Comment

Comment by Velda Brotherton on May 14, 2012 at 11:13am

Good Post, Zetta. Hope all readers pay attention. I spent almost a year learning to promote online, and that learning never ends. Still run across a new outlet for promotion each week through links in email and from members of groups to which I belong. It's a never-ending process, this promoting of our work, and in today's publishing world every bit as important as the writing itself. Thanks for reminding all writers of this.

Comment by Zetta Brown on May 14, 2012 at 8:09am

@ Lorna and Timothy - I'm not going to lie. I was completely flummoxed when my first book came out because I realized I had NO CLUE what I needed to do to attract people to it. I had the cold sweats. I kid you not. It was a steep learning curve, and I'm still learning all the time.

With the way technology and social networking keeps changing all the time, it's impossible to keep up, and frankly, that's the problem. You can't expect to stay on top of everything all the time, and if you try, you end up hurting yourself. 

"Jack of all trades, master of none." Unfortunately, that's the state of things these days...Hey! That sounds like another blog post! :)

Comment by Lorna Collins on May 14, 2012 at 7:15am

Zetta,

I don't understand how authors can think that their job ends when the finish the last page. It's just starting! Even with major publishers, authors today are required to market and promote in every way possible. Even the so-called gurus tell them that. Many smaller publishers now require a marketing plan from all their new authors - no exceptions.

Thanks for telling it like it is. But then, I'd have expected no less from you!

Comment by Timothy Desmond on May 14, 2012 at 6:41am

Thanks for this on the author responsibility aspect of promotion. And, it's so true. In the business end of things, the sales are the last word. And since the '90s, the e-marketing has evolved, which has also effected changes in print marketing. I don't think any of this has settled down yet. But, any author ought to be out front in the promotions if one is lucky to be in print with a house financed product.

Comment by Zetta Brown on May 14, 2012 at 5:59am

@Kenya - the only way you'll wear out your welcome is if the ONLY thing you're doing is self promoting your work and your book. If you're in a community, remember it is a community...it's not all about you. LOL :) But you should feel free to self promo as much as you like on your own blog/website/fan page, etc.

One thing I hate is if someone wants to "friend" me and I accept...and the next thing I know I'm on their promo mailing list. I don't mind the occasional promo plug, but don't spam me.

If you want to share this post, just share it as you normally do. This post is open to the public. They don't have to join SheWrites unless they want to comment.

@Unikorna - You are so correct. You must do your homework and check out a publisher to make sure they're a good fit. If you have questions, find out whom to contact and ask. You can avoid this if you self publish, but you still need to find those who can compile and distribute your work for sale, and you still need to make sure they're "right" for you and your needs.

@Grace - Thanks! LL-Publications is not open for submissions but we do take queries. However, our publishing schedule is full for the next 12 months so anything we consider won't be on the horizon until 2013/14.

Comment by Grace Peterson on May 13, 2012 at 7:38pm

Interesting article, Zetta. Thank you for sharing. Is LL Publications receiving queries or submissions? I went to the website but didn't see anything. 

Comment by Unikorna on May 13, 2012 at 2:53pm

It takes a lot of determination and perseverance for an aspiring author to fight for publishing his book, and finding the right publisher may be even harder than writing the "right" book.

Comment by Kenya G. Johnson on May 12, 2012 at 7:14am

This is a great article. I didn't realize when I self-published my book that marketing was going to be the hard part. I have a hard time with wondering if I'm "wearing out my welcome" on social networks so I tend to back off of self-promoting. I wanted to share your article but I can't find it on your blog Zetta's desk. If I tweet or share on FB from here I didn't know if readers would have to sign up with She Writes in order to read it. 

Comment by Zetta Brown on May 11, 2012 at 1:52am

You're right, Joanne. People can go anywhere and read about or listen to authors who have "made it," but what you don't hear about--or what they don't dwell on--is the amount of hard work that came AFTER publication.

Some authors brag about the number of rejections they got before finding a publisher who signed them, but if that author is later dropped because of low/no sales...do you think they'll say anything? If they do, can you guess who they will blame?

Every publishing house is different and some have a huge staff and lots of money, but the truth is that many of us are hustling to stay alive. We don't have tons of cash lying around to promote every single title/author we publish.

I don't have anything against people who self publish (except those who throw stuff together, call it a book, and then expose it to the world hoping to make a quick buck). Self-published authors can teach house authors a valuable lesson because their success--however they define it--or failure ALL comes from them. They don't have a publisher to blame. There are lousy publishing houses too, but it is STILL the AUTHOR'S book and they have a vested interest even AFTER publication. If they abandon it, they may be abandoned too. 

Comment by Joanne C. Hillhouse on May 10, 2012 at 6:24pm

This is the side of the business that's a hard lesson learned for most writers. You (speaking for myself) grow into this feeling, the compulsion to write, you invest years in writing, and more years in finding an agent and/or publisher, and then think your job is done, and when you discover (usually by experience when you're already in the deep end) what's expected of you from the promotion and sales end (realize that it's not exactly where your natural talents lie and you don't have a plan). But like you said if you don't want to be dropped and if you want to find an audience (and it can feel overwhelming and you can feel a bit lost but) you've got to find ways to get over that reticence and get your work out there (with, hopefully, though not always guidance and support from the publisher). Oh Gad! is constantly forcing me to step out of my comfort zone even more than my previous books; but if it fails, it won't be because I didn't put in the effort.

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