Category: Writing Life

Thus far in our series we’ve discussed getting ready to promote your book and what you should do when the time comes. We’ve had nine lessons. The time has come to wind up.
We conclude our series with knowing when to quit. Knowing when it’s time to stop promoting the book and move on to writing the next one. This is not an easy decision and is usually based more on intuition and feeling than on  scientific deduction. But I’ll do the best I can to help you identify the signs of stopping and make an informed decision once you see them.
HOW LONG?
To know when to stop promoting, we must first ask ourselves how long one should promote. This comes down to your circumstances.

• Working with a publisher. Your publisher will specify how long they expect you to be available to promote your book. Standard term is 3-6 from the day of publication. If you’re working with a publicist, they’ll tell you how long they’ll be working on behalf of your book and when its time for them to switch to next season’s titles. If you’re publisher hasn’t specified when these things will happen, its up to you to ask them. Do not be shy. You must know. Because after that point, you’re on your own and it probably won’t be time to stop even then.

• Self-publishing. If you’re publishing your own book, promotion is your responsibility. But you are only human, not the Energizer Bunny or James Brown. You’ll want to work your tail off for the same 3-6 with a cleared calendar, but after that, it’s a question of balance, time and resources. What you can you do for your book that will help it and not beat you down in the process?

It’s easy when either a) your publicist has signed off or b) you’ve had to promote yourself from day 1 to get discouraged. To think “well, Oprah hasn’t called so why bother?” I understand that instinct. But most of the time you will be selling your book short if you give up on it that easily. So before you do…
DEFINE A GOAL
How many books do you need to sell to 1) Have your publisher break even or 2) If a self-published book, recoup your costs?
That many minus however many you’ve sold is the finish line. This isn’t about making money. This is about your book not costing anyone else money and you having the opportunity to write the next one without a bunch of red ink next to your name.
Knowing this, have you done everything for your book that you can? Are you deciding to stop for the right reasons and not just because miracles aren’t happening for your book as quickly as you’d like them to?  Ask yourself these questions using…
THE AM I DONE? CHECKLIST

1. I have gone through my entire list of contacts and told them all about my book?
2. I have also returned to the friends and loved ones who would be sympathetic to me saying “One last push for my book! Could you help out just a little bit more?”
3. I have make the same push to my social media network.
4. I do not have or plan on having another edition or adaptation of my book coming out (paperback, ebook, transmedia property) which would make another round of promotion justified
5. I cannot afford more time away from my normal life.
6. I cannot afford to spend more money on book promotion.
7. I am tired, irritable and have said all I can say about this book. I’m therefore a lousy spokesperson for it at this point, even though I’m the author.

The last one, #7, is most important. We are only human and do not represent our work or ourselves well when exhausted. So if wake up in the morning and the thought of another event, another interview or promotional effort of any kind fills you not with excitement, not with dread but with emptiness, stop. You’ve done what you can do for your book. It belongs to the world now.
Before you give it a funeral though or race on to the next book, give yourself a day off. Engage in one of your favorite activities or pastimes. Allow some time to reflect. You’ve just past an enormous milestone in the life of a writer. You’ve probably had help from family and friends. Your book has earned its place in the world, thanks a little to luck but mostly to you.
When the day is over, say thank you again to the universe for the opportunity and for the urge to write that brought you here. Over the next week, write a few emails and make some calls to those who were most helpful to you during this time. Then take another deep breath.
The next book awaits. It’s time to start again.

Last time we mentioned we’d be discussing social media and technology in this segment of our series. We are not the first to go here. The articles and books indicating what technological wizardry authors should be using to get their books noticed are myriad. Stacked together, they could block a garage door. One google search on “Should authors tweet?” or “social media for writers” will send them towards you like a fire hose stuck up your left nostril.
So we will refrain because who needs more from a fire hose? Instead this chapter of our series will be our shortest. When talking about technology and authorship, the message we must bring to has between supported and repeated by the previous 8 segments. We’ll only say it slightly differently.
“When selecting the appropriate tools for promoting your book, choose the best fit for your book and your reader, not the shiniest toy.”
I have given hundreds of talks to writers over the last decade and I’ve taken to doing a quick scan of technology news the day before an engagement. Because if a publication of any size has written about Twitter/YouTube/Insert new hot technology company name here that week, come Q&A I will invariably hear…

• Should I be tweeting?
• Should I YouTubing?
• Should I be using something I don’t know/don’t understand/and haven’t even pronounced correctly because I read about it in Newsweek?

