Jane Friedman's Blog: Jane Friedman, page 97

Using BookBub Ads to Support Your Book Marketing

Today’s guest post is by author Anne Janzer (@AnneJanzer) author of Writing to Be Understood.

Of all the tools available to authors to promote their books, advertising may be the most challenging.

It seems so appealing: set up a campaign and watch the money roll in. It rarely works like that. Advertising is tricky. Many authors have blown their budgets on print or online ads with little to show for it.

While advertising helps you reach people beyond your immediate sphere of influence, the key is to use it strategically. Advertising should support your book marketing strategy, not replace it.

Many authors use Facebook and Amazon to advertise their books. If you’ve tried these platforms without success or hesitate to spend the money, consider experimenting with BookBub ads.

About BookBub Ads

First, don’t confuse BookBub ads with BookBub Featured Deals. These are different things.

BookBub Featured Deals are book promotions sent by email to the service’s many subscribers. You have to apply for them ahead of time, discount the book steeply, and pay a hefty fee. The price tag and selectivity put Featured Deals beyond the reach of many authors.

BookBub ads, in contrast, are more egalitarian. You can run them at any time. The ads appear at the bottom of the Featured Deal emails. Even in this less-compelling territory, they generate clicks and sales.

To learn how BookBub ads work, check out the BookBub tutorial. Author David Gaughran has a book coming out shortly on the topic, so check that out as well. (Here are his thorough posts on BookBub.)

Why I Love BookBub Ads

BookBub gives you a high degree of control over your ads. You can specify:

When your ads appear: If you set up your campaigns correctly, BookBub will show them (unlike those tetchy Amazon Marketing Services ads).

Which readers will see the ads: You can target people who follow specific authors.

How much you spend: Determine your budget and whether to pay per click (each time someone clicks on your ad) or per impression (based on how many times BookBub displays the ad).

Which platforms and geographies see the ad: Want to reach people in Canada who read on Kobo? Apple Books readers in Australia? You can do that.

They’re flexible. For that reason, BookBub ads can serve several roles in your marketing plans.

Support a Book Launch

Unless you’re a celebrity, getting attention for your new release is challenging. Book tours and signings are costly and impractical. Try a burst of BookBub ads instead, using the platform’s author-targeting capabilities to put the book in front of readers who might enjoy it.

BookBub subscribers love a deal—that’s why they subscribe. You don’t have to discount your books to run ads. But if you’re doing a concentrated, short-term campaign, a lowered price drives sales.

For the release of my most recent book, Writing to Be Understood, I discounted the ebook to $2.99, then ran a week-long BookBub ad campaign to send readers to Amazon. (I focused on Amazon for the initial launch week.) Multiple versions of the ad targeted readers of various nonfiction authors.

With an investment of about $200, this campaign met my two main objectives:

It sold many books, briefly propelling the book to #1 in a competitive category. The Best Seller label offered important “social proof” for a new book.
It populated the early sales data for the book with the right kinds of readers. (You can see clues into the sales data in the Amazon page section labeled “Customers who bought this item also bought…”)

I didn’t rely on ads alone; I also sent emails and did other launch activities. But the ads definitely found buyers. Because sales remained elevated after the campaign ended, the advertising soon paid for itself in royalties. (Sometimes you have to be patient to see a return on your investment.)

Genre matters. I’ve run a similar advertising campaign for a friend with a memoir that had been published for a year but wasn’t selling. Again, BookBub delivered results. Your mileage may vary; success can be tougher in competitive genres.

To support your launch:

Decide on a budget, knowing that you may earn much of it back in royalties over time
Consider a short-term discounted price
Test a few combinations of ad copy and images
Create multiple campaigns targeting possible “also-bought” authors. (Hint: it costs less to advertise to fans of less well-known authors than the big names.)
Watch the campaigns, learn what works, and adapt as needed, shifting budget to the best-performing campaigns.

Target Specific Geographies or Platforms

Say that you’re giving a talk in the UK next month. You’d like to increase the visibility of your book on Amazon UK ahead of the event.

Many of Amazon’s international platforms are less competitive than Amazon.com. A well-timed BookBub ad blast (using pay-per-impression ads) could make your book a bestseller on the international site before your appearance.

Perhaps your book is set in Australia. Consider creating an ad that highlights the location and putting it in front of readers in that market. You might run a longer-running, pay-per-click campaign that generates enough sales to pay for itself in royalties.

Support Your “Wide” Ebook Sales

BookBub lets you reach readers on ebook platforms beyond Kindle. You can advertise to people who read on Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play, or Nook. See which platforms offer the best sales results for you.

Experiment and Test

A quick trial costing $10 or $20 can deliver valuable data about which messages resonate or which authors’ fans click on your ads. Use insight from these test campaigns to inform your other marketing strategies. For example, if you find that Canadian readers click through more often than people in other markets, consider reaching out to libraries or bookstores there.

If you approach it with an open mind and a well-identified strategy, BookBub advertising can be a valuable addition to your book marketing skills.

Have you tried BookBub Ads? What was your experience? Let us know in the comments.

How to Define and Describe Your Readership: A Confusing Issue for Nonfiction Book Proposals

Photo credit: Singing With Light on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND

If you’re pitching a nonfiction book, at some point, an editor or agent will expect you to describe the readership that your book is intended for. Or, if you’re self-publishing, you’ll need to define this for yourself to market the book properly.

Sometimes a book’s readership seems obvious from the title alone. For example, we can reasonably assume that Running Your First Marathon is for people who are training for their first marathon. Easy, right? Yet consider that such a book might be written for a more advanced or serious runner than, say, The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer, which indicates a reader who has little or no history of running. The title tells part of the story—but not the whole story. 

Thus, even books that strongly indicate their readership in the title require useful elaboration from the author on who the book is meant for—or perhaps who it is not meant for.

