Word on the Street

When you are a no-name author, word of mouth is one of the only things you have to work with. You hope that everyone who reads your book tells several other people who then read it and tell several more people about it. In my head I always thought of it as a snowball/domino effect that would blossom quite naturally. In reality though, getting people to buy your book is not that easy.

Look at it this way. You start with the pool of everyone who knows you. Family, friends, co-workers, etc. Based on numbers alone, this will seem like a pretty big pool. But in order for any given person to actually buy your book, he/she must: 1) enjoy reading books to begin with, 2) enjoy reading memoirs, and 3) not be "too busy" right now (even though they seem to have no trouble getting through the Shades of Grey series). And while everyone in this pool will praise you for your accomplishment, tell a few people about you, and maybe even post a link to your book on their facebook page, everyone who sees/hears about it from them will also have to pass the three criteria I've listed above. What this all boils down to is a relatively low percentage of potential readers who actually read your book.

Not that I have anything to complain about. On the contrary, I continue to be amazed at the positive response from those who have read Schooled. There were so many times during the publishing process that I had temporary freak-out moments when I wondered why in the hell I was doing this, sure no one would care about my measly collection of classroom lessons. But people do care. They remember their own educations and laugh and cry along with me as I grow up over the course of 245 pages. So I couldn't really ask for anything more. Except maybe MORE people to laugh and cry with me as I grow up over the course of 245 pages. Bring on the snowball.