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Balancing Promotion and Writing

I love the world of indie publishing.  The freedom and the community is wonderful.  I wouldn’t do it any other way.

But I think we all need to recognize that finding balance between the business and the art of writing can be a real challenge.

I wrote a book.  (Well, I’ve written a series, but for now, let’s tackle one book.) As a friend recently pointed out to a fellow author, I wrote that book so that other people would read it. To that end, I am responsible for publicizing that book, getting word out about it, encouraging people to pick it up and read it.

So if I said that I am a writer, not a promoter, I would be short-changing my work and possibly negating the reason for writing a book in the first place.

On the other hand, PR is a monster that can swallow huge chunks of time without notice.  When I go on Twitter or Facebook, I run the risk of getting sucked into an endless chain of tweets and posts before I realize that it’s two in the morning and I need to sleep. Factor in real life (like most writers, I have other responsibilities and commitments), and it is a dilemma.

I’m trying to segment my PR work to the evening, when I can sit with my family watching TV or movies and still have the computer on my lap. I’m using every tool I can find to make promotion easier. Other authors have been very kind and gracious in sharing their tricks of the trade, and I am very grateful.

Right now, my writing priority is editing the third book in the series, which is completed but hasn’t been touched since I wrote the last word. Once I have Breathless launched in both ebook and print form, I’m taking a break to edit the third book and finish the fourth.

I’m dying to get back to writing, to just putting words on paper, but right now, I’m focusing on not looking at PR as a necessary evil, but as an opportunity to make lots and lots of new friends!

Random Musings of an Upwardly Mobile Indie Writer

Going the indie route means that much of time, I’m forging my own path, which can mean using a figurative scythe to clear the way.  I’m blessed with friends who always seem to be able to shine the light on the next step just in time, but sometimes, it can get a little hairy.

For instance, one of my chief jobs right now is to promote myself and my book.  Back in the good old days of traditional publishing, a new author would have a whole department of experienced folks at the publishing house to guide her along the way. Today I’m walking a fine line between continually telling people how fabulous my book is without making them sick of hearing about it.

Little things happen that keep me going.  I’ll get an email from a friend, a Facebook message from a high school classmate, a voice mail from a homeschooling pal, all telling me that they’re reading my book.  I don’t even ask if they like it; right now, it’s enough to know that they’re reading.

There’s part of me that wants to say, “I know, YA. . .I know, love story. . .I know, paranormal. . ” as though I’m trying to excuse all those elements of my book.  But guess what?  That IS my book.  That’s what I wrote, and that’s the story that I wanted to tell. I’m not ashamed of it.  It’s not the great American novel, but I am a strong believer in variety.  We all need some chocolate with our health food, and I’m proud to provide my readers with some sweet chocolate goodness!

So if you’re reading FEARLESS, or if you read it, remember that your feedback and your comments keep me going.  Leave them here, on my Facebook page, or on Twitter .  Ask questions.  I’d love to hear from you.

 

Do The Next Thing

I am way overdue on grocery shopping.  If you’re main food buyer in your family, you’ll understand this:  I’ve been at different stores in the last week, but I haven’t done a comprehensive, well-planned shopping; I’ve just been skirmish shopping, where I pick up those things we really need (milk, bread) and some stuff for dinner.

So I woke up this morning and realized I had nothing definitive planned for dinner and no car access for the day. That’s not good.  People in my family have come to expect regular meals.  I didn’t even have my back up pasta and ready-made sauce, because we used it last week! Yikes.

I just did a pantry patrol.  At first, I didn’t see anything promising. But as I took the time to look at everything on the shelves, I realized I had a lot of different pieces.  A box of farfalle pasta. . .diced tomatoes. . .some canned veggies. . .hmmm.  I’m not promising anything gourmet, but I think I can make dinner happen tonight.  Whew, crisis averted.

Writing is like that. I might approach the next chapter feeling as though I have nothing in the pantry that will make something appealing. But then as I look at all the pieces, it comes together.  A character surprises me.  I think of a plot option that I hadn’t considered.  And somehow it all comes together.

If meal planning has helped me in my writing, so has homeschooling.  I’ve been doing that for over ten years, and if there’s one lesson I’ve learned, it’s that no matter how much I plan, life happens.  Sometimes, on days when we’ve gotten a late start, or someone is not feeling well, or the house is a mess, I might be tempted to just let everything go and ditch school.  But if I did that all the time, we’d never get anything done.  So instead, on those days when it’s like swimming upstream, we just do the next thing.  We do a page of math. Read a little history. Write some spelling words.  Nothing elaborate, nothing earth-shattering. . just the next thing.

When I’m stuck on a manuscript that won’t move forward, I employ the same tactic.  Do the next thing.  Write mundane stuff. Sketch in some dialogue.  Even if you’re not certain that what you write is what you want to write, do it anyway; you can always improve it or edit it out later.  But do something; do the next thing.