For example, my latest book, The Business of Being a Writer, is primarily intended for students in the classroom, earning creative writing degrees. For a self-publishing author, it has less to offer. Even though both groups self-identify as “writers,” we’re talking about writers at very different stages of their careers, with different ideas about “business” and success.

By being disciplined about who your readership is, and defining this readership, you can avoid long-term strategic blunders that lead to everything from ineffective pitches and vague marketing copy to bad customer reviews. So where to start?

First, admit the hard part: Your audience is not everyone.

Some authors find this hard to accept, but it’s the first step to getting somewhere useful with your pitch. If your book is for everyone, it is for no one. If you don’t know who you’re talking to, your book may wander or have a voice that lacks distinction.

Consider how differently you speak to someone or tell a story based on what you know about their background. If you meet someone at a party, and you’re both from Indiana, you will tell a story from home in a very different way than you would if that person is from New York City and has never stepped foot in the Midwest. Being in lock-step with your audience is critical to knowing what to include and what not to include—as well as what language to use. It gives your approach definition.

A shortcut to understanding your readership: look at competitors

Let’s hope you’re not of the mistaken belief that your book has no competition. More than a million new books are published every year; there is something out there that is at least comparable and can be usefully studied.

When you look at comparable titles, carefully study the back cover copy (how the pitch is angled, the language used), who it appears to be appealing to, what the aesthetic is like. Then look at customer reviews: how do these readers describe themselves? What traits jump out? What language do they use?

What professional sources are reviewing or talking about the book? What does this indicate about the readership?

By being a thoughtful and studious book detective, you can put together a portrait of your reader. You might be going after a similar (or the exact same) audience as your comparable titles, or you might be going after a different one. Frankly, that part doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you’re able to express the differences in readership among titles because you have a strong understanding of the market.

Let’s say you’re writing a cookbook for people on gluten-free diets. That’s pretty specific, right? Isn’t it enough to say, “Anyone on a gluten-free diet will be interested in my book”? Not really. Consider these three gluten-free cookbook covers.

Do you think the same reader would buy or be interested in all three books? I don’t think so. Even if there is some weird person out there who would fit into the target demographic of each, these titles are also marketed in very different ways. They would be reviewed or featured by different types of websites/magazines, and they would be advertised in very different places.

Look at the digital breadcrumb trail of competing authors

From the competing titles, choose a few of the authors you would want to consider (one day) your peers or colleagues. Where do they focus their marketing and promotion time? Who do they seem to be appealing to? What brands or outlets do they affiliate themselves with? Who reviews them or talks about them? This is another path to understanding your readership.

Do a Google news search to deepen your understanding of the readership

Let’s say you’re writing a book on motherhood and it’s targeted toward millennial moms. That’s a good starting point for exploring your readership through a tool like Google. Go to Google and search for the phrase “millennial mothers” and see what turns up. While a general search may be sufficient, if you don’t get enough that’s relevant (i.e., if you turn up too many shopping or promotional links), then click the News tab.

You should find well-researched reports and trend articles about how society, companies and brands see this demographic, such as “5 Tips on How to Successfully Market to Millennial Moms” or “Secret Goes After Millennial Women By Aligning With Wage Inequality.” Voila—you have instant market research about your target audience that can be put into a book proposal or inspire ideas for your marketing strategy.

Mistakes to avoid in a book proposal when discussing your target reader





Don’t state the obvious. Let’s say your book is about how to start a small business. Don’t say your target readership includes “people interested in starting a small business.” That isn’t telling us anything useful, and not all people who want to start a small business are the same. Are they rural, suburban, or urban? Are we talking about twentysomethings out of college or retirees? People who will start an online-driven business or a bricks-and-mortar business? People with or without business experience? And so on.

Don’t say your readership is the US book-buying audience. Sometimes authors will intensively research the book publishing statistics in their category or the industry, then cite those in the proposal, e.g., “More than 10,000 titles are published each year on X,” or “More than 75% of women will buy a book this year.” Agents/editors already know all about the book-buying audience. The readers of your book will be a subset within the known book-buyer universe. So you don’t need to clarify who buys books.

Don’t refer to an entire generation as your audience. Stating that there are 76 million Baby Boomers is not a way to establish there’s an audience for your work. It’s rather another way of saying, “My readership is everyone.” And that’s precisely what we want to avoid.

Memoir: Defining readership is tough and (I think) nearly impossible

While everything I’ve discussed above could be helpful for a memoirist (especially the don’ts), ultimately, I find it nearly impossible to write a compelling target audience section for a memoir book proposal. It almost always ends up looking obvious, trite, or a terrible reach. E.g., when writing a memoir about adoption, authors inevitably end up discussing adoption statistics. Or if they have been abused, or have overcome cancer, or take care of aging parents, etc, then inevitably here come the statistics on people who are in the same boat.

I find this unhelpful for two reasons. First, just because there are lots of other people like you doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a market for your story. In fact, it could hurt your chances if there are hundreds or thousands of stories just like yours either already on the market or being shopped around. Second, the market of readers who avidly buy memoir aren’t necessarily buying them to read about people like themselves. They’re often reading to experience a life they will never lead, or to acquire a better understanding of people or voices they don’t typically hear from. 

Furthermore, memoir tends to sell because of a compelling premise, where tension keeps us turning pages, combined with an irresistible voice. If sensational stories (landing a plane in the Hudson) or celebrity stories readily sell because of the author’s notoriety or platform, then more “average” person memoirs sell because the lens or voice is spellbinding and absolutely captivating.

Thus, I find it utterly unconvincing for a memoirist to say that their story will sell because it’s “universal” or “unique.” Any story told by a human being will (I hope) have universal qualities whether you plant them there or not. And, on the flip side, “universal” isn’t necessarily a selling point if we’re reading to experience the unfamiliar.

As far as having a “unique” story, every single life is unique. No two lives progress in the same way, but more important, no two lives are understood and made meaning of in the same way. To showcase the exceptional nature of one’s life, one must show (let the details speak for themselves), and not tell to be convincing. Better yet, memoirists should build a track record of publication (and a platform) to demonstrate that the lens they apply to life can find a home and a readership in the existing market.

