Slog Marketing

This blog title sounds unappealing and I need to think of another word that means slow-going effort that is anything-but-easy. That is where I am right now with my marketing attempts to sell my fiction; I'm slogging it. I tried a few types of advertising online, including Google ads and one on a website dedicated to book reviews, and didn't have good results. D Magazine did a fabulous story (meaning both that it was well-written and that it mentioned my book) that resulted in no boost. So I decided to give away a bunch of copies and ask that recipients review it on Amazon. I started with people in parking lots, figuring that they are near their cars, so wouldn't have to carry the book around while they shopped. Today I stood in front of B & N bookstore to catch folks on their way out. Anyone who's just been in B & N should be open to a free book, right? But it was only about 1 out of 8-10 who accepted it. Anyway, I gave away 9 books today in about 45 minutes and will try some more next week.