Coming Out Of My Shell

I’ve spent the past two weeks in my editing cave. Other than an hour or two in the morning where I get chores done and at night when I’m too bleary-eyed to see straight, I’ve spent the rest of the day going through one manuscript with a fine-tooth comb—responding to edits from my editor, fixing issues and identifying mistakes I missed the first bajillion times I read it. When I finally finished working on those edits, I moved onto the second manuscript I’m contracted for, fixing those same mistakes before my editor takes a crack at it. You know, to prove I can learn from my mistakes.  J

I’m still editing, but I’m also working on my marketing timetable. I’m trying to figure out when, where and how to publicize my upcoming releases. It’s a little tricky for several reasons. The first and biggest one? I’m an introvert. I HATE talking about myself. I spend all day with myself. The last thing I want to do is talk about me. And trying to figure out where and how to interject my news into a conversation is uncomfortable. Luckily, social media provides me a passive/aggressive way to make my announcements. I can post the info and just leave it there for people to stumble across. In person it’s a little more awkward. I can’t talk about it until a contract is actually signed—both by me and the publisher. Sometimes, friends will ask me what’s new and if I don’t have that contract in my hands, I have to say, “Nothing.” Occasionally, the timing is such that they ask the question, I respond as above, only to get home and find the signed contract in my inbox. Oops (sorry, Julie). My family is pretty good about letting everyone they’ve ever met know about my books, and so I rely on them.

The second reason publicizing is tricky is because I don’t have a release date yet and people have short memories. If I talk too much about it now, by the time the books come out, people will be sick of hearing about it. If I don’t mention it at all, then I miss out on opportunities to nudge people.

And the last reason it’s tricky is because publicity is fickle. What works once might not work again. At one time, blogs were the way to do it. Now, people read them less—of course, YOU read MY blog all the time. J Facebook parties worked at one time; now, not so much. Sometimes advertising works, other times it falls flat. My writer friends and I have discussed various methods, and we all agree that other than reviews (which readers seem loathe to give), it’s like tossing a coin.

So, as I exit the editing cave, I’ll be working on my marketing plan and timing. Hopefully, I’ll get it right. If you hear too much from me, I apologize. If you don’t hear from me enough, my bad. And if you think I should have told you something, please don’t be offended. It wasn’t intentional!*

*If you have suggestions for publicity, feel free to let me know!

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