When assisting memoirists with target market concerns, I suggest in most cases they rely on comparable titles and authors. (I rarely refer to them as “competitive” titles with memoir, as the existence of someone else’s life story rarely precludes interest in another—unless you somehow look entirely derivative, jumping on a trend.) This is the same strategy, of course, that novelists should use when pitching. Instead of trying to define or describe the market for your upmarket crime novel (which is well established and not in question), you instead point to the authors you would sit next to on the shelf and how you fit within the current milieu.

I believe, for memoir, the agent or editor will decide for themselves if your voice, style, and theme will appeal given current trends and what’s selling. No amount of editorializing in the query (“Readers will love my rollercoaster-loving outlook!”) is going to change the mind of a professional; the decision gets made based on the manuscript itself and the appeal of the premise.

For those agents who insist on it, I’d love to know what you think constitutes a helpful statement of the target audience for a memoir—please comment! 

For more guidance on book proposals, see How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal. I also have advice on nonfiction query letters.

Feeling Stuck? Focus on a Single Sentence

Recently, I learned a trick for falling asleep when conditions are not ideal for rest. (I promise this has relevancy for writing, stick with me.)

Starting with closed eyes, relax the eyes. Feel them deepening into your sockets. Then let go of any tension in your face.

Move on to another part of the body. (I like to start with the feet.) Focus on the muscle group, release it. 

I never make it past the feet; by then I’m asleep. If I’m not asleep, I’ve allowed my mind to wander onto something else.

Why this works for me: I stop thinking about trying to sleep, and focus my attention on a single thing.

Focusing on the smallest thing you can accomplish: this is my magic trick to making progress or getting unstuck.

In this month’s Glimmer Train bulletin, fiction writer Jane Delury says that when she’s overwhelmed with her novel draft, she goes to her bookshelf, opens a book she loves, and finds a sentence she’s underlined. She writes:

It’s easy to forget about sentences. They don’t call out for our attention like plot or character. They rarely get chapters in how-to books about fiction. But without them, there’s no plot or character, no story at all. … So for now, instead of going back to fix a scene or make a stretch of dialogue more interesting, I suggest that you set yourself the goal of writing a perfect sentence.

Read Delury’s essay Go Small to Go Big.

Also in this month’s Glimmer Train bulletin:

The Literary Masquerade: Writing Stories Disguised As Other Forms of Writing by Matthew Vollmer

Switching Literary Agents: Two Agents Offer Advice

Today’s guest post is a Q&A by Sangeeta Mehta (@sangeeta_editor), a former acquiring editor of children’s books at Little, Brown and Simon & Schuster, who runs her own editorial services company.

Earlier this year, the book publishing world was rocked by stories of unethical behavior by literary agents. On the one hand, this news was disheartening to hear. On the other hand, it opened up a candid discussion on social media about how different agents communicate with their clients and approach the submissions process. This led to a bigger discussion about how to distinguish between an agent who is unfit for the job—and an agent who is fit for the job but a mismatch for a particular client, and vice versa.

These stories made me think about writers who are represented by reputable, successful agents but are quietly contemplating change. If you’re a writer, how do you know if it’s worth the risk of leaving your current agent? Does past representation impede your ability to find a new agent? I asked literary agents John Cusick and Holly Root. As with all my agent Q&As, neither knew the other’s identity until after they submitted their answers to my questions below. 

Sangeeta Mehta: When should a writer who’s been previously represented give you this information? During the query letter stage, or once you’ve requested pages? Would it be appropriate for a writer to mention this during an in-person pitch event? 

John Cusick: I definitely want to know at the query stage that the author has been represented before—but not because it’s necessarily a bad thing. People part ways with their agents all the time, and when I learn an author has been represented before, my usual takeaway is “this person’s had experience working with representation, and probably knows what they need and like, and what they don’t,” rather than, “Oh their agent must have fired them.”

I think it’s important to be forthcoming with your publishing history, but that doesn’t mean you need to spill the whole saga in your query letter. I appreciate the author letting me know, “I have been represented before, and I’m happy to discuss the details if you’d like.” That way, precious query-letter space isn’t taken up with long explanations, but I still know the author is happy to answer my questions if I have them.

During an in-person pitch, however, I’d say past representation isn’t the most important detail to convey, especially where time is limited. If, during an in-person pitch, there’s space to talk about your old agent, that’s fine, but not necessary to my thinking. Writers should remember, though, if a project has been shopped widely before (in other words, if an agent has sent it to several editors already), that does affect what I might be able to do with the manuscript. That’s information I need before I can offer representation.

Holly Root: I think it’s fine to say up-front at the query stage, though I don’t view previously represented authors more or less favorably, so there’s no strategic advantage. The writer doesn’t have to go into details about the whys of the split at the query stage unless they’re pretty straightforward (like an agent who left the business). Just a quick line in the query that also identifies the status of the manuscript suffices: “I was previously represented by Agent XYZ. This manuscript hasn’t been on submission.”

If you’re talking with an agent in-person, ideally that will be more of a free-form conversation than a strict pitch. In that situation, there will be room for more nuance and context so it should be pretty straightforward to bring up the prior representation, since you’ll be able to answer any follow-up questions about how far down the road you’ve been with a prior agent.

“We’ve amicably parted ways” has become the standard wording regarding a writer’s split from a former agent. If the parting wasn’t particularly amicable—perhaps the writer was frustrated by the agent’s dimming enthusiasm, or the agent wasn’t happy with the writer’s revisions—would you still be open to representing the writer? 

JC: Of course! Again, agents and writers split for many reasons, and sometimes an agent-author pairing just isn’t the right fit. A great writer can have a great agent and still experience great differences of opinion. Sometimes it’s just not the right meeting of minds, and no one is really at “fault.”

