Marketing

Sorry it's been a while, but like everything else, life gets in the way of getting work done. Ok real life as in my day job as an accounting clerk gets in the way of everything that I want to get done, ie editing my novel Mackenzie Falls and getting this blog written.

So back to what I was wanting to write about.

Marketing.

The dreaded thing that has to be done to be able to get not only your work noticed, but you noticed as well. No matter how wonderful your project is done without the right marketing and talk no one is going to know that you are there.

Don't have a marketing team or budget to get anything done? Don't be discouraged there are so many things that can be done with the wonders of the internet that are free. You just have to take the time and effort and do it yourself. Ahhh one more thing to add to your plate? You just want to write you say? Well put on your big boy/girl pants and suck it up. Marketing on the internet really isn't as scary as you think it might be.

No I don't have a degree in marketing, but I have helped my sister with her start up company as well as a friend with writing and keeping up social networks, for TALImag. Needless to say that with the endeavors of trying to figure out what to do, you learn quite a bit. Plus follow the people/companies that are similar to you. Learn from them. See what works and what doesn't work for you and then do it.

Simple as that? Yeah pretty much.

Free social networks that you can use to your advantage. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin and more are easy to use to your advantage. Like, follow, or whatever the network calls and gather a group people who are in the same business or genre of writing that you do.

Now that you have your accounts set up and a good list of people that you are following, it's time to start posting.

What me post stuff? Yes, you. No one else is going to do it for you. What do I post? Well personally post a little bit of everything. Talk about what you are working on. The process, the different stages you are at, the problems that arise, the successes. DO NOT! I say DO NOT. Start talking about how wonderful you are and how great your project is. And that it's a shock that no one has already published you and your works. Everyone thinks that they are wonderful and that there work is the next best seller. That goes without saying. Also DO NOT, just ask people to follow you and then get angry when they don't. That is one of the first things that get me to not follow someone, let alone want to learn more about them.

Be smart when it comes to your post. This is going to be the first impression that people, potential agents or publishers, have to you when you are a newbie to the business. If you are annoying on a social network then they won't take you serious, let alone ask you for pages. So don't be an ass and turn people away. Win them over with your personality and seek peaks into your work. This is how you will win followers and maybe even get your foot in the door with great networking into the industry.

Also you learn a hell of a lot if you follow agents that work in your genres. They actually post things that will help you! What? Free looks into there world and what they like and don't like? AMAZING! I know. So follow them. Learn from then. And then when it comes to sending in your submissions, then you will know what not to do to turn them a way. You might even have a fun hook from a story you can relate with from their social networking. Thus catching their attention.

But please DONT be a stocker. That is just plain creepy and will immediately turn potential people who will help you get published away. We don't want that now do we.

Aren't we supposed to push our work on people to get them to read us? Well yes. To a point. Remember, we are new in the industry. No one knows who you are and to be honest don't really care. You need to find the balance of give and take when it comes to your marketing on social networking. This is a great place to have people see who the writer is. If someone likes the writer then they will at least buy your work eventually when it's published. When you come off as unlikeable, it doesn't matter how amazing your work is. No one is going to read it. Easy as that.

Sure you can ask questions to fellow writers or agents on these sites, but at the same time don't get upset if they don't respond quickly or even at all. They are busy busy people. They also have hundreds other new writers asking questions.

Once again you have to find the balance of give and take. There are times when you really need to push and then know when to back off. Don't piss people off. Everyone talks to each other. You don't want to have a reputation of a hard person to work with let alone a hard person to be around.

Now that you have to social networking marketing aspect down, now there is one more thing that you can add to your list of marketing techniques. Yup, a blog.

Cliche? Maybe. But in this wonderful land, you have the opportunity to get some writing samples out there. Don't just post your story in chunks. That's just stupid. Now giving maybe a sliver here or there, then awesome. Let the teaser draw in more readers. Get them interested in your characters.

What exactly do you write in your blog? Well that is up to you. This place has no character limit. You can rant about your frustrations of being a newbie writer. Or you can talk about the things that you are researching and are super excited about. That you can't hold in any more and have to tell someone.

A blog is just another place to let people see in to your world as a writer. Remember you can give your opinion here on anything and everything, but remember don't piss people off too much. That is just going to ruin your reputation before you even have put your foot in to the publishing worlds door.

No you aren't going to be discovered overnight. Things don't happen that way. People work years and years before they turn in to an overnight success.

Use every opportunity you have to build the reputations and credentials you have and use them in these great free ways to market yourself. You never know maybe an agent or publisher is reading your blog or twitter post and says, "Hmmm. This person is interesting. I want to know more." And then life goes from there.

Be smart in your marketing posts. Let people see you the writer as well as your writing projects. It gets boring after a while reading the same post every other day, week, month and year.

Oh and can't forget this one other important thing when it comes to marketing and posting on your blog. Be consistent. Make a schedule and keep to it. Don't have all the time in the world? Fine. One post a day. One post a week. Whatever you can fit in keep to it. You don't want to disappear for too long. Stay on people's mind. Make them want to check up on all your pages, and see what you are up to, how your project is going, or how your pet is feeling since they were sick last week.

Consistency is key to any business. Especially marketing. Keeping up the high standards that you set will put you a part from so many others. You want to stand out for all the good reasons. Use that to your advantage while you can.

