It may have been a ‘moment in time’ in my life or the fact that the vacation was too good but I ate all kinds of the foods that I do not normally eat. I even tried foods that I have only heard about but never had a chance to try like Ackee and Salt fish (delicious!!). I now know that it may not have been the food, but my face had a bad acne breakout. After struggling for a short while I made my way to the doctor. She gave me gel to use and informed me that it will get worst before it gets better (promise) and I must not wear any makeup. It may take 8-12 weeks to see a difference, I was told. I was on vacation so I felt that all will be well after the 3 weeks when I was required to return to work. I was wrong!
I have always used foundation to hide the occasional breakout and horrible dark marks that the acne left behind. The acne did get worse, much, much worse and I had to go outside and face the world of work and church (places where I face the same people everyday) and I was told to do it without covering up. I was determined to follow the doctor’s advice so I walked around naked. Twelve weeks later it was substantially worse and did not appear to be getting any better. I was disheartened and ready to give up. (But this is an article on Walking Naked).
Along the journey, though, something very strange happened. Outside of the fact that persons were very kind and did not say anything, life continued as normal. I was not ostracized, shunted or made fun of.
I am not sure if it was as a result of people’s acceptance of me or that I have learnt not to be so self conscious but I found that I have learnt to accept myself, acne, spots and all. A few concerned persons at church eventually did show concern with the state of my face but this was after my acne outbreaks had reduced.
Now six months later the acne outbreaks are under control but the oily, shiny appearance is still with me. I no longer worry about it because I have come to realize that “Nobody really cared” that my face is shinny (except my mother) and I can continue my daily living as if my face was plastered with makeup. I now sport a young, dewy look as I walk naked.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
The Frustration of Marketing/Selling my Book as a Self-Publisher
There are stories on the internet that speaks to how easy it is to market your book and get your sales to soar.
I have not found this to be the case. Perhaps I do not spend the adequate amount of time but hey, I am a single mother of two very active boys with a full-time job.
I wrote a book that took me four years from start to finish as I was busy raising my boys and at times I had to wait on my editor as she was and is very busy. After I finally navigated my way through the process and the printed material was in my hands I jump started the process with a book launch party. That went very good. I had support from family and friends and my church was very helpful in providing the location. The members of my church supported me exceeding well and they bought some of the books. Although my work colleagues did not attend the book launch party I got most of my book sales from them. I am very grateful to have their support. Now that was the easy part.
Next I approached bookstores in my island and after many frustrating months and many rejects I managed to get 4 different bookstores to take my book. I was aware that the marketing would still be at me so I managed to get my picture in the paper with an article written about the book, I had a few speaking engagements (and many rejects) and after months of trying I managed to get myself on an early morning show in my island.
To keep the momentum going I uploaded my book to www.createspace.com which allowed me to have my book on www.Amazon.com. This was done after many weeks back at the editor as changes to the book trim had to be done. The actual upload did not take long and the site was easy to use.
Then I decided to start my very own website (www.tricksmydogtaughtme.com). I did this with the help of a friend and without him I could not have gotten it done. I was lost and frustrated most of the time. I then posted the site on free classified websites which resulted in emails from marketers flooding my inbox. I also paid for email blasts which drove about 50-60 hits to my website after each blast.
I invited persons to become members of my website. Most of them just ignored me. I started to blog and had my book site linked to the blog site, I got my website on search engines, I joined Facebook and put the information in the profile and I am on other social websites as well. Persons see me on Facebook and congrulate me for writing but no sales. Mostly I get persons wanting to add me to their list of friends.
I followed the rules that were given. Yet sorry to say my book sales have not soared as promised. I got most of my books sold at my work place and at church and then it dwindled down to nothing. Occasionally I would get a book sold but it is usually from persons who know me. Thank God for them. It has been one and a half years now since my book was launch and I have tried evrything that I was aware of to get it sold or better to get the sales to soar.
So here I am at the start of 2010 blogging about my frustrations on marketing/selling my book Tricks My Dog Taught Me – A Smart Woman’s Thoughts on Saving a Relationship. If you would, you can venture onto my site and have a read of the beginning of the book. Hopefully in 2010 I will have a better year where the sales will soar and many persons will visit my site and be moved to purchase my book. Cheers. My book web site - www.tricksmydogtaughtme.com.
I have not found this to be the case. Perhaps I do not spend the adequate amount of time but hey, I am a single mother of two very active boys with a full-time job.
I wrote a book that took me four years from start to finish as I was busy raising my boys and at times I had to wait on my editor as she was and is very busy. After I finally navigated my way through the process and the printed material was in my hands I jump started the process with a book launch party. That went very good. I had support from family and friends and my church was very helpful in providing the location. The members of my church supported me exceeding well and they bought some of the books. Although my work colleagues did not attend the book launch party I got most of my book sales from them. I am very grateful to have their support. Now that was the easy part.
Next I approached bookstores in my island and after many frustrating months and many rejects I managed to get 4 different bookstores to take my book. I was aware that the marketing would still be at me so I managed to get my picture in the paper with an article written about the book, I had a few speaking engagements (and many rejects) and after months of trying I managed to get myself on an early morning show in my island.
To keep the momentum going I uploaded my book to www.createspace.com which allowed me to have my book on www.Amazon.com. This was done after many weeks back at the editor as changes to the book trim had to be done. The actual upload did not take long and the site was easy to use.
Then I decided to start my very own website (www.tricksmydogtaughtme.com). I did this with the help of a friend and without him I could not have gotten it done. I was lost and frustrated most of the time. I then posted the site on free classified websites which resulted in emails from marketers flooding my inbox. I also paid for email blasts which drove about 50-60 hits to my website after each blast.
I invited persons to become members of my website. Most of them just ignored me. I started to blog and had my book site linked to the blog site, I got my website on search engines, I joined Facebook and put the information in the profile and I am on other social websites as well. Persons see me on Facebook and congrulate me for writing but no sales. Mostly I get persons wanting to add me to their list of friends.
I followed the rules that were given. Yet sorry to say my book sales have not soared as promised. I got most of my books sold at my work place and at church and then it dwindled down to nothing. Occasionally I would get a book sold but it is usually from persons who know me. Thank God for them. It has been one and a half years now since my book was launch and I have tried evrything that I was aware of to get it sold or better to get the sales to soar.
So here I am at the start of 2010 blogging about my frustrations on marketing/selling my book Tricks My Dog Taught Me – A Smart Woman’s Thoughts on Saving a Relationship. If you would, you can venture onto my site and have a read of the beginning of the book. Hopefully in 2010 I will have a better year where the sales will soar and many persons will visit my site and be moved to purchase my book. Cheers. My book web site - www.tricksmydogtaughtme.com.
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