pause for a commercial

i've been mulling over my lame marketing efforts; i sell virtually no books of short stories or poetry, in spite of going to a lot of trouble to produce them and make them presentable. in fact at first it was ok that i didn't sell much, because i was aware that i was only beginning to understand the process, and in fact some of my early works were riven with typos, poor presentation or other problems. i'd try to make a book without actually buying one, and as a result got somewhat experimental results.

but now i feel that the third set of stories (see below) is better than the first two, deserves to be read, and represents a steady improvement in both the writing of stories itself but also in the compiling of an acceptable presentation in terms of the book itself. i actually have an ambitious marketing plan, but i don't think i've ever articulated it exactly. it has many parts, some of which i've done.

in fact i finished the book on CreateSpace way back in what, july or something, but then i dropped it like a hot potato. i don't remember the reason; maybe we went on vacation, or, i started working full time at the summer workshop, or some such thing. in any case, i'd never quite even put it on kindle. now, i have a three-fold goal: make and sell the book in book form; put it on kindle, also in presentable form, and finally, make an audio book. so far i've got one of three. my work is cut out for me.

as far as marketing it online, i've done two things: i put it on facebook, and i put it on my tlevs site. the tlevs press site tells about each book and provides a direct link to amazon or to kindle for each one. the tlevs press site needs to be overhauled, needs to look better, but at least it is a collection of links and information.

so how to lead people to the tlevs site? for starters, i posted in all my blogs, or at least five out of at least 30, the five that are most active. i actually have a few on other servers, and i'll get to those: thumb science, for example. on this note i might offer advertising to others in return for a link to my tlevs press site.

then, i have a plan to make little click-ads that look like google ads, but are just a little bolder. these, i want to have a little jump to them, make you wonder if it's actually a google ad or what.

a final possibility is to have a commercial site, one that blatantly goes for the page views. i'm not quite sure how that would look. i've often toyed with the idea of making this site commercial, but i've never had the nerve to do it. actually it just kind of goes against my general inclination. but one side of me is getting impatient with always being so low-key, unassuming, etc. i mean, i think that's fine for this site, which is basically my personal ramble, my train of thought, my day-to-day record of where my mind is going. but i've developed an author's presence, and i want a site that reflects that: that announces stuff i've made, that provides commercial links to other places and that, basically, isn't beneath being commercial. most places that make money just give in to being commercial, and go for it; that's what i'd like this site to do.

in a way, i'm just coming out of a caveman era; i have things to sell, but just got a pay-pal account, what, yesterday, so i'm just getting the mechanism prepared to actually have an author's setup. a commercial blog-type place would help here. i love producing stuff, and will probably keep doing it, though whether i can ever get the esl side up-and-running, i'm not sure. i'll try, and i'll keep you posted!