Come blog with me …
Cover the 5 C’s, and you’ll be blogging with more confidence and capturing the attention of more readers. Come learn and try a few exercises in my free webinar on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. The sign-up sheet is here. Hope to see you Tuesday!
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It’s time to break through writer’s block.
You pace. You change rooms. You turn on music, get coffee, and put up laundry. Nothing works; the words simply will not come. The answer isn’t trying to stare down the screen. The answer lies in unclogging the creative channels that produce the ideas and prose hiding within. Join me Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. for a free webinar focused on tactics and exercises that will help you vanquish dreaded writer’s block. The sign-up sheet is here.
Engage, don’t accost …
When you wrote your book, you probably never thought about working your booth. No surprise; you were worried about plot, pacing and protagonists. But now the book is done and published. You’ve made the transition from creative writing to creative marketing. Trade shows and book festivals are a great way to introduce your work to readers.
One thing you’ll find at your first fair is that not all booths are created equal. Here are some tips to get you off to a running start:
- Engage, don’t accost. You’re selling intrigue and adventure, not brakes and mufflers. The pitch should match the product.
- Put the book aside and find common ground. Notice their outfit, or if they’re pushing a stroller or wearing a Mets cap. If you form a quick personal link before getting into the story, your visitor might actually bring it up first. And you’ll be thinking, Glad you asked! This is when you summon your quick, engaging synopsis.
- Use your space wisely. Booth work usually happens in tight quarters. If you’re talking to a couple and another person walks up, step around, open the circle, and invite them into the conversation.
- Make friends with your rivals. Odds are you won’t be appealing to the same audience as the guy in the next booth or the gal across the way. So spend a few minutes getting to know the neighbors. Trade ideas. Snap pix. And steer folks interested in other genres to your fellow authors.
- Be smart with posters. You can feature your cover, or you can make a cover poster that includes a blurb about the story. The latter is better, as it gives passers-by a taste if you’re busy with another customer. Along these lines, make sure you hide the boxes and coffee cup, and keep the table neat.
- Go for buzz, not bling. Sure, chocolate kisses will draw plenty of visitors, but most will grab a handful and walk off. Instead, find something to give away that relates to your work, like bookmarks about the book. Speaking of food, keep a mirror handy to make sure nothing you ate wound up sticking to your teeth.
Last, make sure someone who can handle a camera is taking plenty of photos. The shot you’re going for is that special moment when perfect strangers begin looking at you as an author with something worthwhile to say. A good assortment of pix from the show also make a nice Pinterest board.
Any other book show tips to share? Please add them below!
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Join me Thursday for free webinar!
In the old days, most politicians, athletes and artists knew better than to argue with people who bought ink by the barrel, meaning those who wrote for newspapers. Today the people with the megaphone – meaning those who can help or hurt you as a writer – don’t even need ink! So if you’re thinking about responding to a negative review, think again. If you give in to the impulse, you’re extending a conversation you’d rather have die a quick death.
I’ll be covering this tip and a lot more in a free webinar next Thursday, Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m. Sign up here: http://goo.gl/sfQ7X
(To subscribe to Steve’s Back Story blog, please click the green or orange icon on the blog homepage).
Author Jenny Milchman, measuring success by how late she can keep readers reading.
Jenny Milchman spent 13 years writing and rewriting the novel that would become Cover of Snow. Her literary journey is an inspiring story of perseverance, optimism and love of craft. How did she do it, and what lessons can other writers draw from her experience? Some answers follow:
SP – Jenny, Tell us a little about the Cover of Snow, including how long it took to write and get published.
JM – The idea behind Cover of Snow was a question that grabbed me around the throat and just wouldn’t let go. What would make a good man do the worst thing he possibly could to his wife? Of course, first I had to figure out what that ‘worst thing’ would be. Once I did, I had a premise and an opening scene that persisted over many years and about twenty-two drafts. It took me a very long time to get published. Thirteen years. During that time, I was always lucky enough to have agents, but although they got my novels close, interested editors were never able to get consensus from the rest of the house to make an offer. Cover of Snow is my first published novel, but it’s the eighth novel I’ve written.
SP - What have you learned in the process that might benefit others still struggling with their novels?
JM - Well, first I would offer a cautionary note. Just because we think our novels are done, brilliant, glowing, doesn’t mean that they are. A novel can always be improved—even after it’s published—but there are many improvements that need to be made before it’s published, and as authors, we don’t always see them. I know I didn’t. Novels and writing need time to mature, like fine wine. Don’t rush to be published, and seek out as many objective reads as you can get, always allowing feedback time to percolate before you decide whether or not it applies. And I’d also offer an encouraging note. The world will always need great stories. I think that the need for story is almost as elemental as that for food and water and breath. If you are able to tell a great story, then you will find readers one day, and there are more ways than ever now to do so. If it hasn’t happened so far, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It just means that you haven’t succeeded yet.
SP -What’s your view of self-publishing and why did you go the traditional route? Has technology made publishing so easy that writing a novel has become a glorified hobby?
