Wednesday 2 July 2014

Hands up who’d like to get paid?



It seems fitting on Insecure Writer's Support Group Day to talk about a tetchy subject that gives some of us the heebie-jeebies - that of self-promotion. This week, author and blogger extraordinaire, Kristen Lamb, was saying on Facebook that she’d received some flak for adding links to her book and classes at the end of her blog posts. She commented, ‘And this is what hurts writers, the belief that we should not be paid for what we do.’

I thought maybe people don’t realize the realities these days. It’s a different world out there now for writers, artists, actors, models, in fact for everyone. The reality is folks rely less on advertising to make their purchasing decisions. We listen more to  word-of-mouth and social media. Watching Fashion Police on E the other night, Joan Rivers took a few minutes to plug her new book, saying that it could be preordered through her website, and when you think about it, this sort of individual self-promotion is something we’re seeing more and more. Whether it’s a byline about your book at the end of a blog post or the list of URL’s following your name on emails or the website you attach to your name via Gravatar, these are perfectly respectable practices these days. As long as each of us is respectful and honest in our approach to sharing our work, then what’s wrong with that? If we’ve ‘tilled’ the land by writing a blog, or providing a service, or making people laugh, then surely we may plant another seed which may grow further?

One of the members of my critique group who is a literary editor and agent recently commented, ‘The good news is that one of my authors' books came out. With all the social media, emailing, and other marketing she's been doing, including an Amazon Bestseller campaign, she hit No. 1 in her categories. She sold 174 copies in four days! Marketing pays off!’

Like it or not, this is the reality for an author these days. I remember meeting an author once who said he was ‘the talent’ and it was over to the publisher to handle the marketing because ‘that’s their job’. For one thing, smaller numbers than ever before in history are knocking on the doors of traditional publishers. For another thing, even if you do win a traditional contract, I hate to break it you, but you’re still expected to do the lion’s share of the marketing It’s up to you. So hang your shingle out on whatever doors are available to you, and don’t apologize.
Stand strong!
Kiwi author, Julie Thomas, was asked, ‘A lot of people want to self-publish books. What’s your advice to them?’ Her advice was, ‘You need to publicize, every day.’ How do you publicize, every day? In small, continual ways that are easy to maintain like this at the end of my emails (which I just started doing this week, bad me):


http://www.yvettecarol.blogspot.com

 
How else do we get the word about our books (or products) out if we don’t actively promote ourselves? Through publishers advertising us? Forget it unless you’re in the top tier of authors who receive the lion’s share of the advertising revenue. Through friends and family? Not likely, apart from the precious 1% who do, most people are just too busy to spread the word about your new book no matter how much they may love you. No. These days it’s up to the individual. Because remember, as Jane Friedman said, For all the hosannas you can hear on one hand about backing the car over gatekeepers and barreling down the honeysuckle-festooned byways of 99-cents self-publishing, there are: Tales of impenetrable thickets of discoverability.


 

Well, those are my thoughts on the subject. What do you think?


See ya' in the funny papers!

Yvette :-)

 
 
 
 

 

13 comments:

  1. I totally agree. There's pushy self-promotion, sure, but if we don't try to promote ourselves, who will? Not the over-worked, under-budgeted publicity department of the publisher, and, if you self-publish, there isn't even a publicity department.

    That said, I am mortified, simply mortified, even just talking about myself, let alone trying to talk about my books/writing. I'm learning...slowly but sure...to do it though. It's hard for an introvert like me whose culture has taught me to never brag about myself.

