Stop These Activities
Avoid
- Avoid: Random social media posting without strategy or consistency. Posting whenever you feel like it, with no clear content direction, builds nothing.
- Avoid: Constant self-promotion without providing value. Every post being "buy my book" trains your audience to ignore you.
- Avoid: Chasing every new platform instead of mastering a few. Every new platform you join half-heartedly is a platform you're failing to build.
- Avoid: Buying followers or engagement that doesn't convert to readers. Vanity metrics cost money and produce nothing measurable.
- Avoid: Posting the same content across all platforms without adaptation. Each platform has different audiences, formats, and expectations.
- Avoid: Focusing on likes and follows instead of meaningful engagement. Vanity metrics are not business metrics.
- Avoid: Neglecting email in favour of social platforms you don't control. Social platforms can vanish or change their algorithm overnight.
Signs You're Wasting Promotional Effort
Avoid
- Avoid: You are spending more time promoting than writing
- Avoid: Your promotional activities do not connect to actual book sales
- Avoid: You are exhausted by promotional work and have started avoiding it
- Avoid: Your audience engagement is declining despite increased posting frequency
- Avoid: You are copying other authors' strategies without adapting them to your situation and audience
The Reset Protocol
- Stop all current promotional activities for one week
- Review your sales data — what actually moved units in the last 90 days?
- Restart with 2–3 activities maximum, focused on what worked
- Add new activities only after the core loop is running consistently