JM - My view of self-publishing is that it’s one more route to readers. Self or traditional publishing are no better or worse than each other. It’s not a question of one being a fallback. There are pros and cons along both roads. On the self-publishing side think of speed and control and infinite shelf life. On the traditional side think of distribution and a share in investment and a team approach to building a career. These and other factors should be understood by the author so that a deep self-examination can occur and the author can think about which road will be the best fit for him or her. I don’t know if ease of technology will ever make writing a novel into a hobby, unless you consider hobbies lengthy investments of hope and heart and work. (Maybe they are). But though uploading a novel might be relatively simple, writing one will always be hard!
SP - You’re going on a unique author road trip. Tell us some details and why you chose to put so much time into the effort.
JM - I’ve dreamed of being a writer for 37 years, and I’ve been trying to get published for 13. But hard on the heels of that dream was another one…of going on the road once I had a book out, and meeting the people who supported me during all the time it took to get here. I met many of those people online, and I’m deeply aware of how forums and Facebook and listservs and Twitter all widen the world we live in. But there’s something about a real time, face-to-face meeting. I want to shake hands with the people who have helped me. I want to say hi to readers I never would otherwise have known. Hear their stories because they have done me the honor of wanting to know mine. As of now we have a few legs planned. One that runs north from Connecticut down to Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi, then out west to Colorado, and back through Wisconsin and Michigan. Another that goes up to Vermont, before running south again to Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. And then we will head west to San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle—and it’s not clear where we’ll go after that! Here’s what we’ve got so far: http://www.jennymilchman.com/tour
SP - What metrics will you use to decide whether your first novel is a success. Is it a certain number of sales? Reviews? Amazon ranking?
JM - If readers enjoy my book—if they stay up later than they intended because they need to know what happens—then this novel will be a success, and I will feel privileged all my life.
SP - I know you’re coming to the Washington, D.C. area. Please share any details you have firmed up so far.I will be at a Politics & Prose-sponsored event on February 2nd. This promises to be a fun night, at a wine and supper club, and I am hoping there will be several writers in attendance and that we can open up a roundtable conversation about writing and publishing today.
Jenny Milchman is a suspense novelist from New Jersey whose short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Adirondack Mysteries II, and in an e-published volume called Lunch Reads. Jenny is the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, and the chair of International Thriller Writers’ Debut Authors Program. Her first novel, Cover of Snow, is published by Ballantine. Jenny can be reached at http://jennymilchman.com and she blogs at http://suspenseyourdisbelief.com
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Self-publishers should learn and share.
As a political reporter on the campaign trail, I often followed candidates into diners where surprised patrons would pause mid-mouthful to shake hands and exchange pleasantries.
It was the rare citizen who challenged a candidate on a substantive issue, or even revealed he was backing the competition. To get the real story, we reporters would double back after the candidate left.
Which got me wondering about the discussion that ensued after I left the Lowcountry Creative Writers Forum in Charleston, S.C. I spoke for 90 minutes or so on self-publishing, fiction techniques and how authors can use social media. It was pleasant enough with a fair amount of questions and interaction.
But I wondered whether I’d delivered any useful advice. Then came this recap by forum head Dave Schneider:
Steve shared his journey from small town sports writer straight out of college to veteran journalist confronting national politicians and how his experience as a Washington correspondent for The Post and Courier served as a seed for his latest novel Bootlicker. With the restrictions of journalistic ethics chafing against his creative instincts, he finally made the leap and embraced the broader latitudes in the universe of fiction. We discussed the evolution of the publication process from the traditional route through an agent to publishers who required compliance with a specific marketing formula. Nowadays, self-publishing is becoming a more accepted means of reaching your audience. Frustrated by the lack of progress with the old method, Steve finally published his first novel Bella through CreateSpace, which offers a broad range of services to help writers in various aspects of the process. He also emphasized another critical component of the self-publishing process: self-marketing and promotion, with a caution about the many entrepreneurs ready to provide services of questionable value for a price. Due diligence is the watchword to
Dr. Dave Schneider leads the Lowcountry writers.
remember when engaging outside help. He pointed out the value of social media as a means of gaining exposure and mentioned sites like Facebook, Goodreads. You must keep your mind open and alert for every opportunity to expose yourself and your work to as many people as possible through interaction in any way possible. Of course, it is also important to remember that your reputation is at stake, so make sure your work is as good as it can be before sending it out into the world. Thanks to Steve for such an informative and inspirational presentation! Let the creativity flow from your soul! Dave
Sharing what you learn helps develop friendships, reinforces the fundamentals, and, frankly, makes you feel good. Thanks to the Lowcountry creative writers for the chance to pass on some advice and share a warm Charleston morning.
Have any of you self-published authors had similar experiences?
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Making meringue with Lowcountry Live’s Jon Bruce.
A book promo tour has landed me in the green room of ABC4 just outside Charleston, S.C., where I’m waiting for a guest shot on Lowcountry Live.
