Do you actively promote?

It's before dawn. I've had four hours of sleep, and I hurt too much to lie in bed. As I contemplate whatever the hell it is I've done to make my legs and back ache, I started to think about work.

I'm always looking for new ways to spread the word about my books. However, as I've made an effort to spend less time on the computer, it just hit me that I'm no longer actively promoting my work. And you know what? It hasn't made a damn bit of difference in sales. None.

I used to bust my butt every Monday to post excerpts on Yahoo groups. I'd sit for hours seeing which forums on which sites would allow me to promote myself. Since I wasn't crazy about "drive by" promotion, I also took the time to take part in conversations on these groups/forums. I also used to take out ads here and there with different online magazines. I spent hours (yet again) trying to research which was the right one to reach my intended audience.

As my budget became more non-existent, I cut out all of the paid advertising. As I wanted to spend more time with my family, and writing my next book/books, I spent less time in the forums.

I'm here to tell you, my sales haven't changed one single bit. I've even done a few radio talk shows and didn't see an increase in sales from those either. But, they were fun.

Social networks are also useless as a means of promotion, in my opinion. While I enjoy networking with fans and fellow authors on Facebook, it's really not a good way to reach more readers. Same goes for Twitter. And I feel like Triberr is just spam. LOL Sorry, but I did not have a good experience with that either. I actually lost some followers because they felt like they were being spammed by the constant auto-posts from Triberr.

I'm not sure what anyone (myself included) can do with this information, but I thought I'd share. It has been my experience thus far that none of my promotional efforts have made any lasting difference. For the record, when I did actively promote, I did so regularly. We're talking years worth of consistency, not hit and miss. And it still amounted to nothing.

Just something to think about.