It’s the downside of professional and personal freedom. I don’t have the big marketing machine. It’s just me and my (currently non-existent) advertising budget. My friend, Gina Drayer, once said that being an indie writer  on a tight budget means selling one book at a time.

My latest book, Hedge Doctor: Prom is the best example I have of the phenomenon.

I had lots of trouble thinking up banners for my various social sites, as the cover wasn’t as versatile as my last series. In the end, I gave up. So no passive advertising there.

And I was feeling burnt out and depressed, so logging on to Facebook and finding YA reading groups… blarg.

So the first two weeks the book was live… no sales. Not a one. Which didn’t help with the depression.

And then one of my go-to advertising pages on facebook showed up in my feed. Feeling all around crappy, I nevertheless posted Prom.

Two hours later, I had a sale. Let’s talk about the turn around that one sale makes. I went from moping to excited.

And suddenly, I’m tweeting about the book, looking up YA book clubs (thank you, Amelia for the help there.), and just, in general, more excited about it.

Which is a good thing, because I really like this story. I think it’s a good look at teenagers, high school, and choices without be preachy. I love my characters, and of course, there’s a ton of action and snark.

Now, I haven’t had another sale of it, yet, but that one sale (without a return!) has me motivated to get more.

And it’s up to me to get them. Nobody is going to do it for me.