Mitchell Lecoultre's Blog - Posts Tagged "shardsofember"
Fun With Marketing
As I reel from a rather lackluster author event at what my wife described as the “Hallmark of Bookstores,” I wonder whether I am enjoying this whole marketing business. Putting yourself out there to sell something that you claim as your own, especially something as intimate as a novel, can be rather frightening. Although I love the fact that I am pursuing this writing passion of mine, there are times I ask myself, “Is trying to sell it worth it?”
If you were to ask me just based on the events of my last weekend, then no—absolutely not. However, if you were to ask me over the course of the whole endeavor, I would be hard pressed to unequivocally say no. In fact, there are many shining moments that stick out in my mind. Little memories that I imagine I will treasure down the road.
Case in point, the still image above. That beautiful picture is from the first ever TikTok video I made, which me and my family had a lot of fun making. You see, I was just about to release my debut novel “Shards of Ember,” and I had the cockamamie idea to shoot a TikTok video. Luckily, my wife and eldest daughter are sometimes on board with my shenanigans, and after about fifty ‘takes’ of me trying to make the perfect video, we found success. We laughed, we cursed, we had fun, and after we said, “That’s a wrap!” we were undoubtedly in better spirits than before.
I then ruined it by making a series of videos in rapid succession, trying to recreate the success of the first as well as the bonding moment that we had. We all know that forced fun is never successful and although we managed to capture the videos I wanted, we recapture the fun—the spirit—of the first video.
So, I adapted and learned how to fit in my little quirky videos with the schedule and enthusiasm of my family. Please see exhibit B above. In this still image you will see me in the best knight attire I could find, holding a copy of my book, and riding a poor stuffed Charizard here in an attempt to market for a much more successful author event. This was the next video I think we all had fun making, and it shows in the energy displayed. A sort of passion that oozes into the camera. A buzz that can only be gained by people that are enjoying what they are doing.
Of course, I might be exaggerating the enjoyment others had, because my wife jokingly said I was like the father from the movie “Holes.”
Ya know, the guy trying to find the cure for smelly feet and is constantly trying to get his wife and other family members to test smell stinky shoes? Yea, that one! To be fair to me though, I did make a rather striking knight as I galloped around on my ‘faithful steed.’
But I digress. Apparently, that scene reminded her of my, “Just one more take!” catchphrase, and she was eager to let me know that.
I knew that she said that all in jest, but the best comedy has a sliver of truth. In that sliver, I realized just how much my family does to keep me upright and supported. Shooting goofy videos to try and sell my book just being one of those pillars they make to support their eccentric dad.
Still, I think I have managed to compromise and though they won’t admit it, they are getting to take away little memories of me as I pursue this passion project of mine. They get to see a version of me that is eager to succeed. That isn’t something people put on display all the time—or at all.
The most recent video, one I managed to pull off with nary an inconvenience to my family (you can tell by the image quality since I shot it on my own phone), is one I was quite proud of. If you haven’t noticed there is always a theme to my videos—call it the artist in me—and in this one I wanted to encapsulate the concept of going full circle. This video—though done in preparation for the dud of an author event—was a lot of fun, and, honestly, I feel like I am becoming a pro at editing and putting together these little clips.
I guess you can color me, and my family blessed, and though I didn’t find the success I wanted at the lackluster author event of last weekend, I have to say I, and hopefully my family, are still having fun doing all these crazy things in pursuit of my dream. I think I just need to remember that—just like life—not all of your days (marketing attempts) are going to be knock-it-out-of-the-park bangers.
So, even though all of my little attempts at selling my books aren’t met with success. I have to say that I am having a lot of fun doing it, and I hope that in my quest for success that others around me feel a bit of the enthusiasm that I do.
Thank you for reading and be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to stay up to date with my shenanigans. If you want to see the videos that I pulled these stills from please check out my TikTok videos in the link below.
https://www.tiktok.com/@newroman88?_t...
If you were to ask me just based on the events of my last weekend, then no—absolutely not. However, if you were to ask me over the course of the whole endeavor, I would be hard pressed to unequivocally say no. In fact, there are many shining moments that stick out in my mind. Little memories that I imagine I will treasure down the road.
Case in point, the still image above. That beautiful picture is from the first ever TikTok video I made, which me and my family had a lot of fun making. You see, I was just about to release my debut novel “Shards of Ember,” and I had the cockamamie idea to shoot a TikTok video. Luckily, my wife and eldest daughter are sometimes on board with my shenanigans, and after about fifty ‘takes’ of me trying to make the perfect video, we found success. We laughed, we cursed, we had fun, and after we said, “That’s a wrap!” we were undoubtedly in better spirits than before.
I then ruined it by making a series of videos in rapid succession, trying to recreate the success of the first as well as the bonding moment that we had. We all know that forced fun is never successful and although we managed to capture the videos I wanted, we recapture the fun—the spirit—of the first video.
So, I adapted and learned how to fit in my little quirky videos with the schedule and enthusiasm of my family. Please see exhibit B above. In this still image you will see me in the best knight attire I could find, holding a copy of my book, and riding a poor stuffed Charizard here in an attempt to market for a much more successful author event. This was the next video I think we all had fun making, and it shows in the energy displayed. A sort of passion that oozes into the camera. A buzz that can only be gained by people that are enjoying what they are doing.
Of course, I might be exaggerating the enjoyment others had, because my wife jokingly said I was like the father from the movie “Holes.”
Ya know, the guy trying to find the cure for smelly feet and is constantly trying to get his wife and other family members to test smell stinky shoes? Yea, that one! To be fair to me though, I did make a rather striking knight as I galloped around on my ‘faithful steed.’
But I digress. Apparently, that scene reminded her of my, “Just one more take!” catchphrase, and she was eager to let me know that.
I knew that she said that all in jest, but the best comedy has a sliver of truth. In that sliver, I realized just how much my family does to keep me upright and supported. Shooting goofy videos to try and sell my book just being one of those pillars they make to support their eccentric dad.
Still, I think I have managed to compromise and though they won’t admit it, they are getting to take away little memories of me as I pursue this passion project of mine. They get to see a version of me that is eager to succeed. That isn’t something people put on display all the time—or at all.
The most recent video, one I managed to pull off with nary an inconvenience to my family (you can tell by the image quality since I shot it on my own phone), is one I was quite proud of. If you haven’t noticed there is always a theme to my videos—call it the artist in me—and in this one I wanted to encapsulate the concept of going full circle. This video—though done in preparation for the dud of an author event—was a lot of fun, and, honestly, I feel like I am becoming a pro at editing and putting together these little clips.
I guess you can color me, and my family blessed, and though I didn’t find the success I wanted at the lackluster author event of last weekend, I have to say I, and hopefully my family, are still having fun doing all these crazy things in pursuit of my dream. I think I just need to remember that—just like life—not all of your days (marketing attempts) are going to be knock-it-out-of-the-park bangers.
So, even though all of my little attempts at selling my books aren’t met with success. I have to say that I am having a lot of fun doing it, and I hope that in my quest for success that others around me feel a bit of the enthusiasm that I do.
Thank you for reading and be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to stay up to date with my shenanigans. If you want to see the videos that I pulled these stills from please check out my TikTok videos in the link below.
https://www.tiktok.com/@newroman88?_t...
