DIY

I'm the do-it-yourself type of person, always have been, it's the reason I started cooking very young and the reason I self published a book.  If you want something done 'right', i.e. in a way that pleases you, then roll up your sleeves and get going.  I have to cook so much only because my palate demands great flavors, it's a call to action that cannot be ignored and life is better spent in the having, not the wanting.

Of course, it would seem very sage and wise of me to say otherwise, but screw that, having your heart's desire is much more satisfying than mere desire alone.  The Last Prospector, and the entire Solstice series, was born from my dissatisfaction with another story.  That story had left my entertainment appetite unsatisfied - and promising any of my appetites greatness without delivering ignites my caustic anger pretty easily these days.  That dumb book had the gall to leave me wanting, it pissed me off royally so I decided to do it my own damn self.

So, I did.  Please read The Last Prospector available at Amazon.com.

Anyway, books are written and a story is being told.  The new, and decidedly less fun, story is selling the book to millions of people who have never heard of me.  My last post found me feeling a bit beaten and lost, it's my goal with this blog to chart my entire journey with the highs and lows, last Friday was definitely a low.

I've been flailing for weeks now, lost in a maze of uncertainty without any clear direction or plan of action.  This is most unlike me, I am an organized lady and borderline compulsive planner.  It was time for a system, a new system that was bigger than a notebook, grander in scale while still being economical.  Over the weekend DIY Clyde MacGyvered the big board with some crappy thin sheets of cork bolstered by flattened cardboard boxes and duct tape.  Pretty sweet, I know.

This is my first target, you can tell by the bedazzling that I mean business.  The goal is to get 5,000 copies into reader's hands by June 2013.  Please note that I did not specify 5,000 book sales, not that it wouldn't be great, but you have to give to get in this world.  To that end, I've been giving away books to known readers and will be running the occasional book giveaway on this blog once I figure out how.  So the target is 5,000 people reading The Last Prospector, by hook or by crook.

The board is in its first, rough stages of organization.  There are color coded categories for blogging, word of mouth and this important bit of business...

Writing a marketing plan is the first suggestion in virtually everything I have read so far on the topic of selling a book.  So far, my eyes have leapt eagerly away from that purely because it is yet another thing I know nothing about and will have to learn.  I can ignore it no longer now, it's on the big board.  Please note the one directive under the heading, 'nuff said.

I could hire someone to make that plan of course, I could have paid people to format the book, create the cover or even make this blog.  There's a team available for every step in this process and I wish them all well because we can't afford them.  Team Carrie & Clyde, the DIY wonder couple are on the job.