Insecure Writer's Support Group

Welcome to this month's edition of Insecure Writer's Support Group, brainchild of none other than Alex J. Cavanaugh---who's going to light the Blogosphere on fiyah at the end of the month with his Catch Fire! event to celebrate the upcoming release of his second novel, CassaFire.

Hey, I didn't realize until I started typing this that Alex's event ties in with what I want to talk about today.  See, it's my observation that most of us writer types aren't the greedy sort.  If money was what we were after, we'd spend less time writing and more time doing whatever it is people do to make gobs of cash. So all these efforts to promote our books aren't really about money at all---they're about doing right by our story, doing whatever we can to get it out there so it can reach and entertain the types of readers it's meant to reach and entertain.

That's a powerful incentive, but there's always something promotion-wise we could be doing, and it gets exhausting. Ever since my first novel was released, I've repeatedly told myself (and my kids and husband) "Okay, now I'm done promoting." But then a new idea will hit me, some avenue left unexplored...or simply a hair-brained scheme that strikes me as fun, and I'm at it again.  Is it like that for anyone else?

I also realize, however, that at some point I've got to drop the reins and let my book either take off, tread water, or sink all on it's own.  I can only control so much. With my book's two-year anniversary coming up later this month, and with a brand new manuscript calling for my attention, I honestly feel ready to do that.  But...there's just...one more...thing...

I've not given my Amazon presence much attention, so before I officially put Three Daves on autopilot, I'm going to try to figure out a non-obnoxious way to ask people to post an Amazon review---any advice on that would be much appreciated!  Also, I keep hearing the Amazon Tag thingies are important for "You might also like" recommendations.  In that regard, Francine Howarth at Romancing the Blog has come up with a brilliant idea---a Tag Party!  It's going on this weekend so there's still time to sign up.  It's a great way to help your book & help other authors at the same time.