October 22~ Twitter as a Marketing Tool for Writers

Twitter is one of my favorite pass times, a.k.a. my favorite internet time suck. Some people don’t get it. I didn’t at first myself. I was following celebrities and news channels and it was BORING advertising. I left my account idle for probably a year before I came back to it, determined to try again. It wasn’t until I started making actual friends on Twitter that I enjoyed it. And no, celebrities don’t want to be your friend or follow you.

 

I saw a lot of people advertising their books on Twitter and I still do. I even do it myself, but I’m willing to bet I actually get very few book sales as a result. I still think Twitter is valuable to writers though and here’s why. The benefit is more indirect and maybe not as easily teased out.

 

 

I’ve met friends and writers on Twitter that have supported me when no one else would. I live in a rural area with no writer’s groups or potential critique partners close by, so tapping into the writer’s community on Twitter has been invaluable. Some folks I’ve met directly on Twitter, but others I’ve met elsewhere and found later on Twitter. I’ve met writers, agents, and editors there.

 

I’ve met small press publishers directly on Twitter, or indirectly through Twitter, that I never would have met in person. Some of those small presses ended up publishing my work. Hush Puppy was requested by an editor at Featherweight Press after I took part in an online pitch event organized by some romance writers I saw advertised on Twitter. I had been submitting the book the traditional way (query) to agents without any luck, but the pitch event gave me the chance to have an online dialog with the editor and really discuss the project in more detail.  This year, I took part in another online pitch event directly on Twitter, and was able to make a deal on another manuscript to be published by Month9Books in 2015. So basically, I owe Twitter a lot.

 

 

With regards to marketing the book, it’s been a little more difficult to see a direct benefit from Twitter, i.e. actual sales. I’ve been able to connect with some really great bloggers via Twitter, some of whom have provided very kind reviews for which I’m eternally grateful. It’s too early to tell, but those reviews may turn out to be what sells books.  I think more than anything, books sell by word of mouth and that’s a slow process without a giant marketing machine behind you, but with every good review, the ball gets rolling a little more and more. We’ll see how it goes. 

 

For now, I’d say the real benefit of Twitter to me is having a supportive community/network of like-minded individuals who cheer you on, celebrate your successes, and pick you up when you’re down. I’d recommend it to any writer. What do you think of Twitter? What have your experiences been? I’d like to know.

 

Blog 29 Exciting News Peeps!!

I’ve accepted an offer from Month9Books to e-publish my young adult, scifi fantasy manuscript, Vessel in early 2015!  Hehe!  So excited! 2015 sounds very far away, but it’s really not and I’m sure I’ll have lots of editing work to do on it in the meantime.  But for now, I feel like celebrating!  Somebody give me a beer! I could actually use the expression ‘squee’ and I normally hate that expression ;)

Month9 is not a traditional small press. It’s a bit of a new breed, I guess you might say.  This book will be sold as an e-book until it sells enough units and would then be available in print. I suppose that lessens the risk for the publisher that they might be left with a bunch of copies if it doesn’t sell.  I’m not averse to saving some trees. It’s a little funny though, since the book is about humans that have lost all their digital data due to solar storms, including all their books. Ha!

I don’t have too much more to tell at this point. Now is when the work starts. If you hear me moaning and groaning about editing in the coming months, feel free to metaphorically slap me.  I’ll deserve it. As always, stay tuned for updates.  And since the cat is out of the bag, I might as well release my formerly private Pinterest board for the book.  Enjoy~


 
 

Blog 27 ~ Open Mic Night or “There’s Room Enough on my Soap Box for Two”

So I’ve been babbling on for nearly a month here. Now I’d like to extend an invitation to anyone who might like to post a guest post on my blog.  I have several guest posters already lined up, but I wanted to open the invitation to any of my readers.  Of course, every topic is subject to my approval, but in general, guest posts on writing, reading, and/or publishing would be most welcome. 

