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Doing the Marketing Part of Writing
EmperorSeth
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
As I look into the methods of publishing my first (sellable) book, I'm noticing the same advice more and more. You can't just write the book; you have to become this internet pseudo-celebrity first. Whether it's a blog, a more detailed website, youtube videos, whatever: getting that following first is apparently often crucial. Hell, the "how to get published" book I'm reading right now suggested I start this an entire year before I actually write the book! Has anyone here actually done this? I don't want to turn this into a H/A thread, but my efforts at blogging and whatnot certainly didn't work out well.
EmperorSeth on
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Blogging may help as well, but I think twitter lets you build up followers faster, and then going to a blog to get the people who actually care about what you're saying enough to read it in a longer version might work.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{My Rambling Blog}
Start tweeting if you aren't already, follow people whose tweets interest you or who you think would be interested in your writing. Start a blog (your blog can be about anything, really) -- and when you make blog posts, don't be afraid to link them like crazy on twitter.
The most valuable tool in building a following on twitter is hashtags. It's where everyone hangs out and how a lot of new people will see what you have to say. You might try some hashtags like #amwriting for just random writing, #weblit if you're posting short story things, #amreading if you're talking about a book you're reading. #Pubwrite is full of really nice people, too. The purpose of that hashtag seems to be writers who are also drinking, so it is pretty relaxed.
It's worth noting that none of these things are mandatory. There are plenty of successful authors who don't have twitter, so don't put too much pressure on yourself. I go through weird spurts of using twitter where I'll tweet CONSTANTLY for a week or so and then run into a dry spell where I just don't feel like it anymore.
VanityPants is absolutely right. pubwrite is full of nice folks. They don't talk about writing all the time, but it's full of people who are in various stages of the super-happy-fun-times that is a self-publishing career. Comraderie is mostly what you'll get, and a lot of writers of different genres.
Also make sure you have an account on Goodreads. If you've got a paperback version up, then do a giveaway. Mine went from being on three people's shelves to fifty in less than a week, and a couple hundred signed up for the giveaway already. Hasn't led to any sales yet, but patience is an important part of the process. I'm banking on the word-of-mouth approach, if you can't tell.
I advise that you just keep plugging away, offer a review trade with another author, maybe. Be careful, though, that can backfire.
One more piece of advice I can give is to approach genre-appropriate book bloggers. A lot of them don't do self-published works but there's no harm in trying.
The idea is that you find people who write things similar to what you write. Published authors, near-published authors and book review sites who tweet and review things in your genre. Follow every person that follows these people, since they're your target demographic. Do this until you've met the maximum friend limit on twitter.
Then in about a week, go through and delete anyone you're following who isn't following you back.
Then repeat this process until you fill your list again.
The key to being successful with this kind of thing, though, is that you have to be an active part of the community. You have to talk to people who follow you, tweet things relevant to your writing, the whole ordeal. This strategy might help, but it's really just a faster way to getting people to see your tweets. If you're doing nothing with the actual material content, you won't see such great results.
SeanCampbell: Welcome to TWB and congrats on publishing your book!
I might give that a shot, but it sounds a little spammy. I could just try it, though. Start small.
Can't hurt.
I know I tend to follow a lot of the people who follow me unless they're some kind of bullshit account. A lot of them I may want to unfollow, but I don't want to lose them because I love numbers. It's definitely the kind of tactic that could work, but they are going to be like dead subs on youtube they are a number that doesn't really care what you have to say.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{My Rambling Blog}
Maddie: "I am not!"
Riley: "You're a marsupial!"
Maddie: "I am a placental mammal!"
In the end, I don't think having a super active twitter account is going to nail you an agent when you wouldn't get one already, but it'll help with any initial sales.
There are plenty of big writers who don't have twitter, though. A lot of big selling authors don't tweet. It's not necessary, but it's a tool in a tough environment where you have to really get your work out there to as many people as possible.
jayxwolf.com || twit || fb || writing || ravelry || dA || g++
On the flip side, you have Patrick Rothfuss who doesn't tweet and only started blogging once he was published. Gaiman is obviously the bigger persona, but you can't deny Rothfuss' success. He did an interview recently where he commented that starting blogging and doing other social media seriously is basically like taking on a second job, and it really can be if you mean to do it successfully.
It would probably help to read more science fiction/fantasy that's comparable to my plans. Any suggestions? I'd prefer stuff made recently in the last five years or so. I already read a lot of the classics in sci-fi/fantasy anyway, and recent works apparently helps when pitching your idea. And nothing young adult. I don't have anything against it, but I already read a lot of them lately, and I'm not sure if that's the market to aim for with my series.
Maddie: "I am not!"
Riley: "You're a marsupial!"
Maddie: "I am a placental mammal!"
It's not all bad. Just learn to use proper #hashtags and think of it as a mini-forum instead of a container for stupidity dribbled onto the keyboard 140 characters at a time.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{My Rambling Blog}