Summary: Quick Notes:<br> TLDR:<br> <br> Technical Mix Up on Episode numbers. You might have missed episode <a href="http://www.novelmarketing.com/112/">112. </a>I did not go out as an email. <br> Clarification on blogging. We agree with everything Joanna said…. If you have a novel on Amazon. If you don’t, focus on craft.<br> <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfwdd7SRWGmsqYkEAY4wOtJFBzUb6Z7r9-iIQDyDOOZNKFDTw/viewform?usp=sf_link">We are Extending the Survey</a><br> <br> <br> James L. Rubart (Jim): And in this episode, we’re going to talk to you about why traditionally published authors should not spend any money marketing their books.<br> But first, Thomas, we’re in the Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday season. Does it seem different this year? Being a newlywed, I mean— it’s a different dynamic, right?<br> Thomas Umstattd Jr.: It is. I will say, the romantic songs–Christmas songs–that I used to hate, now have new life. And I’m in a relationship and I’m enjoying them quite a bit more. And I will say, over the holidays it’s common for podcasts to take a break. A couple of weeks ago you may have noticed that we didn’t have an episode come out. That was on me. We actually did have an episode come out. We did all the work, we recorded it, everything… and with the holidays happening, I forgot to push “publish!” So you may notice an extra episode in your feed this week.<br> The episode, in case you missed it, is <a href="http://www.novelmarketing.com/112/">Episode 112, “Where To Build Your Platform As An Unpublished Novelist.</a>”<br> Thomas: And I do want to say, because that episode makes it sound like we hate blogging… you’re thinking “you were talking with Joanna! You were like ‘oh I can use this great strategy’ and now you’re saying ‘we hate blogging’– what’s the deal?” Well, let me clarify. If you do not have a book on Amazon you should not be blogging.<br> Jim: Well, they COULD be blogging. They could be, but the majority of their focus needs to be writing.<br> Thomas: That’s right. You need to be focused on learning how to write a great book and focusing on your craft, if you’re not yet published. If you have a novel on Amazon that is purchasable, then the toolbox of content marketing that we’ve talked about with Joanna opens up to you. So we don’t actually disagree with ourselves as much as we made it sound.<br> I apologize for making that unclear. Blogging can be a great tool if you’re a published novelist, if you use the techniques that we talked about in <a href="http://www.novelmarketing.com/113/">Episode 113 with Joanna Penn</a>. But if you are unpublished, focus on writing a better book.<br> We also recommend going through the <a href="https://novelmarketing.teachable.com/p/5-year-plan">Five-Year Plan Course</a> that will help you get your craft up to speed that you can find out about at Novelmarketing.com.<br> One other mixup over the holidays—I’m just full of apologies in the beginning of this episode! I’m sorry everybody. The survey that we mentioned…there were some bugs with it. Initially some people were unable to take it. All of those issues have been fixed. So we’re extending it a little bit longer. We really would appreciate if you would take the survey. Go to novelmarketing.com. Take the survey. It takes just a couple of minutes, it really does help us, moving into 2018, to make this show better.<br> Intro<br> This topic comes from <a href="http://www.authormedia.com/why-traditionally-published-authors-should-not-pay-for-marketing/">a blog post Thomas recently wrote</a>, and it’s getting a strong reaction. Some people saying, YES! Others not so much. And even if you’re not traditionally published,
