How To Get Noticed When You're One in a Million

From IMs to pop in the microwave dinners, we are accustomed to receiving what we want or getting our tasks done right now—or at least within seconds. But life generally doesn’t happen like that, and when it doesn’t we get frustrated. I talked about this emotion a few weeks ago (March 7), but was reminded again yesterday that I’m not going to get the marketing results I want by snapping my fingers or twitching my nose.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be Samantha Stevens, to wrinkle my nose and boom, one thought magically appears in everyone’s mind—buy my book. Since I’m not Samatha, I’m going to have to work harder than I did writing the story to find ways to distinguish my book from the thousands, maybe millions, vying for readers’ attention.

How do I do that? Research. I profess to love it! That’s what it will take and hours of it. The secret is having a plan so I don’t go off wandering around the Internet wasting precious time that should be spent finishing The Last MacKlenna.

So that’s my goal for this week—develop a plan and set a schedule. Without one, I’m hopelessly lost. The same goes for running. Now that RTB is over, I don’t have a daily training schedule. I could choose (a) no run today; (b) run 1 mile just to stay loose; or, (c) run 6 miles. But I need a goal to work toward. It’s not going to be easy but obtaining a goal never has been. The same with writing. If I want my book to fly off the charts like a rocket, I’d better get busy designing a good rocket fuel.

Here is Step 1 for writing: Get Reviews

How do I do that? Research. I’ll use a technique similar to the one I used when I searched the Internet for agents and publishers who would be a good fit for my manuscript. I’ll be looking for reviewers who review romance, time-travels, and self-published books. Of course, this is ground work that should have been done months before I released The Ruby Brooch, but heck, I’ve always done things a little bit backwards.

Here is Step 1 for running: Identify a goal

Run a full marathon. The Air Force Marathon is September 16. That’s doable. The September date gives me 164 days to train. That means I'll be training (20 mile runs) in the heat of the summer. It's either summer temps or winter temps. I need to adjust.

Now I've put a plan in action. Time to get to work. What's your plan for the day?

Happy writing and running, Kathy