Morning Caffeine, Munchkin, and Promotion by Gabriel Valjan

 

Do you set aside dedicated time to do promotion for your book and your brand? If so, how much time and what do you concentrate on? If not, why not?

 As a rule, NO, I don’t dedicate a special time to promote myself and my brand. However, I do commit my daily Coffee Time to doing social media. It’s a qualification with a distinction because I use social media to support other authors. My books are released into the wild once a year, so I do my best to to keep the flame alive.

 

Every morning, I orient myself to Time, Purpose, and Location with a doppio of espresso within reach. I’ll open up Canva and create a graphic for my Facebook feed. I might move onto creating a graphic for an author with a New Release, a review in the trades, or an event at a bookstore or conference. This creativity awakens the writer within.

 

I find it easier to promote others than promote myself, probably because I’ve scrolled through enough feeds to tire of the screams to BUY MY BOOK.  Blame my Catholic upbringing, but talking about oneself is equated with hubris and about as pretentious as talking about yourself in the third person—and illeism is something we associate with egocentrics and eccentrics. Ezra Pound spoke about himself in third person in interviews, and Bret Easton Ellis’s Patrick Bateman in American Psycho was guilty of the same deadly sin of narcissism.

 

When I post on social media, I try to start the day with a laugh. It’s not Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood out there, and there’s that guy screaming again, BUY MY BOOK. I’m sure I am not alone, in the need for something positive. My Facebook Friends know I post humorous memes, often a melange of pop culture, cinema, and my cat Munchkin. Humor is both my self-defense mechanism against the negativity in the world, and my way of making the morning better.

 Writers know all about the power of words (diction) and delivery (syntax). If my image of my goofy cat doesn’t make a smile break on the face of even the most hardcore dog lover, then something is wrong. When I campaign one of my books, past or present, I’m bringing promotion of my ‘brand’ into a certain context.  Friends understand it’s business. I have to do this, so they know I am different from that guy chanting BUY MY BOOK.

 

If and when I pitch my books, I’ll note that all my books are about friendships. No matter what happens in life, we need each other, and it helps if someone has your back.

 

Maya Angelou said, ‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’

 

In a word—a moment of mirth in this madcap insane asylum we call Life.

 

I do what I do, a bolt of espresso down my throat, and caffeine in my veins.

 

If interested in my Lessons Learned in ‘The Business,’ then visit this link on Criminal Minds where I dispense some advice on the topic.

 

Oh, and buy my books.