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  2. Ha ha, good point, Teresa. When I self-publish my book, I'M the publicity department!! And yes, I empathize with not wanting to talk about yourself. My gosh, yes. As I said in the post, I couldn't even bring myself to add my URL's to my emails until this week. Sheesh. What are we going to do with ourselves, huh? :-)

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  3. Being an author today is a huge job. And there's a fine line between promotion and wearing out your welcome. It takes a certain finesse. And if it's done the right way can be very successful. While I work on my first novel, I sit back and make a study of other author's experiences, their successes and failures. Although things are changing rapidly and it hard to say how things will be by the time I publish. That's why it's a wonderful treat to be a part of a writing community like Wana. :)

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    1. Agreed, Karen! I've always felt totally supported by our Wana family. I agree with the part about a fine line too. I was zinging emails back and forth today with members of my critique group and I realized that no way would I include my URLs in every single missive. I was just reading some articles on Writer's Digest today too, about how to increase one's sales. They had a piece about using Twitter, and I thought, ok, I don't know how to do that so I read it. As soon as I read 'bulk tweets' and 'automated' tweeting so that you don't have to physically be there to put them out, I beat a hasty retreat. That sort of disingenuous behaviour is not my style!

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  4. I try to be a likeable person on social media and don't go on and on about what I'm selling. Stop. I just realized I've been selling myself instead of my work. And I only plug my work occasionally. :-)

    Anna from Shout with Emaginette

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    2. You've definitely got the right idea!
      One thing I've found with places like Facebook is that I get loads of responses and chatter and have fun on my posts about my kids, the funny things that happen, my daily life and frustrations, etc. But every time I share things towards the release of my first book (incl. the video I posted the other day), it goes radio silent (almost). It seems people are sensitive to feeling they're being 'sold to'. I guess it's because we're bombarded with folks trying to sell us stuff all the time, so we tend to get a hair-trigger reaction to it. Never mind! I intend on giving heaps of my books away anyway :-)

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    3. Great post, Yvette! I have noticed the same thing. Post pics of my dogs on FB and tons of 'likes.' Mention the book. Crickets. LOL! If I mention I'm at Panera Bread waiting for my critique peeps and post a pic of what I'm eating. Likes. Haha. Have to keep a sense of humor about it, right? Twitter not my thing. YouTube I believe will be the social media site that helps my book sales. And I'm still a believer is face-to-face marketing. I even handed the nurse a business card as I was wheeled into surgery. LOL! Keep up the good work, Yvette. I know you will sell lots of books!

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    4. Yes, we do have to keep a sense of humour about it. You're so right, Maria! And as we said once before, make sure that the marketing we do decide to do is enjoyable and not a chore. Then all will be well in the end! :-) And thank you for the words about my books.

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  5. This is just my opinion, but I think it's tough to self-promote your books to other writers, except for close writer friends, that is. Mostly because most of us are in the same boat! One of the ways I think self-promoting on social media may benefit authors is to try getting parents, librarians, teachers, and even your reading audience to follow your social media pages. Send them an invite to follow your page or fax local libraries that'll you'll offer to do presentations. They love this sort of thing! Of course, I'm the worst at doing this, but that's where I believe the key is when it comes to authors self-promoting themselves online. The trick is getting it done. :)

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    1. Yes, you've raised a good point, Candi, that half the time the folks we're 'talking to' on social media are other writers. One of the issues Stephanie brought up one time over on Wana was how do we, as children's writers, talk to our target market? We can only do so through the parents, as you say, and the teachers and other folks who guide kids to books.

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  6. I see so much self-promotion by writers that makes me vow never to read a word those writers have written--- as when a writer joins a Facebook group that clearly states 'no book promos' in a sticky post, and posts 4 book promos in one day. Often very clumsy self-promos at that.
    I think the writer needs to look at what promotion activities other authors have done that have made them buy the book--- and NOT activities by the famous authors like Stephen King. Mostly what works on ME is an author who is nice in his online presence, talks about stuff other than his own work, and who can, when asked, come up with an interesting, correctly spelled one-sentence summary of his latest book.

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    1. Excellent points, Anna. It's like Karen said, above, there' s a fine line between self promotion and wearing out your welcome. On my online group, Writing for Children, we sometimes get the occasional person drop in who urges us to read their book, and yet they've never taken the time to comment before! That's just plain rude. Behaviour like that does not inspire confidence in the author's work.
      Hey, thanks for commenting!

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