The “job” of writing
This blog post is for the people who are serious about making writing your career, about selling your books and stories. If you’re at the stage of trying to get (back) into putting words on paper, then ignore it. Bookmark it and read it in a year.
It’s not enough to write.
And I don’t care if you’re going the POD route, the podiobook route, a small press, or you have a publisher with buckets of money to give you for a book tour and marketing. Writing is still not enough.
Ever since I started podcasting I have tried to think of other ways to promote the fiction I was bringing out. With the Heaven series, I didn’t work very hard on it. I estimate Heaven had upwards of 10,000 listeners. With Playing For Keeps, I worked my butt off promoting the podcast and then again with the print version. I estimate it had around 24,000 listeners.
Many of my listeners have told me Heaven is a better book. But PFK got the attention because I made sure it did.
(Incidentally I’ll be promoting Heaven Season 5: War like nobody’s business, so we’ll see what that does to all the numbers.)
It stil surprises me that people aren’t doing more to promote their work. At worst, they’ll have a podiobook and a blog, sometimes maybe a Twitter account. They don’t update frequently, or promote via other social networking, or address their community.
That’s a key point, addressing the community. People love an underdog. They love someone who’s not afraid to say, “Here’s my book. It’s free, but I think it’s worth your valuable time.” (They like it if the content is good, too, but that’s now what I’m talking about right now.) They love knowing you’re trying to claw your way to the top. They love it partly because they get someone to root for, but also because they know that they can help you get there. They realize the power this gives them, that them telling a friend about your work really does make a difference. They love that you will address them directly if they email you or poke you on twitter or talk about you on their blog.
If these people are behind you, there’s nothing you can’t do. So you have to address them, treat them with respect, tell them what you need from them, and let them be your evangelizers. Give them shoutouts, brag about them in public, name characters after them. Note that everything I mentioned above is free. If you want to go further and give out merchandise or free print books, knock yourself out.
You can’t be afraid in this business. You can’t be hesitant. The phrase that feels like should go right here is “if you do, they’ll eat you alive,” but that’s not true. It’s worse than that. If you do, they just won’t notice you. You’ll drift upon the Internet waves like foam – not really fading away, but definitely not making an impact.
Two blog posts recently have said things such as this a lot better than I have:
JC Hutchins on Spontaneous Human Promotion
When you’ve got nothing to lose, you have everything to gain. When you don’t have the cash to blitz radio, TV and big blogs with advertising, you get creative with your resources. When you’re jonesing to make your voice heard, you look for new places to shout — and you use a different kind of megaphone to cut through the noise.
Desperation fuels innovation, fearlessness breeds chutzpah. The words “the worst they can say is no” becomes a mantra. You look at your surroundings, take the best of what works, and quest for an even better, and more resonant, way to present your work.
Colleen Lindsay on Self-promotion or, Warning: being a published author means you are entering a whine-free zone.
It just seems that today I’m hearing writers complain about [self promotion] a lot more.
Well, stop whining and suck it up. Every job comes with unpleasant tasks, even being a published writer.
When I first started working in bookstores in the early 1980s, new authors came by our tiny little store every week to self-promote, setting up their own signings, and leaving flyers, brochures and sample chapters that they’d created themselves. And might I remind you that this was years before word processors, people. Think about how much time and energy they’d invested. (Have you ever tried using rub-off typesetters letters from film? It’s not easy!)
They had elaborate mailing lists – MAIL! ON PAPER! WITH STAMPS! – that they’d use to invite friends, neighbors and business colleagues. (Stamps, people! USPS!) And it worked, because the writers worked their collective asses off.
So the “job” is more than just writing. It’s a lot more. If you do it, you’ll stand out. If you don’t, expect to be overlooked. I don’t care how brilliant you are. Things are changing and if you don’t have a direct line to your audience to give them an IV drip of you and your content, you’ll blow away on the wind.
About the Author: I am a writer and podcast producer. I write for Knights of the Dinner Table and other magazines, and my first novel, Playing For Keeps, was released in '08.
