I know what it's like to struggle with marketing your book. It's depressing sometimes. It's hard. And life is hard enough. It feels like, why should I bother? Is it worth the pain? Is it worth the effort? The truth is no one can know if it'll be worth it. No one can tell you if it'll work out. I certainly can't. I think it's like having children. As parents, we go in blind, anticipating the love and amazing connection we'll have with this little miracle that shows up out of nowhere. We think the newborn phase is hard with its sleepless nights and dirty diapers...then comes the stress of the teenage/adult years when we don't always know if they're safe, and they can't understand why we won't let them go to that college party when they're 15. Some kids turn out great. Some don't. And sometimes this is beyond our control as parents. We all know this, and it's a little scary. Of course, there are things parents can do to maximize the chances that things will turn out well...that those kids will become happy, functional adults. But there are no guarantees. I think our books are our creative children. We have already brought them into the world. For a lot of authors I talk to, their books are at that awkward teenage phase. They know it could go sideways. They wonder if planning that next marketing campaign and scheduling that next book signing will be worth it. Just like those parents duking it out with their kids over that college party...will be worth it? I don't know. What I do know is that this is the wrong way to think about it. Parents have to duke it out with their kids because they love them, not because it'll get them the result they want. It's the same for authors. We have to keep creating those campaigns and keep scheduling those events because we love our books and we want them in readers' hands. Even though we'll go through all the trouble and anxiety and effort (amidst the incredible load of things we already have to do)...and even though we won't know if it'll work out the way we hope.