Marketing for Authors

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop for writers interested in how to market their work. It was done through one of my local writing groups via Skype and was led by Jacksonville based author, Valerie Bowman.

Valerie writes Regency Historical Romance novels but also knows a lot about marketing due to her recent obsession for the topic. Her lecture covered most of the points that can be found in her e-book, “Painless Marketing for Busy Authors”. I also ordered this 99 cent book to gain even more background and insight.

In the beginning of this year, I was seriously considering getting a second Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing so I was pretty amped to attend this workshop. I’ve also become slightly inquisitive about it and Valerie hit on many points that I’d already read about. However, her insight into the details and specifics is what made her presentation invaluable to me.

In her e-book especially, you can find a long list of exact things to do to increase your discoverability as an emerging author, some of which I seriously plan on implementing in the future. Plus, her humor was worth it alone.

And I fully agree: Purple pens with your book’s title on them may never get you an added sale, but come on, how awesome is that to see on your desk every day? Very awesome indeed :)

You can check out more on Valerie Bowman on her website: http://www.valeriebowmanbooks.com

-M.McKnight

Where Do I Belong?

So it’s been a loooong time since I last posted, but I just returned home from my first ever writing critique group sesh (YA focused) and I can’t help but feel a little discouraged. Not entirely about my writing itself, but if I really belong in the group.

For the longest time I considered myself a YA writer which I still kinda do, but my latest manuscript I was told, was New Adult instead just based on the character’s age ranges. This was an eye-opener and I started reading all about this new genre; however when I read what other people were saying about the genre, I didn’t feel like my story should necessarily be grouped in with that label. Most people consider New Adult to mean sexed-up YA, but in my novel, while there are sexual situations, I don’t go into any graphic details AT ALL. So this leaves me again with where do I fit in? (Ironic since that’s a recurrent theme in the YA world).

Then I was told I might benefit from a romance writers’ group. Well, I always had this notion of “Romance” as a genre of being explicit erotica with Fabio on the cover. Apparently this isn’t the case, I was pleased to find out. In fact, there are groups that focus specifically on YA Romances.

This came as a relief since the group I just met with didn’t focus on romance that much. So I definitely want to take advantage of the Romance groups out there now and I want to thank Daniel from the group for the encouragement to do so.

I did enjoy reading other people’s work and hopefully next time I will get to know the members better and feel more open sharing my words with them. (I was terrified the first time because I’ve never shared my work before). However, I realize that romance groups may be the better direction for me and I plan on taking that path at least in addition to the group I currently belong to now. (Thanks again Daniel!)

-M. McKnight

Overcoming Rejection

Recently, I attended a writer’s conference in which I sat down with two literary agents. A line of us stood outside of a room anxiously awaiting the opportunity to present the pitches for our books. It might as well have been an American Idol audition, I was so nervous. My fingers wrapped around each other, my chest felt like a lead weight was perched on my lungs, and all because I wanted someone to find what I had to say interesting.

Both agents were very pleasant and eager to listen and asked to see the first pages of my novel. My fear wilted away and I felt like shouting from the rooftop, ‘My work is actually going to be read by someone in the publishing industry!’. I quickly got home, wrote a synopsis, and sent off my chapters with crossed fingers.

Unfortunately, the inevitable happened: I was rejected by the first agent I met with. Although kind and respectful, she told me my work ‘didn’t stand out’ for her. Upon reading this, my translation was this: YOU JUST AREN’T GOOD ENOUGH. In hindsight, I can look back and know that this isn’t what she meant, but regardless, it was a hard blow to my self-esteem and my enthusiasm for writing.

I wanted to give up. I wanted to forget about writing my next novel for the fear that it too wouldn’t be worthy of publication. However, after several days went by, I began to miss my characters and the feel of the keys under my fingers. It was then that I realized I didn’t start writing because I wanted to be published, I started because there were words within me aching to be released, and I will continue to write because I LOVE IT. Because what really matters is your passion and your commitment to continue to pursue it despite what anyone else thinks.

As Cinderella once sang, “A dream is a wish your heart makes”, and I plan to Dream Out Loud because you never know when someone’s going to be listening and like what they hear.

Follow your dreams, you’re worth it :)

MMcknight