I listened to an author interview on the Mom Writes podcast a while back. (Confession: it was sooo long ago I can’t find the episode!) It wasn’t about marketing but what she said stuck with me and the more I thought about it, the more convinced I became this is the secret to staying motivated with marketing. Want to know what it is? Read on.

Struggling to stay motivated with marketing? Maybe it scares you. The secret is small steps to move out of your comfort zone into the learning zone.

This author had written a book about parenting based on her years of experience running a summer camp and she talked about how to help children who are facing a fear. If my memory serves, in her example the kid was petrified of the water. She said the key is to move the child slowly, one step at a time from their comfort zone (dry land) into more uncomfortable scenarios (dipping their toe in the water, going up to their waste, letting go of an adult). This is called the learning zone. But the trick is not to LEAP too far into something too scary (“Go on, just jump off the boat, everyone’s doing it, it’ll be fun!”) This is known as the danger zone and it will trigger panic and paralysis. Then you’re done for. The child will have a traumatic memory associated with jumping into water and will likely refuse to do it for years.

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The same is true of so many writers I meet when it comes to marketing and self-promotion. They’ve read a million blog posts, signed up to all the webinars and tracked what other successful authors are doing on social media. They’re introverted and unsure but they get the message this marketing thing involves baring your soul on social media and posting on every single platform, every single day. It seems like everyone’s telling them to jump.

Marketing looks like this:

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Or this:

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Sound familiar? That’s because FEAR is the biggest killer of your motivation when it comes to marketing. This is what some of my fears sound like:

  • What if people don’t like my book/post/cover picture?
  • What will work on Instagram (or Facebook, or Twitter)?
  • What if I sound too pushy or sales-y?
  • What if no-one signs up to my newsletter?

Comparison and social media can exacerbate this. We see authors posting cover reveals, give aways, excerpts from their upcoming release, insights into their writing process and we feel intimidated. We think the only way to succeed with our marketing is to instantly action all these ideas. And if we don’t, we’re a failure. The truth is though, we haven’t watched the full, behind the scenes, step by step journey that author has taken to build the content and following they have. I’ll bet you they started small. Maybe even faltering. We all do. We have to.

So, what’s the antidote to this fear of marketing? The secret is staying in the learning zone. Slowly, step by step. If you immediately jump into doing all the things you think you need to be doing, you’ll trigger panic and paralysis and you’ll give up on marketing.

So, if like most writers out there you’re feeling just a little bit intimidated by marketing, here are some tips to keep you motivated with your marketing.

Recognize where you’re at

Are you drafting your first manuscript, querying agents, about to launch your first book, or starting your next project? This is important. Don’t compare yourself to someone who’s at a different stage to you. There are different marketing activities that make sense for each stage of the process. Don’t think you have to do them all, all the time.

Figure out your danger zone

Is it technology, social media, the thought of blogging or sending out a regular newsletter? Is it public speaking? I find there’s huge power in journaling these. Writing down my fears can shock me, but it also turns them into something outside of my mind that I can begin to work with. Yeah, crazy I know, that writing helps a writer!

Surround yourself with the right people

Make sure you have some peers in your network who are at a similar stage to you. And, some who have a different skill set to you. This is about moving into our learning zone, not staying in our comfort one, so we need people around us who can do things we can’t. But, we also need encouragement to keep motivated with marketing. Get the right mix. Maybe you can suggest to your critique group that one session is focused on marketing fails and wins.

Have a plan

Start with your bigger goal, then identify milestones which will get you there. Break these into monthly, weekly and daily activities that are achievable but sometimes challenging. Pick ONE social media platform and start to explore it. Or sign up to another author’s newsletter and see what you like about it. Research counts as a step along the way. Then STICK WITH YOUR PLAN! It takes time to get the hang of writing a newsletter, to build your network on social media. Don’t throw your hands up and say it’s not working.

If you’d like help staying motivated with your marketing, give me a shout. Often we need outside perspective and someone to encourage us.