Also, an “amicable” parting could just as easily mean that the agent (politely) fired the author for not delivering publishable material, just as much as it might mean anything else. So whether or not an author characterizes their split as “amicable” usually doesn’t affect my desire to represent them.

HR: At this point I assume “amicable” just means no one wishes the other party active bodily harm—there’s always some reason underlying the change, or there wouldn’t have been a change! But I do think it speaks well of a writer if they are presenting the parting professionally, particularly in writing. If it wasn’t amicable, you shouldn’t lie. It is still entirely professional to say only, “I was previously represented by Agent X; we parted ways earlier this year.”

Would you be willing to take on a previously represented project that has gone out to a handful of acquiring editors, or would you consider only a new project from a writer with past representation? If the latter is the case, would the manuscript need to be finished, or would a partial be sufficient? 

JC: Whether or not I’d take on a project that’s been submitted previously depends on a lot of factors. There are risks in taking on such a project. If multiple editors have rejected it already, that means the pool of editors I can now submit to is smaller. Also, if the project has already received a large number of rejections, that doesn’t bode well for its chances of ultimately selling (though certainly a book can get many rejections and still find a great publisher). Moreover, editors talk to each other. If I submit to a new editor at the same house, and they bring the project forward to acquisitions, I have to assume their colleague who read and rejected it would say, “Oh yeah, this book. I read and rejected that.”

But that’s not to say I don’t take on projects that have been previously submitted, especially if enough time has passed and if the author has done some major revisions. It just means I have to be that much more passionate and certain of success, given the potential risks.

As to considering partials from an established author, I’m open to it, especially if the author has a solid track record, and/or if I’ve read and enjoyed their previous books. I’ve also taken on previously published authors without a new manuscript in hand, or who were still under contract for several more books, simply because I love their work and I know they’ll still have great stories to tell two years down the road.

HR: It’s always easier for a new agent to shop a fresh manuscript, versus picking one up that’s been out before, but you can never say never. I would have to really love a book and author, and/or the submission list from the prior round would have to have been really different from who I would target (like a manuscript that had been shopped as a YA, but I saw it as adult, or vice versa). Sometimes this might happen if an agent was trying to work outside of their area of expertise as a favor to a client, before the agent and client agreed to part—then there might be an opportunity for me to resubmit with full disclosure about why, and use the change of agent to reshape the narrative. But again, that’s a much heavier lift, so it’s the exception, not the rule.

As for full vs. partial, a full manuscript will always be easier to sell than a partial (and usually goes for more money), but a lot of that depends on the author’s sales track record and reputation, so there’s no one hard rule.

If the writer and agent never signed a formal agreement, and the writer has repeatedly tried to communicate with her agent but to no avail, can she in good conscience put out feelers to other agents by chatting with them at conferences? Participate in contests or pitch events that other agents are taking part in?

JC: There’s nothing wrong with giving an uncommunicative agent the boot, but my suggestion would be to send that agent something in writing saying you are now going to pursue other representation before you actively pitch your material to someone else. That way, your parting with them is official, and no one can say you’ve done anything untoward. And this is really more for the author’s benefit than the absentee agent’s. But still, it’s important to split up before you hit the dating pool again.

Also, as a general note, agents talk to each other. If you query other agents before firing your old one, you can bet your old agent will find out about it.

HR: I would recommend mailing a letter to the agent officially severing—then you’re free and clear to do pitches, query, or whatever else you’d like. It’s hard when the relationship is nebulous like that, but insofar as you can make it clear, I suspect that will let you sleep better. And other agents will be much more willing to talk if you’re free and clear.

In addition to being the right thing to do, officially parting also makes it much easier to get a new agent. When people reach out before severing, really all I can say is “I can’t really talk while you’re represented,” which comes with the awkward potential for the author to walk away with the impression that I am totally planning to sign them once they part. Meanwhile, I might not at all be right for that author. Or have thought about their work in depth at all, frankly! I’m just trying to stay on the good side by not having conversations with other people’s clients that I wouldn’t want my clients having with other agents. I have a sense that this “swing to one vine before letting the other go” approach is more common in other forms of entertainment representation, but in general in the book world, parting before shopping is a good practice to work by.

If an agent leaves one agency for another but doesn’t take all her clients with her, or if she leaves the industry altogether, can the client who’s left behind expect that someone else at the original agency will still represent her? Is the agency head responsible for sending out the writer’s work or helping the writer find a new agent, or does this depend entirely on the agency agreement, assuming there is one?

JC: I think this is going to vary from agency to agency. Any agency can terminate their relationship with an author, so I’m not sure writers should expect their agency head will definitely take them on as a client if their original agent leaves the business. In any event, the agency isn’t bound to continue representing the author, and definitely isn’t responsible for helping the writer find a new agent. But the originating agency can and should continue to manage whatever books they’ve sold on behalf of that author, just as they would for any other client.

However, in my experience, agencies will make an effort to keep working with authors when their original agent can no longer represent them. That doesn’t mean staying with the original agency is always the best move—sometimes seeking a new agent elsewhere is preferable to becoming someone’s inherited client (though not always). Styles and expertise always vary from agent to agent, even within the same agency, which the author should keep in mind when seeking new representation.

HR: This sounds like a tricky internal situation that would differ from agency to agency. If the agent didn’t take her clients with her, I would reach out to whoever your contact is in the wake of the departure and ask—politely and directly—for clarity on your representation status with the agency. Also, if you’re not certain that whatever arrangement they have for coverage is right for you, you should also always feel empowered to part ways and seek a fit you choose, who also chooses you.

What is the number one reason you’ve seen an author-agent relationship dissolve? Unrealistic expectations? Lack of patience on the part of the writer? Lack of effort on the part of the agent? A change in the trajectory of one party’s career but not the other’s? Is there a way to prevent these differences from terminating the partnership altogether?  

