Navigating
the publishing landscape can be likened to exploring a major city without a
tour guide. Landmarks abound, but not all of them carry the same weight in
terms of history or importance. Whether you’re with a publisher, have
self-published or you’re still mapping a path to publication, there are ways to
make the journey less lonely and stressful.
Start Promotion Early each time you’re
publishing a book. I’ve been caught flat footed time and again, so I know it’s
important to keep potential readers and blogging buddies aware of what’s
happening with an upcoming book. Lead up activity is important in that it creates
awareness and gives people time to get on your bandwagon for blast off day.
Don’t be Afraid to Ask for help. Many of us in the blogging/writing
community can relate to not wanting to be a bother when we have something to
promote. Over the years, I’ve learned that writers do want to see others
succeed and will help if given a chance to do so.
Be a Beacon to your fellow
bloggers/writers. Even if you have a small following, you do have the power to
help someone else. Ever come across a post with great information but little
response by way of comments? Give it a tweet. You never can tell who might need
the information or what connections you’ll make. I’ve picked up Twitter follows
from influential writers simply by sharing a post.
Build Goodwill through your actions. I’m
sure you can think of people who are kind and helpful, just because. I’m also
sure that you find it easy to return favours when these persons call on you for
help, because they freely give encouragement and support. A band of authors who
share the same genre can help each other through cross-promotion of books, with
good results.
Share the Love by following other
people’s blogs and commenting. You might say ‘Duh!’ to this, but I had no clue
what to do when I first started blogging. I wondered why I was the only one
visiting me. When I did visit others, I didn’t follow. Instead, I’d lurk and
not leave footprints. Over time, I learned that most bloggers would follow back
if I left a trail to my blog, and they liked my content.
Be Approachable. Each of us started with
a single follower or perhaps a handful. I continue to be amazed by super-bloggers
like Alex and Arlee, who take time to respond to
comments, or if they don’t respond on their blogs, they make visits. A blogger
who doesn’t respond to comments in any way is a turn off. Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you is a good rule to live by.
Use Nifty Tools at your disposal. I feel
like a hypocrite saying this as I don’t make enough time to pre-schedule my messages.
Don’t be a random tweeter. Save yourself the hassle of tweeting manually by
using one of the many auto tweeting services now available. I’ve tried several
and have started using HooteSuite again
recently. Triberr is a really cool site,
basically it’s Twitter on steroids. Check it out and make use of it if you can.
It gives bloggers a massive reach in combination with other people.
Here’s
something extra. ‘Brawta’ as we say in Jamaican Patois. Write things down. I can’t endorse this enough. As you become more
serious about your writing, it’s important to be on top of all the obligations
that you will take on in terms of promoting your work and that of other people.
Apart from Google’s nifty calendar, I use one of those calendars from Microsoft
where you can see a month’s activities at a glance. That way, I know where I’m
supposed to be guest posting when, as well as the dates I’m supposed to be
sending the post/interview over. I also know which blogger/writer I’m hosting
and the date.
So, d’you feel any more informed and secure about some of the things you should
be doing on your publication journey? Have any advice to add?
Don’t forget to enter the IWSG
contest, which closes on December 18. Enter here to help us spread the word
about the site.
We have some fabulous prizes!
