One Writer's Journey--Through Promotion!

HANK: It's the wail of the baffled author: What am I supposed to DO? Every author wonders--should I make bookmarks? Library visits? Blogs? Mailing lists?

The secret is--what works for one person, may not work for another. Or, it might. And today on Jungle Red---Jeri Westerson tells all. In fact--it's a blueprint for successful promotion. (She's here, isn't she?)

On Promotion

I should first say that I am in no way a shy person. I feel sorry for those writers out there starting out who just want to sit in their home offices and never talk to another living soul and at the same time get published. I suppose it can happen, but in today’s publishing world, that scenario has become harder and harder.

Promotion is a tricky business. But I know that it starts with making opportunities.

I had written historical novels for about ten years. I had two agents, but I couldn’t land a contract. And I was alone, writing in my own little bubble of home office and university library.

The online chapter of Sisters in Crime was my introduction to the wonderful world of networking. I wasn’t a big believer in it before, being one of those go-getter gals, the I-Can-Do-It-On-My-Own person. But after some years experience with this, I can honestly say, why? Why go it alone when there are so many helpful people, truly “sisters,” out there willing to lend a hand?

Joining the international organization Sisters in Crime was the single best move I ever made. I signed up for the online chapter the Guppies (which stands for the Great UnPublished). I commiserated, I asked questions of the more senior members, I learned some dos and don’ts about the publishing world. Then it was up to me to stop gathering this information and do something with it.

I was encouraged, nay, muscled into getting a blog by one of my critique partners who had chiseled her place on the blogosphere with a very successful true crime blog. I didn’t want to write another author blog, there were already enough out there. And besides, I had a readymade topic and theme: the Middle Ages.

I started out writing articles on medieval history and only a few articles on my struggle to get published, and viola! Getting-Medieval.com was born. I think of it as a magazine with lots of different things to read and lots of interesting images.

But to bring folks to my blog I decided to do some interviews: booksellers, authors, small publishers—the kind of thing other writers might be interested in. And then the hard part. How to advertise?

I went to blogs that had a big following and went to their blog rolls. Painstakingly, I went to each of those blogs and trolled for email addresses. It took a long time to collect all that, but I finally had an email list to advertise myself. This led to being offered the occasional guest correspondent spot on The Rap Sheet (http://www.therapsheet.blogspot.com/) and name recognition when I went to my first Bouchercon ever before I had a contract. I was a believer in networking from that point on.


But I didn't stop with one blog. I felt my medieval detective, Crispin Guest, should also have a blog. I thought it was a good way for readers to have something to read about him between book releases (www.CrispinGuest.com). He also has Facebook and Myspace pages (but I do the Twittering).


It was a slow snowball. Each contact builds on another. At Bouchercon I scored some blurbs for my pre-contract manuscript. It’s that party atmosphere. Take advantage of it! When I got home, I put together some author presentations I could take to libraries so that once I had that book in my hand I could hit the ground running.

You can’t wait. You can’t decide to begin all this once you have a contract. It’s almost too late by then. Prepare far ahead!

I joined MWA and my local chapter of Sisters in Crime and volunteered. I learned to say “yes” at every opportunity. Another author recommended me to her book events coordinator and I hired her to book me at literary luncheons (putting that medieval presentation to good use, along with my cache of real medieval weapons I take with me whenever I do a talk. Interesting visuals and demonstrations can really make buzz.) Consequently, whenever I did a talk at these country clubs and beachside venues, who do you suppose was the one speaker who ended up with her picture in the local papers?

After a royalty check arrived, I felt it was time for a book trailer, but I decided that if I was going to spend the money on a professional-looking one, one that looked as much like a movie trailer as possible, then I wanted to get my money's worth and promote the whole series not just one book. I contacted a production company and they also agreed, for a modest fee, to add each new book cover each year. (You can see the trailer on my website http://www.jeriwesterson.com/ ).

In the Los Angeles SinC chapter we are lucky enough to have a speakers bureau and I signed up for that, getting on these sponsored panels. Which led to the serendipitous event of being on a panel at the right time and catching the eye of the host of a local public access TV program. Two other SinC LA members and I went on the air to talk about SinC and our own books. An hour of airtime was a pretty good opportunity. One never knows how this might translate to sales. But every bit counts.

Does this take a lot of time and money? Yes, it does. In order to be able to say “yes” to opportunity, you have to have a flexible day job or understanding employers. I was lucky in that, too.

Travel, availability, networking, being prepared. That’s the ticket.

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HANK: Authors, what promotion has worked for you? And what hasn't? (Tomorrow--more of our promo primer--a big juicy lesson on the secrets of Twitter!)

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Jeri Westerson does spend time writing her novels, and you can read an excerpt of her latest, SERPENT IN THE THORNS, on her website http://www.jeriwesterson.com/