JC: I think that agents fire authors when they become too difficult to work with, or, despite best efforts by all parties, nothing seems to be selling. In the latter scenario, a split is good for both parties, because clearly the agent doesn’t have the vision to help the author’s career move forward, and clearly the author isn’t providing the agent with something she thinks she can sell.

It’s the “become difficult to work with” part where things get tricky. I’ve seen agent-author relationships deteriorate simply because the author became so anxious and distressed that things weren’t going the way they expected with their career, that they began to see their agent as A) the only person who could solve all their problems, and B) solely responsible for their lack of multi-million-dollar success. This is where trust becomes such an important factor. Agent-author relationships fall apart when the author doesn’t trust the agent’s judgment, and/or the agent doesn’t trust the author’s ability to respond constructively to bad news.

The other common reason authors fire their agents is for lack of attention: their agent either can’t or won’t give the author’s career the time and focus it needs. If you feel like your agent isn’t as focused as he used to be, set up a call to discuss it. Sometimes there’s just a miscommunication, or both parties merely need to reconnect and refocus. And if your agent doesn’t have time for a heart to heart? Well, then you’ve got your answer.

HR: Different visions is probably the biggest one, and that you can’t really know until you’re in it, but talking it out if you’re feeling out of sync is always the right call. Communication is hard—I mean, for humans in general—but also in this context specifically because it’s easy to have a mismatch of expectations, especially if there aren’t clear boundaries. I do think many challenges can be worked through if writers are willing to express their needs clearly and the agent is able to take that feedback onboard without defensiveness and be honest about what’s realistic for them, too. From the writer side, it’s challenging for agents when an author can’t or won’t stay current with the expectations of the genre they’re working in. A book that was a slam-dunk for the 2010 market might be unsellable today, and that’s a hard reality. But ideally we’re all going to keep leveling up together, communicating well and clearly along the way.

Do you think that changing agents once—or multiple times—carries the same stigma it has in the past? After all, some writers must change editors multiple times because editors often move from house to house. Should writers assume that they might eventually need to adjust to a new agent? Or can they go into author-agent partnership trusting that it will last throughout the course of both their careers?

JC: I don’t think it carries the same stigma it once did. A third of my list is comprised of authors who had agents before me; I love helping writers launch the second act of their careers.

But I wouldn’t suggest going into an agent relationship assuming it will end one day any more than I’d suggest that of a marriage. Ideally, you want to build a long-lasting career with your agent. But, like any kind of relationship, some don’t last, and that’s okay.

HR: I don’t think anyone cares about how many agents so much as about why you left. I always ask why someone is making a change—what worked for them and what didn’t in their prior relationship. (It’s easy to focus on the bad, but knowing what was good is also really informative.) In part that’s me trying to check for fit. And in part that’s me seeing if someone knows themselves well enough to know what they need in an agent, and knows what is within the scope of an agent’s role. I have many clients who were represented elsewhere before we started working together, but I have a good number who’ve only ever worked with me, too, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to hope for a partnership that lasts.

Do you have any other advice for writers who are considering leaving their current agent, especially those who are apprehensive due to the time and energy they’ve already invested, or obligation to the agent who jumpstarted their career? Are there any advantages to staying put in a less-than-ideal agent-author relationship, especially if it began on a positive note?

JC: No agent is better than a bad agent, or an agent who isn’t helping you grow your career. But my first piece of advice would be to talk to your agent. If there’s a conflict or a concern, let your agent know you need to have a conversation. Express your concerns exhaustively, but with the understanding that you might not have the whole picture. Give your agent a chance to respond and address the issues—how they respond will tell you everything you need to know about whether they’re worth sticking with.

There are many agents out there, and I think most all of us are more than happy to work with an author who’s been previously represented. You just don’t want to blow up a good thing—or a fixable thing—without first communicating your needs, expectations, and concerns (if any). This goes for the author and agent both.

HR: I would always recommend that an author who is on the fence about their current situation reach out to their current agent to let them know they’re not happy and need a little help righting the relationship. Agents can easily assume that if you’re quiet, you’re just off writing, when in fact you’re freaking out. And you’re a writer, so you are very highly skilled at creating fictional dialogues, which will often be much scarier and more dramatic than the actual conversation will be! (A huge plus on the page; a minus IRL.) So it’s always better to have that discussion for real with your agent, not with your own inner critic.

Also, agents often feel like we can’t or shouldn’t have personal challenges of our own or tough seasons at work. So clients might not have all the relevant information from the agent’s side if the challenge that was causing the issue (a medical issue, a staffing problem, etc.) is something that the agent is actively addressing and will resolve relatively soon. You shouldn’t stay with an agent who isn’t meeting your needs out of obligation, but I do think most agents genuinely want to do right by the authors they’ve represented. Even if that conversation ends up with you guys mutually agreeing it’s time for a change, you’ll both feel so much better about it if it’s out in the open. If that conversation doesn’t result in changes that make you feel confident you’re back on the upswing and you ultimately still need to make a change, then you can part knowing you did everything you could to make the parting as amicable as you will say it was in your next, sure-to-be-successful query letter.

John Cusick (@johnmcusick) is a VP and literary agent with Folio Jr. / Folio Literary Management. He represents a diverse list of bestselling and award-winning creators of picture books, middle-grade, and young adult novels. He is also the author of Girl Parts and Cherry Money Baby (Candlewick Press), and a regular speaker at writers’ conferences.

Holly Root (@hroot) represented over two dozen New York Times bestsellers as a literary agent before founding Root Literary in 2017. She represents books for kids, teens, and adults.

Take Charge of Your Creative Life: The SWOT Analysis

Photo credit: Jorbasa on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-ND

Today’s guest post is by Dave Chesson (@DaveChesson) of Kindlepreneur.

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” ―Stephen R. Covey

Do you ever feel like you’re swimming against the tide in your creative life?

As authors, we have a vast array of ways to spend our time.

Time is our only non-renewable resource. Given how precious it is, are you truly making the most of yours?

