To Merch Or Not To Merch?

A puzzling promotional path

So, you self-published a book and marketing is difficult. Sales are low, and some days there are no orders at all. This is to be expected as a brand new author promoting a novel in an already overcrowded market. Since no one has heard of you or your characters, why not add merchandise on top of everything?

This is pretty much me in my pursuit of selling my debut full-length YA sci-fi book Unsecret Identity: Eric Icarus - Book One. Appearing out of the blue as a new writer can be surprising to readers or simply overlooked. After all, there are thousands of over authors pushing their stories, too. As an indie-creator, accepting this ambitious endeavor includes expecting long months of not much taking off. The book hasn’t set the world on fire - okay, this was a known possibility. It’s part of the journey; a prerequisite of non-traditional publishing. The process of developing a novel from the ground up is grueling and often goes unnoticed and lacking rewards. Not much of an indie writer’s life is glamorous. In fact, a self-published creator is more often than not toiling away in silence and working alone. If one book entails such a daunting workload, why add more?

For me, expanding my goals to include anything other than the actual writing itself, editing, cover art and any other illustrations (not to mention keeping up with the moving target that is social media), is well… crazy? Stacking up the items on my personal list is delusional? Whatever it may be, it is unequivocally enjoyable. That simple answer to adding more things for myself to do is I simply want to.

There is some marketing strategy at play so it isn’t purely a vanity project. As a graphic designer, I am gravitated toward the art aspect of fiction anyway. The overall creative aspect of making a novel come to life is such a pleasurable activity that the inherent headache that comes along with it is worth it. Loving the process is key because the destination or final achievement is a goalpost that tends to perpetually slide.

I’ve recently posted of my upcoming merch store, which I don’t have any preset notions of garnering excitement. Mainly these social media posts serve to inform anyone who happens to look that I intend to do a thing. Not quite the most buzzworthy news, but it is something that I’d feel strange about ignoring entirely. The merch store itself will essentially be links to online shops - in fact, I have a “shop” that is currently active on Teepublic but as of now, no book-specific items are listed. Not only will apparel based on the story be available, such as T-shirts, but I love the option of designing mugs, tote bags, decals, art prints, decor, device accessories, etc. Also, I’m very excited to eventually be able to sell bundles of signed paperback copies including bookmarks and stickers.

So, why would I produce merch for a novel that not very many people are aware of? The same reason readers will like the book - because it is fun. The adventurous spirit of taking on this challenge as an underdog encapsulates the core concept of Eric Icarus.

Stay in the loop for more details by following Jonfiction Blog on Substack and be sure to check out jonmcbrine.com for more info about this and all my books.

Unsecret Identity: Eric Icarus - Book One is available now from the Amazon as a paperback and as an ebook.

https://a.co/2XAtxvH

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