No.

But yes.

Do I hate marketing?

Yes.

Do I want to market?

No.

What do I want to do?

Write.

Okay, there’s a series of honest responses. I put marketing somewhat on the same plateau of being at a Chinese banquet and being served sea slugs because I’m the honored guest.

The honest answer is that I don’t want to eat sea slugs no matter how good my hosts think they are. I also do not want to spend time marketing my books no matter how important everyone in the universe connected to indie writing tells me it is.

Here’s the basic question that is always asked: how will anyone know that you released a book unless you tell them that you released a book?

I don’t know. I just pretend there is a way. I’m a creative writer. I can create all kinds of possible ways that people might know. Perhaps aliens will infiltrate a person’s dream, telling them that they need to read “A Love Story for a Nation” or they will be sucked up by a UFO within the next month. Or maybe a ghost will write on the bathroom mirror, “Recluse Storyteller.” There’s lots of possible ways. How about a time travelling Vietnamese who read “Banyan Tree” will encourage all Vietnamese teachers to choose this book for their classes. See, why would I want to market when I have all of this activity going on?

I see you aren’t impressed. Well, I don’t need to sell books to make a living. So there.

Yes. Yes. I do wish I could make a living by selling books. Okay, you got me there.

But I’m too busy. I don’t have time to figure out what to do wrong next.

Yes, I know. Thomas Edison didn’t have time to fail at creating a light bulb either.

But I really hate it, doesn’t that count for something?

Yes, it does. It counts for poor book sales. Get to it!

Okay, okay. I will reluctantly not give up, and I’ll keep on marketing as best I know how even though I don’t know how. I will spend money I don’t have in hopes of a future payoff. I will not stop simply because I am lazy or sick and tired of poor results. I will continue, showing off the grit and determination that I claim is so important.

But, I will also not stop writing because, honestly, that’s all I really want to do.