Book Promotion for Introverts

Trying to sell my book anywhere but on the internet is forcing me to confront my inner shy person.  There’s a reason I didn’t follow my father’s footsteps into sales.  For most of my life I suffered telephone anxiety.  Anytime I had to call someone who wasn’t in my inner circle I would write myself a script so I’d be sure to get my request out as efficiently as possible.  I’d make lists of the main points so I wouldn’t let my nerves run away with me and get off the phone before I’d finished getting all of my points across.

For me, the invention of email has been a huge relief.  I can compose my communications as carefully as I like, proofread them and never have to confront a stranger who doesn’t already have some idea of what I want.  Recent trends towards email bankruptcy - people who are so overwhelmed by the flood of incoming messages that they don’t actually read them anymore - are a major worry for me.  I have had to pick up the phone once again.  

The first stage of selling a self-published book was easy enough.  I invited everyone I know to a book release party.  Then I did a Goodreads giveaway and a Kindle promotion.  So far so good.  Now comes the difficult part:  contacting libraries and bookstores to try to schedule readings.  This requires making contact with strangers.  I am feeling my way along, here.  There are phone calls involved.  I can psyche myself up for about one a week.  

Lucky for me, my first foray went well. I contacted the Germanic-American Society in St. Paul and now have a reading scheduled there in the fall.  I’m even trying to interest a bookstore in South Carolina in hosting a reading during an upcoming trip to Clemson.  

Eventually I hope to get brave enough to talk to real people in person.  A few weeks ago, I tried to gather the courage to ask a local  bookseller how I would go about trying to set up a reading.  Instead, I spent 20 minutes taking inventory of the memoir section and then slunk out deciding that I wasn’t quite there yet.  Maybe next month.