The Tenth Circle

Aww, thank you! It's been like this for a good few months, but sadly I have to shave it all off soon to play a soldier in a TV drama!

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Yeah, that's sad, but it sounds like have an interesting life!

tuesday said:

Yeah, that's sad, but it sounds like have an interesting life!

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That is one thing I'm blessed with, at least. My band's album comes out next month, then I film this drama and after that I have a deadline to meet for book 2! Good thing I like being busy...

Bryan Methods said:

I'm finding this period difficult too. I got my ARCs and links to let reviewers read on their Kindles, and I have to say I find it really hard to gauge what I should be doing. Should I be spamming more on Twitter or is that annoying? Should I send out all my ARCs or hoard them like precious metals? Should I be carefully selecting reviewers or just trying to get everyone's attention? It's so difficult to know...

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I KNOW. At about a month from release, there's so much I could/should be doing, but I have a day job and more books I want to write, so I pick my battles.

I gave most of my ARCs to booksellers or librarians, a couple to bloggers. I still have three, and now I have lots of beautiful finished copies (!!!!!!!), so maybe it's time for a few giveaways.

I'm also wrangling Photoshop Elements, finally, so I can make teasers and stuff. And on Saturday I have my first public appearance as An Author, which is a little weird, although I've done plenty of public speaking before.

How are things coming along for you, Bryan and dragonfliet?

Haha, three is the number I kept too! The rest all went to bloggers, who will hopefully give some good reviews. I still feel I should have had about ten times as many to send to all the blogs out there, though.

I have a bit of a complicated situation, being a British writer represented by a Canadian agency having a book published in the States while living in Japan, so I won't be doing any launch parties or book tours, but I still feel I should be in the States. By all accounts, it will be better to do that for book 2. I still have a few months so momentum is building, whereas my band's album launch is in a few days so that's really what I'm putting my energy into. That and writing book 2!

Looking forward to getting my hardbacks! That will feel pretty special.

Do you feel like your publisher is getting good marketing done for you?

Eeep! I'm resurrecting this thread to say my book trailer is up! In time for Halloween!

I'm headed to the Boston Book Fest next weekend, and then I'll try to forget my debut and focus on my WIP, which is getting TOO LONG.

How are things going for you, Bryan?

Hi all!

I know this thread is fairly inactive, but thought I'd copy/paste my Publisher's Marketplace announcement here and join you in the next circle of hell Definitely feeling the pressure and anxiety already mixed in with the excitement!

Awesome!

Congrats again, and we should totally bring some activity back to this thread. The Tenth Circle lives on!

Not that I have much to say. My book has been out for a while. Mainly I'm just waiting to hear back on something, writing something else, and outlining yet a third thing. Oh, and I need to PLAN A VACATION ALREADY! That's the one thing I vowed I'd do with my writing earnings, and I still haven't.

pinkbowvintage said:

Hi all!

I know this thread is fairly inactive, but thought I'd copy/paste my Publisher's Marketplace announcement here and join you in the next circle of hell Definitely feeling the pressure and anxiety already mixed in with the excitement!

Julia Lynn Rubin's debut BURRO HILLS, pitched as THE OUTSIDERS meets THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, in which a teen boy has to discover who he is in his small California town or die trying, to Eliza Kirby at Diversion Books, by Saritza Hernandez at Corvisiero Literary Agency (World).

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I feel the same way with my book deal. There's a lot of anxiety that goes with it. I don't know how much I can take! lol

Good luck on your journey with this Pinkbow! I was sweating out getting my edits and now I have them to work on. I'm PRAYING that my editor will like all my changes. That's the next worry.

So here's one of my publishing-related anxieties/wonderings: Janet Reid posted recently about how writers should hire their own publicists to coordinate efforts with the in-house publicity team and ensure their book doesn't tank. I like her advice in general, but I have resisted this, because publicists cost an arm and a leg. Also, I get pitches from publicists (often hired by self-published authors), and those pitches are ... not always very good, or well targeted. I'm sure the top publicists do an amazing job, but I wonder about the cost-benefit ratio for my category. So much about the success or failure of a book is hard to control.

I guess it's too late for me, anyway. Anyone here used an independent publicist, or planning to?

I've heard the same as Calla Lily, most people I know who have hired publicists say it's not worth it.

And, it greatly depends on the publicist, too. (Like anything)

Honestly, I am NO EXPERT but I don't know if it's worth it unless you have the money to spare at the time, whether it's from an advance or extra income. And even then, while I'm sure wonderful publicists exist, there's also the risk that it won't yield anything other than lost wages.

For instance, I'm looking at the website of one, and it doesn't seem to be all that different from what my in-house publicist wants to do.

I do have a publicist with my small house, and I feel quite lucky. I haven't started working with her yet, but I know she's very aggressive about getting her authors as much attention and press as possible. I feel like if I ever have a really big book that requires me to do a lot of media stuff, then it might be worth hiring outside help. Outside of that, I can't afford it right now, nor can I afford to take the risk.

I'd much rather put my efforts into free or paid self-promotion, from guest-blogging to (hopefully) school visits, going to readings, and getting involved in the general community. I've noticed the authors who do really well tend to have a big group of fellow authors in their circle to promote them and encourage them.

