Sales Tactics, or How Not to Be a Used Car Salesman That Everyone Hates

This whole rant was triggered by an advice post on a blog for indie authors wherein (there's that academia writing again!) they advise you to get in the prospective customer's face and shove your book in their hands, because if they are holding your book, YOU ARE 90% CERTAIN OF A SALE! And it's all about money, right?

I hate being a sales person. I hate shoving my books at people and screaming, "See what I wrote? You're going to love it! Throw money at me! NOW!" The people who do this at conventions really annoy me. I know I'm not alone. Anyone who's gone to a con lately knows who I'm talking about - that indie author who rents a hall table for the whole weekend and accosts you every time you even get close to their table, the one that you avoid making eye contact with because it might trigger the crazy again.

I am definitely not against indie authors. I am one myself. I'm not against people renting hall tables to hawk their wares. I enjoy talking to those people. Usually. They make cool stuff and write cool books. I am against those people who act like used car salesmen, the ones who shove it in your face every freaking time you walk past until you start avoiding that end of the hotel entirely. I have friends who bought the book just so they could safely walk past the table. They'd wave it at the author who was poised to launch another assault on them. I think most of them threw it away when they got home.

I'm sure I've missed out on lots of sales because I can't do that. Don't get me wrong, I'm passionate about my stories. I have drive and ambition. I'm also an introvert with social anxiety. I can't make myself get in people's faces and shove books at them and demand payment. I also want them to buy the book because they want to read it, not to get me to quit bothering them.

I'll be honest, my writing is more of a hobby that makes pizza money than a career. I do put lots of sweat and tears into writing. I spent years writing at least six hours a day and churning out lots of stuff. I sent it off to publishers and when that didn't work out, I published it myself. I'm proud of my lengthy and respectable Amazon author page. But the sales just aren't rolling in.

Which brings me to my conclusion. My sales tactics are to write what I enjoy reading and do my best to get the word out using the low-key tactics I can stand doing. So, if you enjoy my writing, please leave a review on Amazon. (Even if you didn't enjoy it, please leave a review!) Tell your friends about the book. Help me spread the word.

And thank you for reading.