Without a properly calibrated creative compass, it’s easy to spend time on urgent, rather than important, activities.

One way to regain control and peace of mind as an author is the SWOT framework.

What is SWOT?

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

It originated decades ago from Harvard Business School and Stanford University. It has since gained popularity among businesses of all types as well as countless creative individuals.

When you understand your SWOT as an author, you can take control over your time. You can stop fighting fires, and start focusing on the things that will truly help you in the long run.

Are you ready to carry out your own SWOT analysis? Doing so will give you a strategically sound author roadmap to follow throughout your creative journey.

How to find your author strengths

The first stage in carrying out a SWOT analysis is identifying your strengths as an author.

There are two things that can jeopardize your self-analysis:

Underconfidence. Even the most successful and brilliant authors struggle with self-belief. If you’re struggling with your strengths, seek an objective opinion.

Overconfidence. If you know from personal experience you are prone to overconfidence, then—once again—find an objective third party to help you out.

To avoid the underconfidence or overconfidence trap, you can also ask these questions.

What kind of praise do I receive from my writing mentors? If you are fortunate enough to have an experienced writing teacher or mentor, draw upon their informed feedback to understand your strengths.

What do my author peers praise about my work? Hopefully, you’re not isolated as an author. If you are part of a writing community, online or offline, you can receive communal feedback on your strengths. Just make sure you pick a supportive group.

What do my positive reviews say?  Reviews are essential for authors from a sales perspective. They can also offer valuable insight into your strengths. If people are willing to pay money for your work, you should take their praise seriously.

Personally, I suggest using a mix of all of the above. The more feedback, the merrier. Try and look for patterns amidst the feedback and use these to clearly define your strengths as an author.

How to find your author weaknesses

It’s not exactly fun to analyze your weaknesses. I get it. You may well already have a strong critical inner voice. Not to mention some negative reviewers.

So do you really want to take the time to look at your weaknesses?

The answer is undoubtedly yes.

By having an objective and clear understanding of your weaknesses as an author, you will be less vulnerable to the sting of critical comments. How could a hater ever hurt you if you know yourself far better than they do?

Some common areas of improvement for authors include:

Craft. No matter if you write on fiction or nonfiction, you can always improve on craft. Break your writing down into its component parts. For fiction authors, these may include plot, dialogue, or character. Which could you improve the most?

Platform. A pain point for a lot of authors is building a platform. I get it. Things haven’t always been this way, and many authors prefer to focus on the work. However, it ultimately comes down to the pain of putting yourself out there versus the pain of not having an independent way to survive as an artist.

Networking. Networking is often overlooked, mainly because time spent networking equates to time not spent writing. However, if you find the right network, the time you spend writing is likely to bear far better fruit.

Engagement. Often, engagement is the key ingredient to turning readers into fans. By providing a meaningful experience along with great writing for your readers, you increase the odds of them eagerly awaiting your next release—and spreading the word on your behalf.

Setting realistic targets (that are under your control) will keep you sane when working on your weaknesses. Rather than obsessing over a given weakness, try and make small but steady improvements  over time.

How to find your author opportunities

Failing to keep an eye out for new opportunities is one of the quickest routes to author failure. The truth is the majority of authors won’t write the next boy wizard book series that gets a Hollywood adaptation (although we of course admire JK Rowling and other outliers).

Instead, for most authors, a reliable and expanding mix of revenue streams is one of the best ways to survive as a writer. So what are some of the best opportunities to pursue?

Scaling up. Can you do more of what’s working? This could involve increasing your own personal output, and/or hiring writers or assistants to help free up your time for high-value work that only you can do.

Broadening. Can you move sideways from where you currently are? This could involve a fiction writer moving into a similar but different genre than they currently publish in, or a nonfiction writer creating a course to accompany their latest book.

Services. There are so many pieces to the self-publishing puzzle. Writing, proofreading, editing, formatting—and that’s just scratching the surface. If you have experiences in any of these areas, you can make more money while serving your fellow authors.

Marketing. Are there marketing opportunities out there you’re not taking advantage of, whether paid or unpaid? Free opportunities could include book promotion sites, and paid opportunities may include Amazon, Facebook, or Bookbub advertising.

When selecting author opportunities, avoid shiny object syndrome. It’s better to pick a few relevant opportunities with the aim of mastery than it is to dabble between this and that, without time to see results or gain useful experience.

How to find your author threats

The term “threats” may sound intimidating, but it simply refers to anything which could deter from your author success. Threats can be internal (anything within your direct control) and external (anything outside your direct control).

So what are some of the threats to be aware of as an author?

Changes to your revenue. This is often outside of your direct control. For example, when CreateSpace merged with KDP Print this year, payment dates and rates were affected. Or remember when Audible greatly reduced royalty rates for ACX authors in 2014? Be aware of these financial threats to keep your author budget flowing smoothly.

Moving with the times. One of the fastest paths to failure is assuming what works today will still work tomorrow. Anyone familiar with the changes in Kindle Unlimited over the years, or even SEO best practice, knows this to be the case.

Reinventing the wheel. Too often, authors try and be too creative, as counterintuitive as that sounds. Don’t be afraid to follow a proven path. Failing to outline, ignoring book cover tropes, or attempting marketing in a way which doesn’t follow best practice are some examples of this author threat.

There’s no need to become paranoid about threats. There really is a big enough pie for everyone to grab a slice. However, ensure you don’t go hungry.

Resources for author SWOT action

Once you’ve clearly identified your own SWOT, you can use it to ensure your time as an author is spent in one of the following four beneficial ways:

Maximizing your strengths.
Minimizing your weaknesses.
Pursuing opportunities.
Protecting against threats.

If you dedicate your time to these four activities, you’ll ensure that you’re following Stephen Covey’s advice to focus on the important rather than the urgent.

