Throwing Spaghetti at the Wall
And other book marketing endeavors.
When my parents divorced in 1972, Dad learned everything he could about cooking. After all, he became single and a weekend father overnight. Someone had to cook his meals. As time went on, cooking became one of his favorite activities, and something we all enjoyed doing with him.
As a result, I learned how to cook because of my Dad. I remember one of the earliest lessons, how to tell when your pasta is cooked. Since I was only about ten years old at the time, I thought it as the funniest thing, and had a lot of fun with that game. We threw it at the walnut kitchen cabinets. We threw it at windows. We threw it at doors until it stuck.
This week, I thought a lot about that process while marketing the series I wrote under a pen name. In this case, I’m trying several different tactics to market my romance series without knowing much about algorithms, conversion rates, A/B testing or KPI. I’m doing what I know I can do conceivably well. And doing what fits my budget, knowledge, and time constraints.
And then I read This is Why Book Marketing Doesn’t Work, by Kate McKean. She essentially supports my theory of throwing spaghetti at the wall and states that even the big publishing houses do it.
Austin Kleon agrees. In a recent newsletter, he said:
“Writing books, making art, recording music… it’s all a lot easier when you don’t know what you’re doing. Better yet if you don’t know that you don’t know what you’re doing.” He suggests instead, “Best to do what the poet Rumi advised: “Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.””
Since I already have enough bewilderment to fill several books, here’s what I’m doing:
Facebook ads.
Facebook, Instagram, and Threads posts.
Interviews with John DeDakis, Terry Shepherd (Coming soon), Valerie Biel, and Blackbird Writers.
So far I’ve sold 10 books. I don’t expect Karissa Knight to become a household name. But in the spirit of spaghetti, I hope some of this sticks. I hope that some readers will give good reviews. And I hope, eventually, they tell a friend about the romance they read.
Love the spaghetti story. Best of luck with your new release!
Perfect comparison. I have this picture of you and your father in the kitchen, throwing spaghetti with wild abandon.