There are three false assumptions at work here. 1) Authors assume that promotional success awaits whomever grabs the newest tool first 2) That “newest” means “best” and 3) If they don’t grab it, they will miss the legions of readers using this tool and saying “we would have bought that book if only the author had used New Tool X to find us.
Let’s look at each of these missteps and ow they be framed as strong, productive questions instead of acts of desperation.
Assumption #1: No tool is a magic wand. If using a social media tool meant instant bestsellerdom, everyone would do it and the bestseller list would be 95 million books long. We hear about the authors who used a tool well because it is an exception to a rule, not a solution for everyone. So instead of asking “should I be using x” let us start an alternative.
Instead: What is my book and what is the right tool for it? I know I’ve said this a million times in our series but I cannot emphasize it enough. Without knowing your book, no tool will work on its behalf. Without understanding the lock, its pointless to look for the key.
Return to our previous exercises and ask: “What is my book. Who are my readers? Which tool would reach them best?”
Answer to the last of those inquiries follows…
Assumption #2: New tools are just that. New. Not better. New. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Goodreads are all tools. Tools do some things well and some things not so well. Because they are digital tools doesn’t make them any different than tools made of wood and steel. You would use a hammer when hanging a picture but not to trim your fingernails.
So what is the tool and how well does its purpose line up with your book? Equally as important: How well does the tool line up with your strengths as an author? Are you hilarious and fun in quick bursts? Twitter might be for you then. Can your book be divided into short exciting segments (travel books, cookbooks for example). Twitter again is a good fit. Flickr might be a good fit if you are a skilled amateur photographer or if your book lends itself to visual images (guide books, coffee table, location-dependent novels). If you’ve got 500 facebook friends already, why ignore that avenue?
Instead: Right tool. Right book. Any tool you are curious about do a “what is Tool Name” search on google. Then ask yourself “What is this tools primary function and is that function a good fit for my book? Then do a google search on “what’s the best way to use Tool Name.” Read it. Does it sound like something you could do well even if it makes you a little uncomfortable? If yes, then do it. If no, then don’t. Because…
Assumption #3: I’ll be punished if I don’t tweet/youtube/Facebook! My readers will abandon me! If our readers are gathering like crazy somewhere and we don’t know it, let’s call this a high-class problem and move on. The only tool you’re going to be punished for not using is one blatantly obvious. No website, no listing on BookTour (ho ho) is grounds for abandonment. Everything else…
Instead: Research. Think a tool might be right for you, spend some time googling “Authors who use Tool Name” well. What can you learn from them and apply to you and your book. Or go one step bigger and look at the careers of the successful authors in your genre (don’t go nuts. If you write mysteries, study your favorite local mystery author, not James Patterson) and see what they’ve done. Then steal it from them.

Technology and Social Media are not fairy dust. They are methods by which authors, readers and books form three legged and enduring relationships. Relationships beyond “buy something from me” and “I really enjoyed that thing you wrote.” Social media are methods to maintain ongoing communication with your readers, for them to see you and your books as relatable, as something they wish to know and support. It is very hard to remain unknowable while maintaining a Facebook page or a twitter account. But that doesn’t mean you need to be spilling your guts to your readers every five minutes. But they might like to know about the process of creation of your next book, what you’re reading, your thoughts on the future of publishing etc. You won’t know until you give them an opportunity to ask you. And if you feel like you don’t know how, you’re not alone but that’s not an excuse. How to use a social media tool is not a state secret. Find others in your field who are using them well (again google) and ask them.
For next week: When to quit.