I’ll now share a few resources I think will help you out in the process of carrying out your author SWOT:

Strengths. Here are a few ways to help maximize your strengths as an author: (1) receive expert critiques from people in the industry you respect; (2) seek out advice on best practices from author communities on Facebook or elsewhere; (3) use beta readers to understand your craft strengths.

Weaknesses. If you’re seeking to minimize your weaknesses, here’s an opportunity to learn from some of the best writers out there, plus resources on building your author brand


Opportunities. Here’s how to repurpose your existing content, and software to conduct book market research, and tips on creating an online course.

Threats. A few ways to counter common threats authors face: advice on goal setting to avoid standing still; tips on book budgeting for authors; how to apply the Pareto principle to ensure your time is used wisely.

It would be a pleasure to hear your thoughts. What have you found most helpful in combating your own strengths and weaknesses? What do you see as the most relevant opportunities and threats for authors in the contemporary context? Let’s chat in the comments.

How to Describe Neurodivergent Characters

Photo credit: Mark Auer on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC

Today’s guest post is from Martha Conway (@marthamconway), award-winning author of Thieving Forest and Sugarland.

I’m just now coming up for air after Googling “fictional characters on the spectrum.” The number of characters—all very recent—astounded me. They range from popular television shows (Crazy Eyes from Orange Is the New Black) to indie movies (Adam in Adam and Amelie in Amelie), with a few superheroes thrown in (Mr. Fantastic in Marvel Comics). As well as being recent, they were all intentionally developed as being on the spectrum, if you can believe the published backstories. I suppose it’s not surprising that characters who are on the autism spectrum, including those who have Asperger’s Syndrome, are currently populating our stories. These days, most of us know at least one person who is on the spectrum. My younger sister Beth was diagnosed as being on the spectrum before the phrase “on the spectrum” was even used; initially, Beth’s doctors used phrases like “autistic tendencies.” Beth won’t look you in the eye; she likes precision and repetition, and she is very sensitive to physical touch. She was one of my inspirations for the character May Bedloe in my novel The Floating Theatre. Writing about a character—whether on a flap jacket, an Amazon book description, a press release, or other metadata—can be tricky, but it’s absolutely essential. Every writer needs to be able to describe their characters in short, succinct ways that immediately captures that character’s essence. At least, that’s the goal. When I first went about describing May Bedloe to my friends, I sometimes used the word Asperger’s, because that’s how I imagined her. I never felt that Asperger’s defined her—her AS is not the main thread of the story—but it was a shorthand way of conveying certain characteristics: direct, smart, highly focused, and socially a little awkward. But the novel takes place in 1848, before the term Autism was coined, and long before Hans Asperger, the scientist who in 1944 described a very particular form of autism, was even born. In May’s world, no one would have used either of these terms. And sure enough one day, after describing May this way to a group of writers, one of them said: “Wait. How can your character have Asperger’s? It wasn’t even a thing back then.” Well, obviously it was a thing back then, even if it was an unnamed thing. Still, I understood her point. It’s an anachronism to say a character in 1848 has Asperger’s Syndrome. So what words should I use to describe May in a way that reflects her time, the antebellum era in the United States? How do you describe Asperger’s before there was Asperger’s? Like my sister, May was born into a world that didn’t recognize the autism spectrum, and I realized that I had to find another way to describe her. May often does not pick up on social cues and she stands a little apart from other people, although she is not shy, exactly. I disliked language that felt belittling, such as eccentric or quirky. Quirky in particular felt too light for May, who is full of integrity and, like my sister, always strongly herself. Nothing I could think of felt true to her character, so I decided to look around for examples—for past characters who might be described, today, as being on the spectrum. Not Amelie or Ray Babbitt in Rain Man, but a character in a world prior to 1944. Jane Eyre immediately came to mind (her disregard for petty authority and her compulsion to speak the unvarnished truth), and Sherlock Holmes. But after that I got stuck. I turned to the internet for help (“historical characters on the spectrum”) but I didn’t find much. Instead, it being the internet, I went down another rabbit hole for a while (see Lewis Carroll, below). It turns out that while people may not speculate about past characters, they love to speculate about past writers. Writers on the Spectrum: How Autism and Asperger Syndrome Have Influenced Literary Writing, by Julie Brown, contains a wealth of thoughtful and well-researched speculation about writers and their characteristics. The book examines writers from Hans Christian Andersen (who walked through the streets with his eyes closed reciting Shakespeare) to Emily Dickinson (why so many dashes?). There is a long chapter on Lewis Carroll, a gifted mathematician who was obsessed with train schedules, had a fanatical interest in word games, and who “did not mix well” with the other boys at school. And here’s where I had my revelation. All of these authors, and the few characters that I’d thought of earlier, are what you might call outsiders. Perhaps, I thought, I should focus on socially renegade characters. Now, suddenly, a whole world of historical characters opened up. I began to see AS everywhere. Miss Havisham? Absolutely—witness her intense, persistent focus and her repetitive routine (not to mention her repetitive bridal tableaux). Garp’s mother Jennie Fields is another one who disregards—does not even seem notice—social conventions. Leopold Bloom? Humbert Humbert? Boo Radley? All, I thought, might easily qualify. Even Frodo Baggins seems to develop some unquestionably autistic characteristics as the One Ring takes hold of him. Maybe I was going too far. But it occurred to me that any character who lacks some or all social awareness, who ignores social conventions, who doesn’t camouflage their intelligence, who has a passion, who follows that passion with discipline, who takes obvious comfort in rituals or inanimate objects—all of these types might be described as being on the spectrum. Of course, these characters are all very different. So are people on the spectrum. My sister Beth communicates in nuanced ways that are unlike any other person I’ve met. There’s a reason autism is described as a spectrum, and not a fixed point. The characteristic I kept coming back to again and again was “outsider.” Someone who stands a little or a lot outside of the culture. It reminded me of something I read in an artist’s statement once, when I attended show for a local artist in France. I liked it so much that I copied it down: It is only someone who stands apart from the culture who can deliver the news about that culture. Perhaps the reason why so many historical characters display, as my sister’s early doctors would have said, autistic tendencies, is precisely because these are the characters writers create in order to examine the culture. They are the counterpoints thrown in relief, the ones who stand out, while others walk around (like so many of us readers) holding onto social conventions that range from silly to harmless to amoral. These are the characters who throw back the curtain to reveal underlying cultural assumptions, precisely because they don’t follow them. These are the characters who show us who we are. One of the things I think is hard to convey to people who have not lived for many years with a person on the spectrum, is how much richer my own life has been because of my experience. Along with the challenges, there are moments of real joy and insight—many of them. And I don’t mean insight about our loved one who is on the spectrum (although there’s that, too), but about ourselves and our society. In the end, my English editor at Bonnier Zaffre was the one who worked it out for me. In a letter, she described May as “charmingly frank and naive.” I liked that. It’s true, and it’s lovely. It works.

