Guess what I did today? Placed an order for an ad for my February book, RISK, in Romantic Times BOOKReviews magazine. Guess what else? It weren’t cheap. In point of fact, it was pretty expensive. If you’ve read my blog with any regularity, you probably know that I don’t really like spending my advance money. Actually, it’s worse than that. I get testy when I spend advance money, especially large chunks of it. Next week, I’ll be sending Romance Sells, the catalogue of upcoming books for bookstores and librarians, their portion of my advance money for another ad for RISK. No doubt I’ll be testy about that, too. After that, I’ll be ordering bookmarks for RISK, so I can mail them out to bookstores and reading groups so they’ll know RISK exists. Once they know the book exists, I’m hoping they’ll decide they can’t live another day without ordering hundreds of copies for their respective readers. Bookmarks, in case you didn’t know, and postage for mailing bookmarks, are also very expensive. Are you noticing any patterns here? Why am I spending all this money on stuff for RISK? Good question. It’s because I need to market the book if I want readers to know about and buy it. Sounds like a logical plan, right? Here’s the rub: I’ve got no idea which, if any, of these marketing strategies work. None whatsoever. None of us authors do. It’s true. We all huddle together in worried little groups when we get together and pick each other’s brains, desperate for that magic pill. But the tragic thing is there is no magic pill. I’ve got a friend who, after years of trying it all, has sworn off marketing and decided only to do a newsletter to targeted bookstores. I’ve got a friend who buys HUGE ads and swears they bring her HUGE sales. I’ve got a friend who sends out dozens of advance reading copies. I’ve got a friend who orders coffee mugs with the book’s logo and gives them to booksellers. I’ve got friends who consider blogging a marketing tool, and friends who refuse to blog. Friends who - well, you get the idea. Does any of this work? Who the hell knows? Have any of you authors out there discovered anything that works? What about you, readers? Which marketing tricks grab your attention and send you right to the bookstore to buy the book? Someone please tell me SOMETHING. I’d really like to know.