Faith and Book Marketing -- An Oxymoron?

Greetings and welcome to my new journal/guide/blog to book publishing and marketing. My name is Jennifer. My pen name is Jennifer B. Fields. My debut novel Wallflower was recently published to the world via Bradley Publishing. After six years of rejection slips, I thought the hard part was finally over.

Boy, was I wrong!

Now it's on to the marketing aspect of my writing career; an aspect that I thought would be a piece of cake compared to landing the ever-illusive book deal. Ha!

Have patience, young Jedi

Today, a friend of mine told me to "have faith," that my book, and subsequent books, would be a success before I could say, "dangling participle." I thanked my friend for their encouragement, but then I happened to think: The words "faith" and "book marketing" were about as compatible as liver and ice cream. Sure, you can cram them together, but they're just not going to get along.

This blog is for all the starving artists out there, trying to start a writing career with little to no cash at their disposal. With this blog, I plan to take you through my publishing/marketing journey so that you might follow in my footsteps and save yourself the agony that I'm having to endure.

You see, I'm the epitome of a starving artist. My husband, daughter and family pooch are currently living in a 25ft 5th wheel trailer. The economy has had its way with us, quite literally. We don't have a penny to our name, but, by God, we have internet! I'm thankful we live in the information age, because I wouldn't be a published writer without it.

I guess that would be my first piece of advice to you: Whatever bills you have to cut back on, DON'T CUT THE INTERNET!

Now that that's said, I'd like to give you some examples on what to expect when following this blog:

1. My latest discoveries for networking sites
2. Promising contests, review sites, promotions and events
3. Valuable lessons learned both good and bad
4. Freebies (i.e. workshops, materials, subscriptions, giveaways, etc.) 
5. Author Bewares (Places and people you should avoid.)

So do yourself (and me) a favor and follow this blog. I will post frequently and it certainly wouldn't hurt. I look forward to crawling through the muck so you don't have to.

And P.S. if you have any hints, tips or cheats to make my journey a little easier, please share the wealth. It's the kind of donation we can all afford. :-)