The marketing roller coaster

Wouldn't it be grand if every great idea simply sold itself?  Better yet, if every fabulous phrase ever penned (Well, we seldom pen anymore.  I call it "plunk out.") found its way to the eyes of a reader and inadvertently to the change in their pocket, writer's would be free to create and plunk out to their hearts' delight!  Unfortunately for us creative types, to fund our habits, we must market.  Creativity and the inspiration that springboards it is best accomplished in quietude. Marketing, on the other hand, involves telephones and messages.  It involves networking, both personal and virtual.  It involves copiers and envelops. It requires busyness.
While visiting with my sister the other day about an upcoming event and the work required to schedule another, she said, "I thought you liked talking to people."
She is correct.  I do like talking to people, even large groups of people.  It's the asking for permission to talk to them that challenges me!
For instance, I have a friend with a lead on a possible event (That's all the detail you get at this juncture). She gave me a phone number and said, "They are expecting your call." I was excited, but I put it off for a little while and when I did call, the contact was not in.  I have to call back!  I am really resisting the urge to see it as a sign that the event will fall through!
I am beginning to understand why so many people hire others to do their marketing.  I can tell you all the great things about a friend's product, but I keep expecting my books to speak for themselves.  I think they do, once they are read, but they don't call to people from a shelf, or the box in my car!
I'm trying some new things - phone calls for one!  I am also going to implement a newsletter for those folks who don't follow my blogs or Facebook. I am going to keep plodding along, because it's the writing (and the talking) that I love!