The Two Parts of a Writer’s Life
Hi, everyone! It is a pleasure to be posting at the Mid-Willamette Valley blog today—thanks for having me over!
I thought I’d talk a bit about two main aspects of a writer’s life. Because, well, a writer’s life isn’t all about writing. (Oh, if only!) Instead, as I discovered after I sold my first book, a great deal of a writer’s time can be spent on promotion. (Ah, the dreaded “P” word.)
Now, sure, no writer is required to promote, but I have it on good authority—um, my editor’s and agent’s—that folks really like it when a writer uses PR efforts.
So, now I try to divide my work time between writing and promoting. No, it’s not an equal divide, and I certainly don’t think the divide should be equal. If I have a release coming up, or one that recently hit bookshelves (say my new vampire romance from Kensington Brava, IMMORTAL DANGER), then, yes, I do increase my promotional time. But, otherwise, the actual writing gets the bulk of my attention.
And when it comes to promotion…so many people have different opinions. Some authors swear by advertisements in the Romantic Times. Some authors send out mailings to bookstores and readers’ groups. Some authors attend conferences and present workshops.
For me, promotion comes down to a comfort level issue. I think writers should only promote in the ways that (1) they can afford to promote—because seriously, promotion can become very expensive and (2) they enjoy. I think enjoying promotion is key. If you like to blog, if you like to attend conferences, if you like meeting booksellers—then promotion may be a breeze for you! But, if the very notion of PR gives you hives, then, um, you might have to adjust your promotional plans.Now that I’ve rambled so about promotion, why don’t you tell me what you think? Do you believe there are some promotional efforts that writers should do? (Say, take out an ad in Romance Sells?) Have you seen any particular promotional efforts that you viewed as highly successful?
Thanks for checking out my post! Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Cynthia Eden
www.cynthiaeden.com
IMMORTAL DANGER—Available now from Kensington Brava
Once bitten, twice the bitch.
9 comments:
Thanks so much for inviting me over today! :-)
Welcome Cynthia!
Congratulations on your book!
I'm with a small press and I've tried ads in the Romance Sells book and feel it was a waste of my money. I've not been in RT(can't afford it) For me blogging and appearances at or sending gift baskets to conferences is more beneficial to me.
HI Cynthia, thanks for blogging for us! Great cover.
Ah, the dreaded "P" word! You brave soul...
No, really, I agree that everyone approaches this differently. I did a TV interview once and have done numerous signings, etc... but basically, promotion isn't my thing. I'm sure Harlequin would appreciate my putting more effort into it, I'm just a slacker. If I were to write a ST, I would change my evil ways, I just know I would.
No suggestions for you as the only warning I've ever heard is to do what you like and what you can afford because it can get really expensive and the payout can be minimal. You already know that!
I have heard wild success stories of writers who relentlessly promoted a book (Dianna Mott Davidson and her mystery series comes to mind). I think it makes a ton if sense esp if you're talking about a character you plan to devote a career to developing.
Enjoy your release!
Cindy, great blog! From my experience with ATV, I know I could do the blogging for 2-4 weeks, but any longer is too much for me.
I'm not sure about spending money for ads. I don't know if I'd do it.
Hi, Paty! Thanks for the welcome! I don't know if you've tried this (or even if you'd like to), but for my small press books, I did group ads in RT--so much more affordable.
Hey, Alice! Thank you! I've heard of authors who did a ton of promo and made the NYT, and I've heard of authors who did no promo and made it, too. Such a mysterious promo game...I think a lot of this all depends on your publisher and what she/he is willing to do for you (in terms of co-op, etc).
Edie, you are a promo goddess!! During ATV, I thought you were awesome!
Hi Cynthia, thanks for being with us today!
Your topic is very timely as I'm speaking to my local RWA chapter next week about promo. I agree that the single most important factor is doing the promo you enjoy doing. Of course, you don't know what that is until you try different avenues, but you'll be more apt to keep putting forth promo effort if you enjoy what you're doing.
One thing I heard you say in the past is that you try out one thing new in the promo area with each book. Can you talk about that a little? What things you've tried with different books and which ones you think have paid off (or been added to your 'I'll do this every time' list)?
Hi, Elisabeth! Thanks for inviting me!
I do like to try one new promo effort with each book. I like to experiment. :-) With Immortal Danger, I had posters made up for the book and I sent those posters to the 700 Bookstores That Care (through RT). In the past, I had bundled up bookmarks and sent those, but I wasn't sure how effective the bookmarks were, and another author had told me how much she liked the posters.
Well, I don't have any specific sales numbers--and won't, for a long time--but I've had direct responses from booksellers and they really seemed to like the posters. So, for the price, I think this was a good effort, and I will certainly be doing another poster run.
Other things I've tried:
Ads in Romance Sells (for my NY books, I always do these)
Ads in RT (can be pricey, but I at least try to do a black and white ad)
Ads in Realms of Fantasy (the magazine is undergoing transition right now, when it is back up and running, I'll look into ad space again; this is good for paranormal authors b/c the price isn't as high as RT)
Mailings of bookmarks, door hangers...
Internet ads--Romancing The Blog gets me a high number of hits, so I always try to put an ad up there. I've tried a few other online sits, but the hits just didn't come through for me.
Hi, Cynthia!
Thanks for guest blogging today. Congratulations on your new release!
Last year was a heavy promotion year for me as I had three small-press books released within a 12-month period. Since these were my first releases, I was experimenting with promotion. My last release was February 27 and I won't have another release until February 2010, so I'll get to be a promo "slacker" (as Alice says!) this year.
I totally agree that keys to promotion are do what you can afford and what you enjoy.
I'll have time before my next release to look at the cost of previous promotional efforts and decide if I want to do those again.
I also like your idea of trying something different with each release. Hmm...I'll see what I can come up with.
Thanks for being with us today!
I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to post earlier. I've added your book to my TBR list. I'm so excited to discover you b/c you have a cover quote from Shannon McKenna who is one of my very favorite authors.
Thanks for stopping by!
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