Author Marketing: Do It Yourself

A social media/online presence is pretty much required these days, no matter what product you're hawking. But it can feel very, very overwhelming and often useless. No one wants to invest ALL THAT effort only to feel like it was wasted.

I had a meeting yesterday with an author who was reluctant to start the "Online Stuff" because it felt to him like a time drain (although by any standard he was very open to the stuff, just had questions). We talked through some tools, like Hootsuite, that can make your social media life fit right into your life-life.

By spending 30 minutes once a week pre-scheduling tweets using Hootsuite and Facebook posts, you guarantee that those channels will be active even if you get busy. It also frees you up to scan your accounts a couple of times a day to find someone to talk to or retweet organically. So you get the best of both worlds: content without having to devote time each day with real-time content as you've got a second.

Try out some of the tools out there. You'll find they make social media accessible on any time budget. MediaBistro's daily email has great news when a new one comes out.

Patience is a virtue.

I've corresponded recently with several authors who had good projects. They weren't ready to go out, but they were getting there. After requesting fulls, these authors came back and told me they had already signed a contract of some sort with small presses, but that they were querying A) another project or B) the subrights or C) a continuation of the series under contract with the small press.

My reaction can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s

Once a book has been published, whether by an indie press or online (both valid options!!) your road to a traditional publishing deal, should you later choose to see one, gets either a lot easier or a lot harder. Easier if you sell 10K+ copies of e- or p-book. Harder if you don't. Those sales numbers will follow you, and no, agents can't just leave out that it was previously published because that will violate the Warranties and Indemnities section of the contract you might sign with a publisher.

Further, the contracts that these authors signed would never have passed an agent's muster--one never defined which rights the publisher held, meaning that at any time they could veto anything else the book might become. It means royalty splits weren't defined. It means that you're at the pub's mercy. I couldn't take on a project tied up like that, even if it was a slam dunk.

The worst part, in one case, was that the author had been querying no time at all. Like 3 weeks or something. But she got the offer and just went ahead without an agent and, unfortunately, that impatience may have prevented her from getting a better deal.

If you don't want an agent, that's fine. But the truth is that most authors seem to say they don't want an agent, because that's in vogue, and act on that by signing with a publisher or self-pubbing. Then many decide they do want an agent. But if you've chosen to come to an agent in the middle, rather than at the beginning of your career, you're probably bringing baggage to the table.

My suspicion is that authors get that offer, and IT'S A REAL (if small!) PUBLISHER! and they just sign. Or they throw up their hands and THEY'RE GOING TO BE THE NEXT AMANDA HOCKING. And the decision may be a little rash. But by then, it's too late for an agent to get in the game.

If you get interest from a publisher, give the agents you've queried a chance to jump on you!! Tell them. Especially if it's only been a month. Because once you're published, you're published--even if it's poorly.

Contest Winners!

Thanks to everyone that entered!!! This was a fun one to judge; some of you really got building the story around the last line. It's hard to start with one piece of a story and make something cohesive happen, without anything feeling tacked on or convenient. Since most of us get our ideas for books in pieces--A BRILLIANT FIRST LINE--I thought it'd be a good exercise. Hope you liked it!!

So, the results:

First VERY honorable mention was Rachel Levine at 4:59. I was rolling on the floor. SO funny. The last line wasn't quite organically integrated, though. Verrry close; great job!!

Second HM is Gabriela at 7:32. The writing was tight and the back-and-forth was really nice. The last line felt natural...but I thought it more a snippet of a (very well written) scene than a full story.

And, the winners. Yes, yes, there are 2!! In no order:

Tofu2 at 5:29 with a sweet, poignant short that was perhaps the most complete story of the bunch. Well done!!

AND

Rachel Levine at 4:59 with a hysterical nod at those most clammorous demanders of their pound of flesh. Great references, and I loved that you captured the Crackberry aid in just a couple of lines.

Tofu and Rachel, email me at proseblog[@]gmail[dot]com with your addresses; I'll send you your books! (Or, if you want a query or first 10 pages critiqued, we can do that).

If you queried me at FinePrint Literary Management (for Janet)

I haven't responded to everyone who was in touch with me at FPLM. I know, you're wondering where the heck I've gotten to and whether I even remember you because we were like this!! True! and I really liked your book! I am getting to it.

If, in the meantime, you've done any of the following:

• Gotten an agent.
• Signed with a publisher.
• Requeried Janet and gotten a request from her.

Please let me know. If you've got a success story and want to share it publicly here, please do!! I'd love to hear. If you want to email me directly about SOMETHING YOU SUBMITTED WHILE I WAS AT FPLM, do so at the blog email: proseblog[@]theGoogleemail[dot]com. If you email to ask anything regarding an open submission here at Lowenstein, please do so at the assistant[@]bookhaven[dot]com email--re-forward your original Lowenstein query so that the whole thing is together, please.

Just as a note, if you have any of those bullet points happen at any point in any query process, you should tell all agents it affects. Just FYI.

Thanks for your patience, everyone!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Results will be posted here on Friday.

:)

Well, that was heavy.

In light of our sort of heavy discussion re: ebook ethics the last couple of days, I thought we'd have a writing contest to cleanse ze palette! Enter in the comment section.

The rules:

1. Entries don't open until 6pm tonight, Monday June 20th.
2. Entries close tomorrow, Tuesday June 21, at 6pm.
3. 100 words or fewer.
4. This sentence must be the final sentence in your story:
I felt sorry, after that, but still I couldn't bring myself to cross the room.
5. It must be a story.

The Prize (1):

Based on your story's tone and content, I'll select a book from my personal library (ARCs and real books included) and send it to you! If you would really rather have a query critique or the first 10 pages workshopped or something, I'll do that...but you do know that the only way to really improve your writing in general is to read, right?

GO!

Down and Dirty Wrap Up

Sort of. I mean it's not like we'll never talk about this stuff again.

A colleague sent me this article: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/aaa-will-not-expel-agents-turned-publishers.html, which I think dovetails nicely with what we talked about Thursday and Friday of last week.

Note particularly the president of AAA's last statement:

"There are certain activities that our code of conduct explicitly prohibits and the practice of agencies offering their authors a way to market their books directly to the reader is not one of them..."

Well, certainlyt. In fact, we'd encourage the marketing of these books directly to readers. Now, how about the question at hand: publishing the book...?

A disappointing side-step of the issue, if you ask me.