Sunday, August 28, 2022
Little Free Libraries
I put the first of my thoughts on little free libraries here, where I let the world know what I'm thinking as an author. But here I let people know what I'm thinking as a marketer, and obviously my focus is getting my books in front of as many eyes as possible.
I've become somewhat of a pop artist, with more focus on making good art and getting it in front of as many eyes as possible. In this regard I'm more focused on the haiku, which very few people read, and which need good pop art to even have people pick it up. But I've also got a Warhol-type philosophy. He believed in blanketing the market with as much of his art as he could, and he ultimately became the bellwether of the art market, because there's so much of it out there, and because through sheer volume he was able to determine what worked and what didn't. I need to do like he does, starting now.
As for the little free libraries, it's an open research question whether people actually use them and if so how much. I actually saw someone use the one on our street, up a few blocks, so my hopes are up. In another one, about a block to the east, the door was broken and I was aggrieved that even if someone wanted to use it they'd have trouble - but that door was fixed in a day or two. In Monmouth I opened one to use it, and the door covering fell off - I fixed it myself, and the neighbors came out to see if I was vandalizing (I look a little sketchy, I'll admit). I very rarely tell people I'm an author, much less that I'm the Andy Warhol of haiku. And actually those are kind of like goals, targets. It's like being a Quaker, an expression of what you want to be, not an expression of who you are.
Galesburg only has one LFL on the official registry, and that's the one up my street, that I saw the guy using. It has a number of others, including the one a block to the east, and these it seems were put up in a group, sponsored by the Rotary Club, maybe four or five years ago. Some have fallen into disrepair or are not in active use. In a practical sense, I could become a person who recycles them - pulls out the old ones, paints them, puts them in new places - and this is kind of attractive to me. The situation clearly needs to evolve a little and they are suffering from general lack of attention.
But as a writer and artist, I am beginning to scope out the range of them, keep track of them, and even (possibly) keep track of what I've put in them. I have put new covers on half a dozen books, which renders the old ones give-away-able, and they are doing no good whatsoever in my closet. The way to be seen is to get them out there and have people see them.
I got what limited success I've had by ignoring the print market (where you can't get people to buy an indie print book) in favor of online, where people with ku can freely read each other's work. I now have a decent reputation on ku where some people know what I do and how to find it, but I've recently come to the grips with the fact that to many people, your print rating defines who you are and how well you've done. In print books I still have pretty dismal ratings but I'm addressing that; if I can keep all of them below ten million I'll consider myself lucky. One way to address it is to do Warholian blanketing with whatever I've got. Make people at least see them, at least in this area where I can do it. Then, there's always my brothers and sisters, who would probably be glad to stock a LFL somewhere in their neighborhood. And grandchildren and neices who I visit regularly. You have to start with the places where you go. I go to Peoria regularly; I've got my eyes on it.
LFL provides an app which will always show you where the nearest LFL is. I'm interested. I'm going to Iowa City in September, and I actually know that town well enough to get around it a little. Maybe I can get some books ready, and take them with me. Best is to put them in the hands of someone who will actually read them. I'm beyond worrying about whether they pay. The income itself is not going to make that much difference, in the long haul.
Then btw there are two more aspects of my marketing strategy. Two of my most popular books have been the McDonald's one and the Walmart one. If those are the most popular then I need to take my lessons from them and make more books with themes like that (as opposed to just straight-out short stories collections), but also to put those books forward in my general marketing. What am I giving away? Those, hopefully, since they catch the eye and have turned out to be relatively popular. As I get better at this i plan to have a few more of them around, more often, and to give them away first, if at all possible, and especially to people with any connection to those places. Once again I need readers, not just people who will put it on a shelf and let it sit there. I'm sure that some of the people that work at these places do read, although if they read well, they'd probably have a better job. But nevertheless you're watching the formulation of a strategy which involves proper placement of what little resources I have - I have to use my resources carefully, think about them, and put them in the right hands. It's a tireless and thankless task.
I have a friend who gives away her books to tiny libraries in small towns throughout Texas. She likes to travel out there in the panhandle and in the wilder parts of the state anyway, so she is by no means burning motor-home gas just to give away books. The question is whether the tiny libraries actually put them to good use. I have given a number of books to libraries here and in New Mexico and really have no idea whether people are actually reading them at any step of the process. In a library, someone who's in charge, and who is fairly knowledgeable, will at least look at the cover, thumb through it, and decide what to do with it. So I haven't given up on the formal libraries by any means, although the question really is what is the best way to use my limited resources.
Going to Chicago in a couple of weeks. Maybe in a way, that's hitting the big time.
I've become somewhat of a pop artist, with more focus on making good art and getting it in front of as many eyes as possible. In this regard I'm more focused on the haiku, which very few people read, and which need good pop art to even have people pick it up. But I've also got a Warhol-type philosophy. He believed in blanketing the market with as much of his art as he could, and he ultimately became the bellwether of the art market, because there's so much of it out there, and because through sheer volume he was able to determine what worked and what didn't. I need to do like he does, starting now.
