Almost two months ago, my first chapbook, Hearts, was published by Kelsay Books. It is available from Kelsay, from Amazon, from me personally (if you are local), or by asking your local bookstore to order it through Ingram.
I posted about the first month, so thought I’d do an update.
I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t yet gotten my bookmarks and business cards printed or made any dates for readings/signings. Soon, I hope…
I have made some new inroads in publicity, thanks to Alignable, where I am listed as Top of JC’s Mind. I was invited to join a couple of groups there, Marketing for the Small Business and Networking for Introverts! (The exclamation point is part of the group name.) As a creative, I admit to being a bit of an odd duck in the groups, but I was lucky to meet Traci Poe of Communicate Great. She graciously offered to video chat with me and sent me a number of suggestions that I am implementing, such as using Instagram as a platform, linking it to my Top of JC’s Mind Facebook page. So, if you are on Instagram, you can now find me there as joannecoreypoet. I don’t know how helpful this will be in terms of promotion, as I don’t have a large following on either platform, but I’m trying. You may also notice that my TJCM post now have a featured image, which makes them directly shareable to Instagram, although Instagram posts use square images and some of mine are rectangular, so they get lopped off. Work in progress…
I’ve also learned to use Canva to create FB/IG posts and Meta Business Suite to schedule them. My skills are rudimentary, but I have managed to schedule out a series of posts featuring quotes from Hearts poems. Traci suggested I choose a color palette as a branding tool, but, so far, I am sticking with a clear, straightforward template with black Garamond type on a light gray background. I guess black and gray are colors. Right?
I have also tried to reach out to several places about reviews but haven’t heard back from any of them after several weeks. Not quite sure what to do about that…
Hearts is available at the Artisan Gallery, the shop of the Broome County Arts Council, and at Riverow Bookshop. I have an inquiry in at another local-ish bookstore, but I haven’t heard back yet. Are you noticing a theme?
Admittedly, my introversion is not helpful in this whole marketing piece that I’m trying to learn. All the outreach efforts are draining and anxiety-producing. None of this is helped by the fact that all my other volunteer commitments have either ramped up or hit unexpected snags lately, so I’m feeling overwhelmed. Not that that isn’t a familiar feeling for me…
It’s apparently a day for ellipses…
And questions?
That might be a bad sign…
Okay. Deep breath.
I can do this.
Maybe not as well as I would like.
Or as expeditiously.
And maybe it won’t matter in the long run if some of it never gets done.
I am trying – and learning as I go along.
And taking you all along with me here at Top of JC’s Mind.
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Joanne Corey 
I’m still learning how to market myself on Instagram. 😅 It’s difficult because IG is a photo sharing platform, and my art is words, which means a lot of work in canva lol. And I’ve gone back and forth as to whether I should create a separate account so that my personal account can stay private. Marketing definitely is a lot of work!
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I had stayed away from Instagram because, like you, I am word rather than image oriented. And square images besides! I did wind up making my Instagram into a business account to get access to the scheduling tools, but I could see where it could be useful to have a separate personal account, if I ever need IG as a primary connection tool with family and friends. Not sure I will ever get that adept at the image thing, though.
Does the marketing thing get easier as you go along? I can see where it would always be a time-sink but maybe there isn’t as much learning time on top, eventually?
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Yeah, I think Canva is pretty simple and easy to learn. So far, I’ve only used Meta Business suite to schedule posts. That’s enough for me for now. It doesn’t really take me that long to create a post and schedule it, so I lump it together with my blog time (after I schedule the blog post, I then create and schedule the social media post either that day or the following). I think the hardest part is feeling like you’re talking to an empty room because I don’t have that many followers lol.
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I hear ya! I have it set up through wordpress now to automatically post to both FB and IG when I put up a new post, even though that means I have to always have a featured image, which I find annoying. I’ve been use the Business Suite for scheduling other posts specifically for my book; those are the ones I did in Canva and downloaded to schedule in Business Suite. Yes, it’s a lot of work to only reach a handful of people, but I don’t have a lot of followers on any platform. My blog has the most followers by far but I don’t have that large a group of regular visitors.
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Same here. It’s weird because Facebook would show that only 2 people saw my posts but didn’t click it. And yet, my blog stats show so much traffic from Facebook. So either Facebook is lying to me or someone else is sharing my posts and their audience is more engaging than mine. LOL!
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I think most of my sales will be because people know me personally, but I try to be a good social media doobie, even when it seems like a black hole.
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Yes, you can do this. You’re doing really well. It doesn’t necessarily get easier on the introvert level, but as you get more comfortable with the various programs and formats, it gets faster and (usually) less glitchy.
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Thanks for the encouragement, Devon! I admit that, as someone without a lot of followers, the social media pieces feel a bit like shouting into the wind.
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