Author interviews or blog/book tours are welcome too.  I recently did an author interview for Gary Vanucci and it was a lot of fun.  Hop on over to Gary’s blog and check it out.  In short, I’m open to anything bookish J  I’m always interested in exchanging interviews or book promotions too.  Just shoot me an e-mail here – writerlisacresswell (at) gmail (dot) com .

I look forward to hearing from you~

Blog 25 ~ The Golden Rule

I recently signed up for a critique session through my local Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrator’s chapter. I live in a rural area and I don’t have many critique partners nearby, so when opportunities like this come up, I try to jump on it.  Now I have several manuscripts and synopses to review for a workshop in August.

Before I get started, I thought it would be useful to think about how I’m going to do this in terms of how I like to be critiqued myself.  I’ve had a rather brutal critique style in the past and I wonder if I might need to soften that. I witnessed a lot of verbal critiques last week and I came away with a better feel for how I personally would like to be critiqued.

First off, a critique is not proofreading. I don’t think focusing on grammatical errors is helpful at the early draft stage. It wastes valuable time on words that may end up being cut anyway. The only time to mention spelling, punctuation, and grammar is if they are so glaring as to be a complete and utter distraction to the reader.

For me, personally, here’s what I want to know:

Does it grab you? Intrigue you? Or is it confusing? Does it make you feel something? Anything?? Does it make you want to read more?

What words, dialog, or speech tags pop you out of the story? Where does it begin to bore you, or make your mind stumble over clunky, awkward language? Are there plot holes or things that don’t make sense?

Does the writing have heart? Does it have a theme, or at least a feel? Can you hear the author’s voice lecturing you or can you hear the voice of the characters? Do the characters seem like real people or card board cutouts that could be anyone?

Do you feel like you’re in “good hands”, as if the author has a sense of mastery that you’re comfortable with?  What parts to you love? What parts do you hate? How can I make it better?

Blog #12 A To Do List a Mile Long~

Ok, so this post is me whining a bit about all the things I’ve gotten myself into this month. You can click past it or you can bear with me and maybe give me a bit of encouragement if you like.

First off, I don’t know why I decided to do the 31 Day Blog Challenge #31dbc this month, I’m so crazy-busy, but I’m glad I did.  It’s been great and I’ve blogged tons more than normal already. I’ve met some cool bloggers, learned some interesting things, and broadened my perspectives by reading the blogs of people I might never have met before. For selfish reasons, I wanted to gain more blog/website traffic and promote my upcoming book. I know of at least one person who discovered my self-published work through the blog, so makes it worth the effort. J

Next, I need to prepare for this writing workshop I’m attending next week. I sorta know what I need to bring, but I sorta don’t.  I figure I’ll take hard copies of two of my works in progress. I have a “consult” set up with an agent there some time during the week, but it’s not like the agent has reviewed my work beforehand. I’m supposed to use the time to pick her brain about any subject I like, but I need to figure out what that is!!  Do I ask for a query critique? A ten page manuscript review?  Maybe help with a synopsis…that could be useful.

This consult is unlike any I’ve ever done; all the others have been a ten page critique. I suppose I could just ask questions about the industry and ask for advice, but isn’t that what the conference is about??  I think part of my problem is I’m torn over whether I even want an agent as this point. For so long, I was operating under the assumption I had to have an agent.  With the ease of self-publishing and small presses that don’t require agented submissions, maybe I don’t?  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want a cheerleader to go out and find me a lucrative contract. That would be wonderful! I would be thrilled!  But I also know if I don’t have an agent, it’s not the end of the world and it’s not the end of my writing journey. I’m still going to write and put it out there.

But honestly, I haven’t given any of this serious thought because I’m so wrapped up in travel logistics – who’s gonna feed the animals? Have I done everything at work that needs done before I’m gone? What do I need to pack? Laundry!  I feel like I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Ack!  Wish me luck~