As for the little free libraries, it's an open research question whether people actually use them and if so how much. I actually saw someone use the one on our street, up a few blocks, so my hopes are up. In another one, about a block to the east, the door was broken and I was aggrieved that even if someone wanted to use it they'd have trouble - but that door was fixed in a day or two. In Monmouth I opened one to use it, and the door covering fell off - I fixed it myself, and the neighbors came out to see if I was vandalizing (I look a little sketchy, I'll admit). I very rarely tell people I'm an author, much less that I'm the Andy Warhol of haiku. And actually those are kind of like goals, targets. It's like being a Quaker, an expression of what you want to be, not an expression of who you are.
Galesburg only has one LFL on the official registry, and that's the one up my street, that I saw the guy using. It has a number of others, including the one a block to the east, and these it seems were put up in a group, sponsored by the Rotary Club, maybe four or five years ago. Some have fallen into disrepair or are not in active use. In a practical sense, I could become a person who recycles them - pulls out the old ones, paints them, puts them in new places - and this is kind of attractive to me. The situation clearly needs to evolve a little and they are suffering from general lack of attention.
But as a writer and artist, I am beginning to scope out the range of them, keep track of them, and even (possibly) keep track of what I've put in them. I have put new covers on half a dozen books, which renders the old ones give-away-able, and they are doing no good whatsoever in my closet. The way to be seen is to get them out there and have people see them.
I got what limited success I've had by ignoring the print market (where you can't get people to buy an indie print book) in favor of online, where people with ku can freely read each other's work. I now have a decent reputation on ku where some people know what I do and how to find it, but I've recently come to the grips with the fact that to many people, your print rating defines who you are and how well you've done. In print books I still have pretty dismal ratings but I'm addressing that; if I can keep all of them below ten million I'll consider myself lucky. One way to address it is to do Warholian blanketing with whatever I've got. Make people at least see them, at least in this area where I can do it. Then, there's always my brothers and sisters, who would probably be glad to stock a LFL somewhere in their neighborhood. And grandchildren and neices who I visit regularly. You have to start with the places where you go. I go to Peoria regularly; I've got my eyes on it.
LFL provides an app which will always show you where the nearest LFL is. I'm interested. I'm going to Iowa City in September, and I actually know that town well enough to get around it a little. Maybe I can get some books ready, and take them with me. Best is to put them in the hands of someone who will actually read them. I'm beyond worrying about whether they pay. The income itself is not going to make that much difference, in the long haul.
Then btw there are two more aspects of my marketing strategy. Two of my most popular books have been the McDonald's one and the Walmart one. If those are the most popular then I need to take my lessons from them and make more books with themes like that (as opposed to just straight-out short stories collections), but also to put those books forward in my general marketing. What am I giving away? Those, hopefully, since they catch the eye and have turned out to be relatively popular. As I get better at this i plan to have a few more of them around, more often, and to give them away first, if at all possible, and especially to people with any connection to those places. Once again I need readers, not just people who will put it on a shelf and let it sit there. I'm sure that some of the people that work at these places do read, although if they read well, they'd probably have a better job. But nevertheless you're watching the formulation of a strategy which involves proper placement of what little resources I have - I have to use my resources carefully, think about them, and put them in the right hands. It's a tireless and thankless task.
I have a friend who gives away her books to tiny libraries in small towns throughout Texas. She likes to travel out there in the panhandle and in the wilder parts of the state anyway, so she is by no means burning motor-home gas just to give away books. The question is whether the tiny libraries actually put them to good use. I have given a number of books to libraries here and in New Mexico and really have no idea whether people are actually reading them at any step of the process. In a library, someone who's in charge, and who is fairly knowledgeable, will at least look at the cover, thumb through it, and decide what to do with it. So I haven't given up on the formal libraries by any means, although the question really is what is the best way to use my limited resources.
Going to Chicago in a couple of weeks. Maybe in a way, that's hitting the big time.
Labels: LFLs
Thursday, August 04, 2022
blog report
July was good for the blogs, and it comes out on the Aug. 1 report, done like Aug. 3. Lots of them were up. People are coming back to the blogs.
One of my goals is to have lots of pop art up there for them to come back to. My pop art is all over the place but in general, it's not on the blogs where it should be and it should be there because that's where current visitors come to see what's happening. I plan to change this situation a s a p.
I do have a new one, HardKnox blog, which just got off the ground. It needs decoration, and content both. I need more real experience with Galesburg to help fill it up.
It will be a new campaign, and take some of my energy, to systematically decorate. I will do it, though. They need the attention. They need to stay current. I need to stay in the game. Maybe that's the whole secret to marketing.
One of my goals is to have lots of pop art up there for them to come back to. My pop art is all over the place but in general, it's not on the blogs where it should be and it should be there because that's where current visitors come to see what's happening. I plan to change this situation a s a p.
I do have a new one, HardKnox blog, which just got off the ground. It needs decoration, and content both. I need more real experience with Galesburg to help fill it up.
It will be a new campaign, and take some of my energy, to systematically decorate. I will do it, though. They need the attention. They need to stay current. I need to stay in the game. Maybe that's the whole secret to marketing.
Labels: blogs
