Well, the holidays officially wrap up for me today, and tomorrow it's back to the daily grind. And it's back to no excuses about making daily progress on my current novel. And I now have this blog to keep up with as well.
And I've got to figure out how to best promote the books I've already published and get the next two out as well.
It's shaping up to be a busy year ... I sure hope it turns out the Mayans were wrong, because if I do all this work and then the world ends, I'm going to be ticked!
I think that you can really use social media to get the word out about your books and yourself. I advise that you get a twitter account, as well. I advise that you seek for people who interview authors, and see if they have any "vacancies" to interview you. :) Goodreads is a very helpful way to meet new friends and potential readers (although many other authors can be very mean!) And there are other places as well, where you can make a mark on the social networking world. This blog was a good idea! I understand what you mean about having to keep up with it though. There are even more things and networks that other authors join to get the word out on themselves! But I think that you should only "dabble" in what you can handle (don't bite off more than you can chew). As you acclimate to running a blog and having your Goodreads account, then eventually you can explore other methods of getting out there to the people. :)
ReplyDeleteMore excellent advice! I'm slowly realizing how much is involved in this enterprise, and I'm doing my best to keep it from overwhelming me or causing me to make hasty decisions that I might regret later. So it's really nice to hear from someone who's been at it longer than I have. And I can see from your blog and Facebook page that you have a good handle on this stuff.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge ... I really appreciate it!
(And I'm always surprised at how ill-tempered some of those other authors can be on public forums like Goodreads. Do they really think that kind of behavior will win them readers? Still, I shouldn't complain -- every potential reader they alienate is one more available for nice authors like you and me!)
hahahahahhha! Yes, when i first joined Goodreads, I realized that being an author on Goodreads was like being a model on America's Next Top Model or like being a designer on Project Runway! Or...like being a krill in sea full of other krill and many whales! At first it affected me and I was saddened; because I was still romanced by my imaginations of what authors are like (the great C.S. Lewis walking in circles writing poetry along the cobblestone lanes of Oxford University, and etc.) it was very ...disheartening and disappointing to realize that authors are actually very mean people! I've read posts from them that point to the competitiveness of the trade that causes them to be that way, but I don't think that we are on America's Next Top Model, or Project Runway. I think that we are explorers and servants. Yes. Well I feel that as I write, it is a form of service. But a very good kind, in fact I am finding out that the word "service" is associated with too many negative things that it shouldn't be associated with! As you serve others, you find many things for yourself, too! In fact, I'm not totally convinced that service is totally selfless! Because maybe the one in service receives more actually, than what he/she gives! I feel that in my writing. And so, I feel that authors are in a trade of exploration and service. We are like pirates of some sort, we have our own ships, we sail, we find, we discover, but then we don't forget the people back home...we write to them! We write to them of our odysseys! That's how I feel. There's no place for competition and being mean and throwing other authors under the bus to make them look bad, making yourself look better (an author did that to me once on Goodreads), the ocean is big and there is no need to ram our ships into other ships asail!
ReplyDeleteWell... I am not so sure I have a good handle on the ins and outs of self-marketing and promoting myself as an author... I'm not doing as much as other authors are doing. Some authors are sitting in front of their computers literally for just hours and hours and hours and hours and HOURS! They join 25 different sites for authors, they do 50 different interviews, it's such a headache just to think about it! In the past, it really bothered me to think that maybe I wasn't working hard enough to get myself out there, but now I've changed, I've learned to let it go and I stopped and took a long look and asked myself how I was going to allow my success to be defined, and what was really going to make me happy! In the end, I decided I would not be successful and happy spending all my days wasting away in front of my computer, trying to market my writings and promote myself. I just let it all go. Now, I write and share the things that I want to write and share, and I don't think about it. I go ahead with living my life, I want to be happy. : )
So, I do advise you to get a twitter acccount, to keep this blog, to get interviewed, etc., but at the same time, LIVE first. Stand up to live, before you sit down to write (Henry David Thoreau)
I love your idea of writers as servants and explorers. I think I'm going to have to write a blog post related to that, and to the two different kinds of authors I think exist out there, and why one sort is often quite unpleasant in real life while the other sort is just the opposite.
ReplyDeleteI've come to realize pretty quickly that the manic pursuit of self-promotion could easily consume all of my time and energy if I let it. Your approach sounds very healthy, and that Thoreau quote is brilliant.
Well, I'm off to write my blog post now. I hope you like it, and thanks for the inspiration!
I just read your new blog post before coming back to this one. :) While I was reading the new one, I was wondering if my comment had anything to do with it or not. :) I liked reading that post! It allowed me, the reader, a deeper look into your mind! And your explanation for why there are many mean writers, made me think!!! I think that you're onto something there!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy that I've saved you from drowning in the quicksands of self-marketing and self-promotion! :) I drowned once, it's good I was able to pull myself out! :)
Maybe that's another way to distinguish between types of writers. There are those who, when drowning, are able to pull themselves out, and there are those who aren't ...
ReplyDelete: )