Do You Resist Marketing Your Book?

Do You Resist Marketing Your Book?

By Barbara Conelli

Believe me, I know the feeling. You'd rather die than market your book. Just the word "marketing" gives you goose bumps and makes your stomach turn into a twisted knot. You feel like curling up into a ball, hiding under your favorite blanket without ever seeing the light of day, or, God forbid, talking to anyone about your book. You wish you could "just write" and leave the rest to the book fairy or your big orange cat.

Okay, I hear you. Getting yourself out there is scary, and a writer is a fragile thing. Well, let me give you some tough love here. You have two options. You can either do all of the above, write "just for yourself", and become an old, grumpy, unappreciated artist. Or you can decide that your childish excuses stopped being cute when you were about five, you can buck up and get your writer's derriere out into the wild world.

The fastest way to do the right thing is to rule the word "marketing" off the ice (yes, I'm a hockey fan), and replace it with another word that fill you with joy and passion and love. To me, this replacement word is "sharing". What if you stopped marketing your book, and started sharing your art with the world instead? Can you feel the twisted knot in your poor stomach releasing and setting your tormented writer's soul free?

As a writer, you're here to commit to a never-ending cycle: Writing, sharing, writing, sharing, writing, sharing. Keeping your gifts hidden from those you're meant to share them with doesn't help anyone, and it doesn't even make sense. I believe that God / Source / Universe / Tao - you choose - created writers (and all artists, for that matter) to bring joy into the lives of other people. Do you even realize how powerful your book is? Your writing can change, and sometimes even save, people's lives. It can give them hope, happiness, laughter, tears, thrill, fun, love, understanding, companionship, and all the other fantastic emotions that the pages of your book radiate.

Every writer is a magician. When you stop sharing your gifts, your magic dies, and your soul dies with it. Don't let it happen - this world needs more passionate scribblers who know how to turn words into oceans of magic. Write on, and don't forget to share.

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Barbara Conelli is an internationally published author and Chiquenist on the mission to bring Fantastic Fearless Feminine Fun into women’s lives. In her charming, delightful and humorous Chique Books filled with Italian passion, Barb invites women to explore Italy from the comfort of their home with elegance, grace and style, encouraging them to live their own Dolce Vita no matter where they are in the world.

Barb learned to read and write at the age of four, and a year later, she wrote her first bestselling book that became a big hit in local kindergartens. She turned into an overnight success that lasted for twelve exciting hours. Since then, she has never separated from her writing endeavors. Barb writes even in her sleep and she can often be seen sitting on her bed at three a.m. with a flashlight frantically processing her somnambulant ideas. A born nomad and adventurer, she’s been there, she’s done it, and she’s not afraid to write about it.

An entertaining storyteller, Barb has a unique ability to capture the magical atmosphere of the places she writes about. Through the pages of her books, Barb takes your hand and guides you through the irresistible beauty, captivating secrets, unrepeatable spell and fugitive moments of Italy. She makes them come alive easily and spontaneously, and her writing is like a magic carpet that carries you to Italy and back in the blink of an eye. She introduces you to fascinating women who have created the face of Italy, lifts the shroud of their mysteries, and reveals adorable places off the beaten track where the authentic Italian heart hasn’t stopped beating.

As a naturally curious person who loves traveling, meeting new people and discovering their life stories, Barbara founded Chique Show, an entertaining radio show for women and about women. On Chique Show, Barbara shares her Dolce Vita adventures and interviews inspiring women authors and experts who show listeners how to live their sweet life with gusto.

Barb lives between New York and Milan, and as a real globetrotter, she’s always on the move, accompanied by her adorable and very spoiled beagle. To her, writing is like breathing, and she’s currently working on her new book.

Her latest book is Chique Secrets of Dolce Vita, a narrative travel nonfiction book full of charming, poetic, delightful and humorous travel and life stories about extraordinary Milanese women, men who have succumbed to their temptation and the art of living your own dolce vita no matter where in the world you are.

You can visit her website at www.barbaraconelli.com or connect with her at Twitter at www.twitter.com/barbaraconelli or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/barbaraconelli.