Friday, July 15, 2011

A five-letter word that should be four letters

I am still getting the hang of handling promotion and I don't always do a great job. It's really hard to figure out what works, and much easier to find out what doesn't work by trial and error. I've done a few guest posts and interviews here and there but nothing very organized. Next month I'll be doing my first real blog tour and I'm nervous about that. I have already learned one valuable lesson I want to share: write a bunch of guest posts ahead of time. Seriously. Like, while you're still in the editing process. No later than the time between finishing edits and the book's release, start writing your promotional guest posts. Even if you have to go back and do some tweaking once you have your guest spots lined up and know the general guidelines of your blog host, it will still be easier than writing a bunch of posts in a hurry. I'll put this into practice on my next go-around. (Is there an emoticon for "OMG I'm an idiot"?)

So as I work to come up with a series of guest posts about Mojo Queen that are so awesome every single person that reads them is compelled to buy my book, it's a good time to remember that while writing may be art, publishing is in fact a job. Sometimes you just have to step up and do what's necessary, even if you don't like it and even if you believe you're not any good at it. That's really my biggest fear - that I am terrible at selling my own books. This is definitely work. And after all work is a four-letter word. Sometimes it feels like promo should be too. ;)

It makes me think of something Susan Sarandon's character said in Bull Durham: Baseball may be a religion full of magic, cosmic truth, and the fundamental ontological riddles of our time, but it's also a job.

That's all I've got this week. I need to get back to work on these posts. I leave you with further inspiration in the form of the single best fan video ever made.

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