So the book is out! as you already know or will know after you stumble upon this post.
I made a decision. After my Los Angeles event, I thought about how I want my book to be 'marketed' and that is that I don't want it to be marketed, I want it to be promoted if people feel inspired to share it.
I am not doing a blog book tour and I am not asking bloggers to review the book. If you are seeing reviews out there it is because readers are choosing to talk about it. And while it is standard for publishers to giveaway copies specifically for people to review, most of the reviews I've seen are from people who actually bought the book, which is generous on top of generous {thank you}
Now before I go any further, for the record: I'm not opposed to or suggesting that marketing, blog book tours or giving people copies for review is disengenous. All of these are fine and excellent, and some would say necessary ways to get word of your book out there. I'm just an author and business owner choosing a different approach for now. Let's be honest; a book's shelf life is ultimately determined by word of mouth, by its readers.
That in my opinion is just how it should be. I want 'Creative Thursday' to have a life beyond it's first printing if it speaks to people enough for them to continue to give it life and if not then that is absolutely fine. I don't want anyone to share any reviews or links of my book, or my work for that matter, out of even the slightest bit of obligation. I want word of my work to continue to spread because - I'll tell you about it, as I'm usually pretty fired up about new projects and also as a self-supporting business - it's nice to keep your customers in the loop. I will also show you some additional peeks into the book in this post :)
But that's it. Beyond that if a project succeeds or doesn't beyond it's initial offering, that will be up to my supporters, customers, readers and in the case of this book the stores who choose to carry it. done and done.
As an entrepreneur, the life of my business is ultimately determined by personal decisions about how I want to run it. Simply put what feels right, inspired, honest, what feels genuine - not what anyone else tells me I should be doing to either make my business grow or sell my book. Because truthfully if I make any decisons not from these intentions, it doesn't really work anyway.
I love this book- more than ever, missing page and all {which you can download here by the way} Based upon the emails I'm getting, and reviews I'm reading you love it too. This alone tells me that writing the 'Creative Thursday' has already fulfilled it's purpose. It is being received exactly as I hoped it would be. And I'm thrilled about this. I also intended for it to be timeless, so of course I want it to have a home on bookshelves and electronic devices for years to come. With that said, every bit of positive feedback, reviews online and on Amazon, telling your friends and family about it, buying it as a gift all help move it forward. So I guess I am actually asking but I am asking you to share something positive if and only if you feel inspired to do so. If you send me an email telling me how much the book speaks to you and you also feel comfortable sharing it on Amazon, that would be awesome.
For those of you who have emailed me and who have already posted such kind reviews, thank you so much! If you are interested in reading some here are few to get you started Stitch Craft Create, RedlineDesign, Dining Room Empire, Sue Bulmer. And if you have posted a review be sure to let me know so I can link back to you. Thank you Melanie for suggesting 'Creative Thursday' as a giftie for Valentine's day and thank you to those of you sharing snapshots on Instgram too, like Shayla above. And the best, I made it to Amber's 'these are on the back of my toilet and sometimes I read them for three whole minutes' list. I am complete.
