WE’RE NOT HORIZONTAL, ANYMORE, Part II: 8 tips for self-marketing writers
Mike Shatzkin of idealog.com shares some advice with new writers. He’s speaking at the Writer’s Digest Conference in New York this September, so if you’re in his territory, go say hello and hear his theories on 21st Century publishing.
The best thing for a writer’s career is still when an established agent takes on and sells her project to an established publisher for an advance large enough to constitute adequate financial compensation to the writer for her work. Most books released by mainstream publishers still do not earn back said advance, let alone yield additional royalties-so getting paid upfront remains the best financial situation for the author, in the short run. (In the long run, failing to earn out advances and sell books will catch up with an author; it’s a trick getting harder and harder to repeat in a world where BookScan numbers tell each publisher how prior books have performed.)
So here’s a starter list of tips I’ll be offering writers on September 18, a list that would grow between now and then even without the help I may get from readers of this blog.
1. Understand your vertical world on the web, and participate in it.
2. Blog. And build a following for your blog.
3. If you have finished book material, and it is not already in the hands of a capable agent managing the process of selling it to publishers, self-publish it in ebook form at least and promote it the best you can.
4. Join PublishersMarketplace for at least one month and use the deal database to find the agents that handle material like yours. Reach out to those agents and listen carefully to their feedback.
5. If you have a book with an ISBN, self-published or not, take advantage of your free web site at Filedby.com to promote yourself. (I am a proud co-Founder and shareholder of Filedby.)
6. Google yourself and find and fix your presence anywhere on the web where you can influence it, particularly bookish sites like GoodReads, Red Room, Shelfari, LibraryThing, and, of course, BN.com and Amazon.
7. When you talk to agents, try to discern how aware and conversant they are regarding ways an author can promote his or her own career. Can they coach you on using social networking and blog touring and your own posts to promote yourself? If they can’t, they might be a great 20th century agent and not right for you in 2009.
8. Link, link, link. When you write each blog post, link out to other sites. Have a blogroll of your favorite sites and encourage them to link back to you. Build your connections on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And remember that the people you are linking with have their own agendas, which might not be about helping you. Respect that.
I know a lot of readers of this blog specialize in helping writers; I don’t. I want the additional thoughts for writers that I’ve missed. You can post them here or send them to me at [email protected].
Read Part I
By Mike Shatzkin