Hi everyone,
Mind if I join in? Sold my first book this year, in a two book deal. First one comes out next March. I have an agent, and got a very good deal in my home territory, and decent deals in two others (all big 5 publishers). I've just finished the structural edit, and am back working on bk 2 at the moment. Book 1 will go out on sub again to other territories at some point - maybe after next round of edits.
Weird that you guys were just talking about an outside publicist. I saw J Reid's recent post too and it prompted me to raise it with my agent. For my home territory I got a super dooper publicity and marketing plan with all the bell and whistles. Not so much for the overseas territories. I'm a bit concerned about this because they are important ones, and all the talk about debuts being such a big thing and if your sales aren't great your career is over blah blah really adds to the pressure. I put it to my agent whether I should look at getting an outside publicist and she thought it was a legitimate enough question. I think I want to wait and see exactly what the in house publicists are planning before we decide. In the meantime I'm trying desperately to focus on writing bk 2, and not get distracted by all this stuff!!

Hi Maggie!

I did a bunch of self-promotion: interviews on local radio and TV, local bookstore launch, blog tour and other guest posts, mutual promo with other authors through my debut group, swag sent to local libraries. I commissioned a friend to make a trailer, which ended up being shown in a big online venue. I invested a few thousand bucks all told, not even close to what a publicist costs, and it was all pretty easy to accomplish myself. Did any of that make an impact, though? No clue.

I also got a chance to talk with a few sales and marketing people at the publisher, and have a really strong appreciation for their networking with booksellers and librarians -- a key factor that is less visible.

Where does an independent publicist figure into all that, for fiction? I'm not sure. I'm guessing it helps to have, first, an issue-driven book with a strong "hook" for the media, and second, a publicist with the clout to access big outlets and/or the savvy to target the most influential genre book bloggers or whatever. With any luck, your publisher will be doing some of the latter, if not the former.

Fuchsia Groan said:

I'm not sure. I'm guessing it helps to have, first, an issue-driven book with a strong "hook" for the media, and second, a publicist with the clout to access big outlets and/or the savvy to target the most influential genre book bloggers or whatever. With any luck, your publisher will be doing some of the latter, if not the former.

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See, I think you're spot on with this. Without this sort of angle I think publicists must have an uphill battle getting attention for a book. Mine is just not this sort of book. I can't help but think that the most important thing for fiction might be distribution - just getting the book into shops so people can see it, which comes down to booksellers wanting it, which comes down to (a) your publishers ability to get them to notice it; and (b) the book itself. Online is different of course.

It sounds like you did a fantastic job with your own self-promotion work! Very inspiring Fuchsia thank you for your post! I'm going to go and start making a plan for one of the overseas territories where I have relationships that might make some of what you describe possible. Yay!! At the end of the day we can only do what we can and keep our fingers crossed, right?

Fuchsia, I would LOVE to eventually pick your brain about self-promo! Did you contact all of these places yourself? Did you have a form email you sent out, or did you tailor each email to each place? Who did you know who to contact?

I feel this enormous pressure to start doing this stuff haha

pinkbowvintage said:

Fuchsia, I would LOVE to eventually pick your brain about self-promo! Did you contact all of these places yourself? Did you have a form email you sent out, or did you tailor each email to each place? Who did you know who to contact?

I feel this enormous pressure to start doing this stuff haha

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Happy to share what I know! Though I think everything I did was probably just a drop in the bucket.

I had an easy time contacting local media because I work for a newspaper, so I knew the players. But if you're in a small-ish market like me, anyone can do this with a good chance of success. Find out if your local TV news and public radio stations have programs where they cover books or the arts, and send the host a brief email pitch. It can be partially a form, but be sure to mention issues you could discuss in addition to your book. ("Path to publication" works, if your book's not issue-driven. People are always interested in this!)

My local TV station has something called Books Over Breakfast, and a show later in the day that has arty stuff. They regularly have self-publishers on. Be sure to mention your publisher prominently in any pitch! Booksellers and librarians will pick right up on that. Media folk may not know the difference between trade and self-publishing as well as they should, or care, but to the ones who do, it matters.

You can send a similar review pitch to local newspapers. Short, sweet, mention any distinctions like good trade reviews. Find out who actually reviews books (or books in your genre) and send directly to them.

I didn't have any luck getting coverage in big metro outlets. I did find out the email of a freelancer who wrote about YA books for a major paper, and she accepted my ARC, but no dice. Knowing who does what and getting that person's email address is important. That's how I got my trailer on EW -- well, that and a time hook and a ton of luck.

I've heard that publicists are good at booking authors tons of radio appearances around the country. But for YA, well, the readers aren't radio listeners. Or TV watchers, or newspaper readers, for that matter. BookTube and Tumblr could be more important.

Thank you so much!!

Re: hiring publicists, Janet Reid wrote a new post that clarifies her stance on that. This makes MUCH more sense than what I mistakenly thought she was saying in the earlier post. She says that unless you have some kind of ginormous print run, you're better off consulting with a publicist on stuff you can do yourself, rather than retaining a publicist to the tune of $15k or so (not gonna happen, for me).

She also talks about author e-newsletters. I don't have one yet, because .... well, I don't think anyone would sign up. I think you need more traction first. And sending regular newsletters is kind of a pain when you don't have much news. (I used to use MailChimp every week for my day job. It got to be a grind, though it's easy enough.) But I could be wrong. Do any of you do newsletters?

My blog is dying a slow death, precisely because I don't have much news. (Or time, or energy)

My agent really wants me to blog, but honestly, I find it draining and daunting. Part of me feels like everything that needs to be said has already been said, and I'd be screaming into the void.

I do occasionally like to write charged/opinionated pieces for sites and online magazines, but it's hard thinking up new angles, especially when it's usually so personal (and I get scared of putting personal stuff out there for everyone to read).