad relationship and immediately throw yourself into another relationship before you're actually healed and ready to move on.

I want to create another connotation of rebound. A better one. Rebound as in rebirth.

I'm bringing my blog back to life. And, in the process, I'm inviting guest bloggers. You can blog about fiction, non-fiction, or just life in general. I just ask that your posts be mostly edited and legible, and that you have a passion about whatever you're posting.

Are you trying to brand your name? Great. Are you trying to brand your character? Great. I'll help you with that by offering you space on my humble page. Just bring your passion ;)