Hunger Games Display (Photo credit: APL_YA)

Which is to say, the connection between social media and book selling still stumps me sometimes. Last week I was excited to celebrate the launch of my sixth ebook, a novel about discovering love in Qatar. My friends on Facebook were more excited about my nearly two year old’s haircut.

I can’t explain it. But if I understood it, I would leverage it in any way I could. The fact is word of mouth is important as ever. But how to keep up your flagging spirits in the middle of a campaign is equally critical to an indie author’s success. There are a variety of analogies I could make about the upcoming Olympics and stamina, but then I’d be mixing my metaphors.

It’s part of the magic of a book, I guess, something that sparks amongst enough people to cause the word to spread, like in the early days of Harry Potter, or The Hunger Games. Heck, even Twilight had me up all night wondering what the buzz was about. By the way, it‘s not an accident that each of those examples are young adult books that went mainstream. The two first time authors I’ve recently heard of getting agents were also writing young adult paranormal. Apparently tweens and teens are the only ones who read anymore (or that we want to read about, other than digestible SandM).

Getting to the buzz stage takes a lot of work, blogging, guest blogging, and it must be said, paid advertising. You can have no reservations about asking for reviews, or sending out a newsletter.

In a way, this is no different from the mothers on Facebook who post their bab(ies) latest doings. After all, they are displaying their proudest moments. I’m learning from them to post boldly and to share widely the milestones that make up my journey. But not only as a fellow mother, but as a writer. Because when you tell stories like I do, each one is a creative child, birthed in hard work and dedication. And you want each one to get the appreciation that your human children will no doubt inspire.

Why does it seem that much harder with books? Is it because there are so many of them in the public space? Are you more inclined to like a baby or a book?

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Mohana Rajakumar

Mohana has a PhD from the University of Florida with a focus on gender and postcolonial theory. She is the creator and co-editor of five books in the Qatar Narratives series, as well as the Qatari Voices anthology which features essays by Qataris on modern life in Doha (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, 2010). Mohana has published several ebooks and academic titles. Check out her Amazon.com author page

    

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