Happy Valentine’s Day

Today is that day some singles dread. I’m ‘single again’ and dread only the amount of sweets I see on sale tomorrow. I don’t need that temptation. And as for the ‘romance’ stuff… it looks too much like advertising to be seductive to me. They want me, all right: beginning and ending with my assets. In one of my former occupations, I was a sailor, overseas. I understand this kind of ‘I want you, honey’. Suggestion: turn your pockets inside out and see who still is in love with you.

The reality of love had to begin with you: you loving yourself enough to be content with yourself. Not too content: change for the better is always needed. Find a good book about something you hate about yourself, and see if there is something, some way, you can get better at being yourself. Just a suggestion.

Advertising Works… Sorta

I did something new, something I didn’t want to do, something I had already tried and failed at doing. What was it? Facebook advertising. I finally dug in and mastered the first part of it, the part I needed for this first step.

And the results? I sold some books. What’s remarkable about this is that prior to advertising, there was a long streak of NOT selling books. What does this prove? Probably nothing to most of you, but to me it did what I needed to have done. It proved that ‘cause and effect’ works between advertising and selling books. Yes, I’m one of those people who don’t believe in cause-and-effect. Well, not all the time. I do believe that without coffee the day does not begin. This truth, however, I have done several experiments with and have proven it to be true. This Facebook advertising thing… this was new.

But it worked. I didn’t do a great job: the cost of the ads was only almost covered by the sales of the books. I’ll take that as a cost of learning expense. Will I advertise again? Yes, but differently. On Facebook? Yes, but differently. I suspect it will cost more, and it will take several tries to get it to do more than break even. But I’m up for that.

Why? Because I write. (and advertising works, sorta!) And I have people who believe my writing is good enough to pay for! And, of course, the fans are always right.

Speaking of fans, have you bought a hard copy of Down Cellar?  Want it signed? Email me about how to get that done!

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