I would like to think that by now I’m a pretty good writer—I know how to craft a plot, create interesting characters, and build a story that keeps a reader interested until the last page. I understand the power of words, and how important it is to choose the right ones. I get written communication, you know?

Until I have to write marketing text for a book, and then I start screaming. I’m fully aware that marketing is a whole skill set in its own, and I admire the hell out of authors who are also good marketers and understand how to get a potential reader’s attention.

I am not one of those authors. Being neurospicy, I’m fully aware that what appeals to me in an ad or a blurb isn’t going to appeal to 90% of my potential reading audience, so working on effective marketing material can be … a challenge. Yes, let’s call it a challenge.

That being said, I don’t make enough to outsource this to pro marketers, so I have to suck it up and try to be the best marketer I can with my neurospicy brain. Frex, I’ve just worked on some marketing issues with Storm Season (Olympic Cove Book One). According to Amazon Ads I’m getting a relatively good number of impressions (when an ad is displayed to a potential customer), and clicks (when a customer clicks on an ad). But I’m not getting purchases of the book, which usually means that the ad looks interesting enough to get someone to click on it, but when they land on the book’s Amazon page either the cover or the blurb makes them think, “Nah.”

I’m in the process of overhauling all the Olympic Cove covers and making them look more like the current visual standard for mythological romance books (jewel-toned decorative background, a focus object, and titles in a swoopy font with a gold embossed effect), but I decided the blurb could also use more of an emotional hook. Everything I’ve been reading on marketing says that emotion is one of the most important tools an author has when it comes to selling a book. It’s my job to dangle an emotional promise in front of a reader—this book will make you feel happy, horny, engaged, maybe a little angry, maybe a little thoughtful, and immensely satisfied at the end.

And I get to pack all that into a blurb. Whee. Now I just have to wait and see if I managed it correctly for Storm Season.