I’ve been mentally jotting what I’m learning about the realities of authorship since the launch of my first children’s novel with Hydra House (not Random House’s new ebook imprint Hydra). I deliberately chose to work with a small press for various reasons and I’ve been enjoying the ride ever since, though it is a long, slow, challenging ride.
I had enough jottings to put together a list of Tips (AKA “reality checks”) that I hope you find useful.
#1 – Make Public Appearances
Make as many public appearances as possible. Social media is competitive. Large presses have bigger advertising pockets. People are inundated with information and marketing ploys. Put a face to your work, make relationships, and support others. Appear at other writer’s readings and book launches. Be the support you want to have.
Offer to be on panels, propose courses at local conventions, visit schools and festivals and literary arts centers. Be gracious and grateful. Be nice to have around. I’ve often bought the work of authors I’ve met simply because I enjoyed our conversation or thought they had some useful insight.
(Here’s a bonus tip for those who have trouble being consistent bloggers because of time constraints: work your posts into a series)
I like the idea of turning posts into a series. I started organizing some posts into a series because otherwise they would be too long as singular posts. But you have a great idea in terms of using a series to help save time.
And to help keep posts short. I’ve heard that readers of blogs are having less and less time to read them and keep up with them, there are so many.