Now get going and start marketing yourself, while you are getting pages done. There is no better way to get yourself out there then right now. Get people asking when you have a completed manuscript cause they are so anxious to read it.

Well?

What are you waiting for?

Oh...good luck! You're not alone in your adventure of writing and finding the right home for your work. You might not see me but I'm by your side cheering you on, going through all the same ups and downs as you.

Research

So you have an idea for a story, but there are still parts that you aren't quite parts that you are positive on. What do you do? You do research. Let it be on a specific time period, a location, on occupation, etc. You want things to be as realistic to the reader as possible and that means that you have to know about what you are writing on.

So where do you start? Now that you know what you are looking for.

Well there are so many different ways of going about it now days, with this new fangled thing called the internet. First off I suggest heading off to the library. Yeah I said it go old school. Go digging around in the reference section of the dusty no mans land that people rarely go to any more. You can pretty much find anything in the wonderful free library. Yes digging through the reference books can be tedious at times but in the end it can be worth it.

Still looking for more details? Or just couldn't find enough information yet? Then head to the internet!

There are a multitude of wonderful search engines that can help you find what you are looking for, but be forewarnded that you will have to be weary of just how accurate some sites are. Wikipedia is a great place for short breakdown (though some things say might not be 100% accurate but its a good place to start), then there is always google, and bing, along with a few other places you can look. The internet is a place you can get lost in and find things that you never even thought was possible. Remember to stay focused or you might get distracted by plenty of schinanagains.

And lastly but surely not least....there surely is a person who is an expert in the subject you are researching. So find that person and get in contact with them! See if they are willing to take the time out of there surely busy day to answer all the questions you have that couldn't be done from all the reading that you have done.

Please please please... let me say it one more time...please make sure you go to them knowing the basics of there subject. You don't want to look like a fool when you are talking to them. And please don't pretend you are an expert of the subject either. You don't want to burn a bridge to someone that can help you out on accurace. Ask intelligent questions and remember that people love talking about what they do. Being able to hold up your end of the conversation will also show that you are actually intersted in what they are talking about.

I know all these sound like the most basic of things but you will be amazed what people will do without being well informed. And for goodness sakes if someone says that they don't have the time or that because you might not be a published author or might not be able to sure about it, then don't take it personal. As a new writer we get enough rejections, but it comes with the trade. So get used to it! Roll with the punches and find someone else.

Hopefully this will help you in the hunt to become a better writer. I know that sometime doing the research can be the most dreaded and yet exciting part of starting a new story idea. Some times you find out some many new things about the thing that had sparked your idea. Other times you find that what you had in mind doesn't comepletely work out. So your story evolves with what you learned. Or at times the story gets trashed, yet the history or whatever topic you were searching, completely changes everything, but you have a new beginning.

Good luck in your research and hunt for an expert in the subject. I know that it's hard, expecially finding or talking to an expert, but you can do it. Take a deep breath and jump in. The only person stopping you from creating a new world is you. Keep up the great work and soon enough you will have a finished polished product that everyone can enjoy!

What's wrong with what I write?

For the last week I've been trying to think about what to blog when it just hit me.....you have been trying to define your self as a writer, write about that. Well here it goes. In the last few weeks I have been looking in to the RWA, Romance Writers of America for those that doesn't know what they are, is an association for those who are actively persuing a career in the Romance genre. It's a place to learn, network, market and support the Romance genre which happens to be one of the top selling and most prolific genres in the publishing world. When I found out that this years conference this suummer would be so close to me I started to ask my self, am I a romance writer? It took me a while to realize that yes I am. I bounce around in different subgenres of Romance but the main story line has to do with love and sex. There just happens to be a mystery, paranormal and other things going on at the time, but with out that connection between two characters I have a story that doesn't quite work right.

When I did the oh moment of just exactly what genre I write, I had the sudden overwhelming feeling of not shame but I guess imbarassment. That imbarassment didn't last long, cause no one should be ashamed of what they write. Everyone, woman and men, at one time or another they have read a romance novel, not to mention that it happens to be one of the highest grossing genres. Why should I be imbarass by the things that I write.

No matter what you writerly shouldn't be ashamed. You put so much time into the whole process of writing a novel that you should be proud of your work. If you love writing horror, then write it. If you love writing romance, erotica, literary fiction, womens lit, mystery then you should write it. The best way to become a better writer is to write the genres you love. The more you read the genre by other authors the better writer you become. The more knowledgeable you are of the genre you write the better you become as a writer.

So why imbrase your genres. Be proud of the work that you do. If you don't love what you write then why are you doing it? Yes there are times you have to work on something you don't always enjoy, like having to work a day job, in my case it's accounting, but after putting months, even years worth of work into a novel, so be proud of your work and the genres you write.

If some one you know says of 'of course you would write that or read that?' then with pride say, 'well yes I would and am! I enjoy what I do. Can you say the same thing in your life?' No matter what you do in your life, you should be proud of the work that you do. Don't ever let anyone take that pride away from you.

The only one who holds you back from where you want to be . So grab life by the... Well you know and enjoy what you are doing. Work shouldn't always be work. You should at least be enjoying what you do.


With that little speech being said, I'm going to use the last of my weekend to edit some more pages. Good writing and goodnight!