Marketing as an Introvert

I am a chatterbox. When I was young the only way my mom knew when I was sick was that I would stop talking. But don't mistake my talkativeness as being an extrovert. I am not. I am actually pretty shy. I will talk (a lot) when I get to know a person, but until I feel comfortable my lips don't open. This shyness has been a big hindrance in trying to marketing my own books. I can talk up someone else's book, no problem, but marketing my book. The book I spent more than half my life working on, that is another story. I have spent the last six months working on marketing and breaking out of my shell. Here are some of the ways I have found to work: 1. Tell some key Extroverts. You don't have to tell everyone you meet about your book. But if you share your book with a few, key extroverts they will share your news with you. My assistant in my full-time job is an extrovert. I told her about my book and gave her a book at a reduced price. She has shown it to fellow co-workers and her family members, generating interest. I could not have done this alone, I would have never had the guts to tell everyone at work about my book. 2. Send out postcard mailers. I will have a separate blog post dedicated to creating postcard mailers later. This has been a very easy way to let local bookstores and libraries about my book for me as an introvert. I don't have to do a bunch of cold calls (something that terrifies me). Now, I do have to contact the person at the libraries I want to donate a copy of my book to, but the fewer phone calls I make, the better. 3. Set-up a Book Blog Tour. This is a little out of my comfort zone, but if you use a blog tour service where they contact the bloggers for you, it's a lot easier. Again, I will let someone more outgoing and not-shy contact people on my behalf. I will give some tips on booking a blog tour in another post. 4. Subtly advertise your book so people approach you. I find it easier to talk about my book if someone else brings it up first. I am less inclined to start a conversation with someone, but I will answer questions posed to me. In my social media posts, I will talk about writing and make a reference to the Facebook page for My Not So Normal Life: Spy Recruit. I don't say "hey! I wrote a book!" but instead "spent lunch working on the sequel to My Not So Normal Life Spy Recruit. #writerslife". Another subtle marketing technique I used was to have the cover of my book printed onto the coffee mug I use at work. You just have to be okay with being a walking billboard. 5. Keep reminding yourself how awesome your book is. You wrote a book. Don't let some articles about how millions of books are published a year make you think that what you created is any less special. There are billions of people in the world, doesn't make you any less special. Are the odds against you to becoming a millionaire best-seller? Yes. But that shouldn't deter you. People will be interested in your book, if only for the fact that you created something from nothing to completion. The world is full of half-written novels. Take pride in what you have published. Take that pride and have the courage to break out of your shell. Have any other tips? Or have questions? Leave them in the comments section below!