One of my favorite authors is an Indie named Russell Blake. He writes what some lovingly call “Men’s Fiction.” It’s action/adventure/suspense/thriller. It’s fast-paced, timely, and topical. I’ve read a good number of his books and enjoyed them. Russell has made it big. So big that he just co-authored a book with Clive Cussler and is on the NY Times Bestseller List. He’s living every Indie author’s dream.
Russell also takes the time to give back and he shares his experiences in marketing and offers us his views. He reminds us that we have to put ourselves out there and take chances if we want to be successful. He constantly reminds us that writing is only one part of the job – the other part is marketing. And no matter how distasteful it is or how hard it seems – to not do the hard part is to condemn yourself to being unknown in your chosen field.
One of the more interesting and unusual things Russell does is interrupt his blog posts with a paragraph smack in the middle of a conversation that he labels “Blatant Self-Promotion” or “Breaking News” in which he points out a new interview, review, or his latest literary conquest. It’s not something that I could ever really see myself doing. It’s arrogant, self-serving, presumptuous, unapologetic, and bloody freaking brilliant! I love that he is so damn blatant about it. And the tactic absolutely fits Russell’s persona and his books. I really wish I had even half as much guts as he does. But putting something smack in the middle of a post as he does is way, way, WAY out of my comfort zone.
At the same time, I want to let you (my ten faithful readers) know when something exciting has happened, or when someone (without being bribed or threatened) is saying good things about me. I want you to be able to enjoy them with me as well as point them out to your friends. It’s your opportunity to smile knowingly and say, “I was reading her books from the beginning. I knew they were good!”
So how do you think I should handle this? Should I just post them all on the Lynne Scott Facebook page and share the links there? Should I put something at the bottom of the blog post that’s not so blatant, but still reasonably self-serving? I’d very much like to provide a link to the page of the person who was kind enough to do the interview or review – see below for an example of how this might look. Or should I do both, since there are some who only look at Facebook but never read the blog and others who don’t do Facebook?
Please feel free to let me know what you think either by comment on my Lynne Scott Facebook page (which you all should have liked by now), by commenting below, or by sending me an email using the Contact Me tab at the top of the page.
