If you’re a writer in the same boat, this is for you. If you’re a curious reader, thank you for delving deeper.

An artist’s world is full of doubts, and I believe those who charge headlong and reveal their works to the public with a certain recklessness make their own paths, though oftentimes those paths are littered with junk; something  that a show like American Idol exploits. 

However, I’m not that kind of reckless creator. And I’m not naturally gifted with polish, if there is such a thing. I am constant doubt and head noise, and I do my best to address what I can and let the rest pass by.

I often argue with myself whether publishing a completed novel two chapters per week is dumb. Will readers grow bored, or will it become anticipatory? Would it be better if I put all of it online and tried to gain interest. And I don’t have a simple answer, and I’m not going to waste your time with the complicated ones. There are always tradeoffs and risks.

What I will share is that I’m able to give a higher quality output this way. I am better able to address my shortcomings and fill in the gaps. One example of this? The question of how to market an upper middle grade novel. I have no experience, and I have no support system. I want readers 10 and up to read it. I want their parents to donate. And I need to find a way to reach them.

The usual mediums: advance review copies, bookshelves, press kits, book tours, aren’t available to me. I don’t have a person that has the ear of other people to say, ‘check this out’.

I only have readers I need to earn, which means I have to find creative ways reach them. And this is tough.

You can self-promote on Reddit with your body all you want, but not your book. There’s irony in that.  You wrote a novel? Here’s a singular weekly thread you can cram your pitch into. You’re on OF? We have a hundred places for that. I can’t TikTok. I don’t have the face or energy to trend. I have a decent following on LinkedIn, but as you can imagine a middle grade novel has limited appeal to business folk. And there is a lot of noise to cut through on social media, with masses hoping to go viral.

That leaves more creative ways to try to reach readers, and by law I can’t directly solicit to anyone under 13, even if I’m not directly selling anything. And so I’m left trying to find creative ways to get people to my site. I think I’ve found a start: direct marketing to librarians. It will be on a one-on-one basis, time consuming, and limited. But it’s my best idea so far and when I roll it out, I promise a follow up post. Look for it in a month or so.