Phronk | Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
I’m not at this point yet and may never be, but self-promotion really doesn’t sound so bad. Maybe I just have an ego and like blabbing about myself, but with so many free and easy ways of getting one’s work out there, it should be fun.
(Oh and speaking of which, I wrote about you on my blog. It’s not all nice, but I did profess my love for you, so that says a lot.)
Mark | Feb 9, 2009 | Reply
I’m actually really enjoying my self-promotion. I’ve got a blog (http://burningzeppelinexperience.blogspot.com) and a Twitter account (ElectricPaladin). I link to these things in my signature or RPGnet. I put them in comments on other people’s blogs
. I mention them in emails and voicemails to my favorite podcasts. I’m going to make business cards and go to cons.
Anyway, this is fun! I can’t imagine why anyone would not want to dive into self-promotion. It’s a wide, mad world, and I’m loving it.
Phaedra | Feb 12, 2009 | Reply
I would totally agree—but with the added caution given to your tweet earlier about restraint (on Twitter). Readers do love authors who blog (I’m terrible at it—with child and job I get too busy sometimes). But in the blogging, make sure it’s blogging about writing, or about things that prevent writing, or solving a problem or character issues, be they behaving or misbehaving, or blah, blah, blah.
Don’t use it with—as one of my co-workers from England says—”A bit o’sardonic morning cheer in your coffee.”
You’re there to tell the peoples how much fun you iz and how great your work iz.
But take a lesson from the actions of an unspecified popular writer of vampire fiction from a few years back (not me!) who made the wrong kind of impact: don’t use the publicity or community networking to blast fans who don’t like your work and never, EVAH, blast an agent or editor. That isn’t networking. That’s suicide.
They read these things, folks. They really do.
thirtyseven | Feb 24, 2009 | Reply
You are absolutely right!
Self promotion is key nowadays. If you like it or not. Be it for your book, your blog, your podcast or your photographed webcomic about superheroes from Germany…
There are so many offers out there of things you can read, hear or watch… there are so many interesting characters out there writing, talking, drawing and photographing wonderfull stuff – if you do not promote yourself and your work – chances are high that nobody will notice you – and nobody will start to help you with your promotion either, if you do not start it yourself.
But the moment you start – if you are lucky – you notice that it can be fun! Like Mark allready said. But it can be hard work, too. And it’s time consuming, too. But in the end you can not go without it.
Stef | Feb 25, 2009 | Reply
Hello Mur,
It’s odd how this is syncing up, but today I attended a seminar focusing on social networking as a marketing tool. I followed some links suggested by the seminar speaker. Through those links I found this page:
http://tinyurl.com/cdebgq
Being a fan/listener of your podcast, I immediately thought of past episodes discussing self promotion. I hope the above link will be of interest to you and other new authors.
Thank you as always for your candid and inspirational podcasts!
Jamie Grove - How Not To Write | Feb 28, 2009 | Reply
“You can’t be afraid in this business. You can’t be hesitant.” That whole paragraph just went into my quotes database. Incredible, powerful, absolutely true.
Mur, I’m just getting to know your work through the podcast and on Twitter… to borrow a phrase, you make me want to be a better writer, and that’s saying something considering I just gave up my world to do just that.
Rock on!
iHanna | Mar 12, 2009 | Reply
I love harsh advice, I GET it much better than if someone pats me on the back and says, “your stuff is so pretty”. thanks. I think someone should create a daily newsletter that says everyday ACTiON and questions my laziness… hhehe, or maybe I should tell that to myself? dang!
Anthony Rotolo | Mar 12, 2009 | Reply
Mur,
Great insights. I’m a graphic designer and wanna-be writer. There’s a book for designers called “Talent is not enough.” I think the title says it all. And this accounts for your success. You’ve used your creativity to draw a community and promote yourself using the new tools. I, like others, have watched your career with interest these last few years, and continue to draw inspiration from your example. Thanks for doing what you do.
Anthony
Jennifer Mesman | Mar 16, 2009 | Reply
Mur,
My husband pointed me in your direction just as I’m trying to develop my plan to promote my collection of essays and short stories. Your post confirms a lot of my ideas about how to find my audience, so thank you. Got you bookmarked.
Jenn