The Sincerity of John Locke and How He Sold 1 Million ebooks...etc.

I'm thrilled and inspired, having just finished reading John Locke’s How I Sold 1 Million ebooks in 5 Months!. So thrilled and inspired, in fact, I decided both the author and the book needed a mention on the Searching For Sincerity blog.

As an indie author, I struggle every day with the idea that endlessly promoting my work feels a little insincere. Being a salesperson doesn't come naturally to me, though the feedback for my novels has been great, and, of course, I adore them (both - my books and the feedback), and I want them to sell. But what Mr. Locke has done is to show me how to mitigate the insincere aspect of self-promotion, and to UN-lock (pun intended) the secret of building a solid readership in a way that is genuinely sincere. I am so grateful.

I haven’t read Locke's fiction (though I intend to download and read his best-selling Saving Rachel - and yes, if you use any of the links to his books on this page I make a few cents from Amazon:-). From what I gather, he writes contemporary, humorous, irreverent crime novels, as well as a Western series. I don't usually read either of those genres, nor do I write in them. I write romantic time-travel adventures that take place in evocative settings such as Jane Austen’s England and pre-Civil War New York City. How's that for an obvious plug! But this post is not really about my sincerity, rather Mr. Locke's and that of his how-to manifesto.

It’s easy to assume that a book about selling a million of anything is just going to be either a sales pitch, or a bunch of instructions that are impossible for a novice marketer like me to follow. How I Sold 1 Million ebooks... is neither, though the author is totally forthright about saying that he hopes the reader will purchase one of his novels. He’s also forthright about the fact that he wrote his book not just to help authors, but because it made good business sense to do so. Maybe it’s his skill as a salesman, but by the end, not only was I ready to try the step-by-step EASY to follow business plan that he lays out, but I believed that he is a pretty nice, sincere guy, who does not and will not manipulate anyone into buying his books – any of his books. And that was the part that impressed me the most. He stresses that though it is possible to manipulate people into buying one’s books through blogging and social networks, he asks that one not. “It would be like giving you a super power,” he says, “and watching you use it for evil.”

So, though I am honestly and sincerely saying that by blogging about John Locke’s book I hope more people will read this blog than might otherwise do so, I am also willing to add Locke and his book to this carefully chosen evaluative list of businesses, restaurants, entities, and individuals because he has earned the honor.

I deem Mr. Locke and  How I Sold 1 Million ebooks in 5 Months!: Very sincere


John Locke - author
http://donovancreed.com
How I Sold 1 Million ebooks in 5 Months!