I’m happy to be here, as are the other guests-in-waiting: an artist, a guy who sells bar crawl tours, a woman from the animal shelter toting a little dog with a big cough, and the guests who kicked off the show, a pair of chefs preparing dessert live on the set.
None of us pays much attention, either to the TV monitor or to one another. We’re focused on why we’re here. Conversation would be distracting. When it’s time for our few minutes on air, we need to be sharp and focused.
Someone notes that the chefs are whipping up a nice meringue, and I think to myself that’s what we’re all doing. Step by step, ingredient-by-ingredient, the chefs are making stiff peaks of tasty meringue and selling their restaurant. We’re mentally rehearsing the lines that will sell our art, tour, novel and cause.
I think for the millionth time about the switch authors must make from creative writing to creative marketing, how some won’t do it because they’re more comfortable behind the computer than in front of the camera.
My takeaway: the same technology that has made it possible for anyone to self-publish has flooded the marketplace with books. At the same time, people have limited discretionary leisure time and dozens of entertainment choices.
You need to be more than a good writer to catch their attention. You need to turn your 400 pages into an irresistible blurb. You need to blog, tweet and post, and you need to get out to book clubs and meet people face to face.
And though it may feel uncomfortable and unnatural, you need to put on a smile, get out of the kitchen and whip up your meringue on TV.
What other tips do you have for writers who hate promotion and marketing?
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Reserve a little time for spontaneity.
One of the all-time best improvements to luggage is that extra compartment out front. If you pack too tightly, have to add a last-minute item, or just need to get something fast, the zippered pocket is your salvation.
When authors pack up and hit the road, the inclination is to pack – suitcase and brain – the way a general maps a battle. Plan, practice, penetrate. Maximize the time and leave little to chance. And no freelancing.
I learned today you need an extra compartment out front, a place in your noggin that lets you entertain the idea of an extra stop. En route to a weekend of events in Charleston, S.C., I took a lunch break in Florence.
Hungry and sick of driving, I wanted to get to the restaurant identified by Google, and then get back on the road. As I glanced left, however, I noticed a palace of a building that turned out to be, according to the sign, a public library.
I kept going, but the image of the building returned throughout lunch. A quick search revealed this was the Doctors Bruce & Lee Foundation Library. I called and got Margaret at the Reference Desk. I explained I once worked for a South Carolina newspaper, had written two novels, and was wondering if I could come by and donate a copy of Bella and Bootlicker.
Reference Manager Aubrey B. Carroll accepts donated copies of Bella and Bootlicker.
Affirmative. I went back and wound up having a nice chat with Margaret’s boss, Reference Manager Aubrey B. Carroll. Mr. Carroll gladly accepted the books, posed for a photo, and said he’d add them to the collection.
You’ll recall the usual luggage metaphor advises to write as tightly as you pack, with no clothes hanging out the sides. (Or excess verbiage clogging the pages). This one’s a little different. It’s about leaving space to follow an impulse. I recommend you do just that.
What’s the last spontaneous thing you did on an author road trip?
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Join me for free webinar this Wednesday.
Who says you can only have one launch party when you publish your book?
I say line up some dates and venues and party your pages off.
There’s lots more this Wednesday night at 7:30 EST in Part 2 of a free webinar on how to successfully get your book off the ground. If you missed Part 1, no worries; there’s a quick review up front.
(To subscribe, please click the orange or green icon on the blog homepage.)
Though it was not featured at any booth, the formula for success for self-published authors was hiding in plain sight last weekend at the Miami Book Fair.
Oh, it was easy to miss. The streets were packed with visitors sifting through novels new and old, nibbling roasted corn on the cob, and redirecting their kids’ attention from hand-held video games to colorful tents with serious books. Life-sized cartoon mascots turned aisles into obstacle courses. Music blared and skin turned from pink to red under the strong south Florida sun.
Delicioso fair food kept crowds from going hungry.
Off to one side, though, was an aisle marked Writer’s Row. It was there that self-published authors could have rediscovered a secret they probably already know. That is, there are no shortcuts in this game. Writing the book is only the first lap of the marathon. Nothing happens until you rewire your brain and switch from creative writing to creative marketing.
It is hard work, particularly for anyone who believes the work should speak for itself. Of course it should, but there are lots of loud voices out there, and it’s easy to get drowned out without a messaging arsenal that includes social media and plenty of personal appearances.
Six or so miles away from the fair, however, a little awards ceremony was underway that honored the actual writing portion of the marathon. Readers Favorite CEO Debra Gaynor was telling authors “what you do is important. What you do touches someone’s life in some way.”
It was nice to hear. Important to hear. A bottle of cold water at lap 13. And a much-needed pat on the back before resuming the race.
Debra Gaynor, Readers Favorite CEO
So thanks, Debra, for the drink, the medal and for hustling back to the fair and manning the booth that featured this year’s winning books. The most important lessons are the ones taught by example.
What lessons have the rest of you self-publishers learned lately?
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