The Hard Sell works, I guess.

I was going to keep track of how many political solicitations I received after making my donations but it's just too much. It'll be in the hundreds, if not thousands.

It goes to show that the "hard sell" must work.

I'm sure it probably works for writers too. Kind of like the guy who stands on the street corner and propositions every woman who walks by. "I get slapped and I get cursed...but I also get laid."

I did the hard sell with my first book. I messaged all my Facebook friends and asked them to "review" the book. I didn't mention "buy" the book, but that was implicit, obviously. I think because it was my first book, people forgave me. I also got a bunch of reviews and fairly high sales at the beginning with helped sales down the road.

But I also realized that I couldn't do it again without being obnoxious. I sort of made half an attempt with Tuskers, since it was a new publisher, and I got a smaller response. (I think I may have tried a couple of more times with people I considered close friends, but the smaller the response, the less reason to be obnoxious.)

I got a couple of people who blocked me for being inappropriate. Fair enough.

I liken it to the cousin who shows up at a wedding and tried to sell everyone on his latest pyramid scheme.

I decided to stop there--I'd announce anything I wanted on my pages as long as I wasn't doing it ten times a day, but I would never directly contact people again.

I still have some pride.