Marketing Sucks

Having to market my own books really sucks! Just thought I'd throw that out there, but those of you who market yourselves already know this. I go through either one extreme or another. I either promo a ton (which I'm sure my followers get sick of me during this time), or I don't promo at all.

If I'm writing I don't promo, if I'm not writing I promo. Simple as that, right?

Not really. Sometimes I'm not writing because I'm marketing. It's not fair, I begin to resent the fact that I have to do this, what seems like a chore, and having it take away from my creative time. But it's a must to survive in this world. My stats prove it to me. Every. Single. Time. When I don't promote my sales drop. I market myself, they rise. Simple as that.

During the month of August, I participated in the Sizzlin' Summer Book Bash thrown by MKSP, and part of the event was to discount my books. I planned one month in advance. Contacted all the promo sites that would take erotic romance and asked them to run my ad on the dates of the Book Bash. I contacted blogs, and blogged myself about the event, and discounted prices. I set up a schedule on HootSuite to tweet about the event and the sales. I asked people to spread the word. I did what I could, and what I knew how to do. It was a lot of work, very time consuming, but I sucked it up and made the best of it.

Know what? August was my best month EVER in sales (except when I gave my books away for free), but my current WIP's took a serious hit for it. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

What are some of the least time consuming ways you've found to market/promote yourself?

*****

Oh wait, while I have you, let me promo myself...
 Laci Paige on Amazon

Bio:
Above all else, Laci enjoys spending time with her family. She and her husband support their children on the soccer pitch and off. Laci enjoys the outdoors, and of course reading and writing (and chocolate). Their family lives in Hampton Roads.

Places on the internet you can find Laci:

www.facebook.com/authorlacipaige

http://lacipaige.blogspot.com

https://twitter.com/laci_paige

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5843897.Laci_Paige

Helpless, by Shandra Miller

In Lethal Obsession, Detective Angela Martin found herself attracted to a new lifestyle, experimenting with BDSM practices, delving deeper into that world even while a killer was on the loose, tying and torturing women in ways eerily similar to what she was experiencing with her master.

Detective Martin returns in the erotic-thriller Helpless, where she descends into the worst parts of the BDSM world. In Lethal Obsession Detective Martin made some tragic choices, and now, in Helpless, she struggles to deal with the grief and guilt she arising from those choices, emotions manifesting themselves with increasingly self-destructive behavior. 

When she finally begins to emerge from that darkness, to reclaim parts of her life and career, the killer returns, only this time he hits closer to home, and Detective Martin stands to lose more than ever.

*****

An excerpt from HELPLESS:

"More."

Her cry was met with a slap across the face. Not hard, but sharp enough to sting.

"More, please Sir."

He laughed, a quiet whisper of a laugh, then the sound of the leather strap slicing through the air followed, cut off by the snap of the leather against her ass.

Angela flinched at the contact, but could do little more. Her arms stretched overhead, wrists tied by a rope attached to the ceiling. Her legs were wide, a spreader bar between her ankles, each end lashed to those ankles so that she was unable to move. Her vision was blotted out by a black cloth tied around her head.

The leather kissed her skin again and again. She moaned from the pain, from the arousal, trying desperately to close her legs tight, to bring herself to climax.

"No you don’t," he whispered before shoving a piece of ice into her cunt.

She gasped, her heart racing even harder now.

"You belong to me," he whispered, hand tracing the contours of her bare breasts as he spoke.

"Your body, your sex…" he worked the ice back and forth. "Even your existence." His hand pulled away – the ice mercifully fell out, then she felt the pull of a rope tightening around her neck. He pulled until her air was nearly cut off, his other hand continuing to caress her breasts, fingers lightly rolling first one nipple, then the other.

"Ple…ase…" she rasped, fighting for breath.

"Please what?"

"Ca…can't…bre—"

Her plea was cut off by his lips, pressing hard against hers, tongue plunging deep in her mouth.

She tried breathing through her nose, but couldn't catch her breath. Angela struggled, but was unable to move. Even blindfolded pinpricks of light began bursting in her vision, she felt light-headed.

"Tanner," she screamed.

*****

Helpless, an erotica-suspense novel by Shandra Miller, is the sequel to Lethal Obsession. Helpless will be available for download to Kindle on Aug. 15, and available for Nook and for all formats at Smashwords shortly thereafter.

Lethal Obsession is available at:

Amazon: amzn.to/148DO67 

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/315075

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lethal-obsession-shandra-miller/1114727993?ean=2940016377414

To keep up with Shandra's writing and publishing schedule, visit her website athttp://shandramillerwriter.blogspot.com/