5 On: Amy Tipton

Freelance editor and former literary agent Amy Tipton discusses her love of young adult and middle grade fiction, the “unlikable female character,” whether agents who don’t want a manuscript will be likely to pass it along to an agent friend, her personal editing style, and more.

Amy Tipton graduated from Naropa University with a B.A. in Writing and Literature and received her MFA from New College of California in Writing. She has been working in the publishing industry for 13 years and started freelance editing in 2018. Prior to that, she was a literary agent at Signature Literary Agency since 2009. (She first stepped into the role of literary agent at Peter Rubie Literary Agency, now FinePrint Literary Management, in 2007.) She started out as an assistant and office manager at several agencies including JCA Literary Agency, Diana Finch Literary Agency, Gina Maccoby Literary Agency, and Liza Dawson Associates, as a book scout for Aram Fox, Inc., and as a freelance editor for Lauren Weisberger (author of The Devil Wears Prada).

5 On Writing

KRISTEN TSETSI: You’re reading as a young person, and…What’s the strongest reading memory that comes to mind? Why does it stand out?

AMY TIPTON: I honestly don’t have any strong memories about reading per se, but looking back, I was one weird kid with weird reading habits. I did a book report in 4th grade (3rd grade? I was young) on the book Gracie: A Love Story by George Burns! (It was a book from my mother’s bookshelf; I’m sure I misunderstood lots.) While other kids were reading Where the Red Fern Grows (great book!), I was reading about the comedian Gracie Allen, wife and professional partner to George Burns.

Another report (another book from my mom’s shelf) was on the life of Sidney Poitier.

I also remember that the movie My Left Foot started an obsession with Christy Brown and I did a report on him, too!

I do remember the more age-appropriate books I read, but not the when or where or if anyone else was involved. I mean, I know my mom always read to me (even in the womb she read The Little Prince—which 1. is my favorite book [with To Kill A Mockingbird] and 2. is a strange thing to read to your unborn child; it probably started my weird reading habits). Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny were big hits. I also remember The Secret of Nimh (book, not movie—though I loved the movie) as well as A Wrinkle in Time and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and I devoured any Nancy Drew story and every Sweet Valley book in sight. I loved the Fear Street books, too, and yes, I was a Judy Blume fan and a Beverly Cleary fan!

I try to read everything, now.

Your website submission page expresses a preference for young adult and middle grade fiction. What draws you to the genres in general, and what would you like to see happening in YA/MG in the future?

The totally solid, professional answer: I believe writing is an act of resistance (the personal is political) and kids are the future. We must teach our children that doing what’s right is important and they should stick to their values and beliefs.

And you can do this without sounding preachy! I think a lot of writers view right/wrong and sticking to beliefs as stories with morals at the end—like a sort of Aesop fable. Writers tend to view these things didactically; we teach them, they’re academic, or something. I don’t necessarily see it in edited/published work, but I do see it in rougher drafts. That’s something I revise. I think “lessons” can/should be organic, and these teaching moments can be so natural that when you’re done reading you can be, “Whoa, I think I learned …”

(I think The Hate U Give does this beautifully, by the way. Also, I’ll say I’m not really the audience for Tupac, but I found myself watching YouTube videos of him for days after reading it!)

I think kids respond to that more, anyway.

The unprofessional answer: I feel younger than I am. I laugh at (probably) wildly inappropriate/immature things and therefore become Amy Poehler in Mean Girls: “I’m not a regular mom, I’m a cool mom.” Haha!

(Both answers are true, by the way.)

Author Lyn Fairchild Hawks wrote in a blog entry about her experience working with you, “I tease her that ‘Uh, no!’ is her signature marginal comment, telling you to cease and desist, immediately, with that nonsense you just wrote.” What nonsense do you see most frequently in manuscripts that will get an “Uh, no” editorial comment from you?

It’s hard to give a concrete answer, here. Every book is different, the plot/characters/dialogue/world is unique. I would say anything that reads unbelievable or is inconsistent with the story definitely earns an, “Uh, no.”

And that comment is so true, too—I do write ALL KINDS of things in the notes! Some writers are offended, some can take the critique. I have learned over the years to soften feedback, but I admit I can be intense (OK, mean!), sorry.

From your website: “There is no female character too ‘unlikable’ to pique my interest.”

I’m very interested in the “unlikable character” conversation:  are male unlikables more tolerable than female unlikables?; is “unlikable” the same as “unrelatable”?; do male characters get to have more flaws before they’re deemed “unlikable” (would any male John Irving character be considered likable as a woman?); etc.

What are your thoughts about all of this, and who are (or who is) your favorite “unlikable” female character(s) (and what makes that/those character(s) unlikable)?

Well, hmm. This is a long/complicated subject! A subject author Claire Messud took on in 2012 in a Publisher’s Weekly interview, when the interviewer called her main female character “grim” and said they wouldn’t want to be friends with her [the main character]:

For heaven’s sake, what kind of question is that? Would you want to be friends with Humbert Humbert? Would you want to be friends with Mickey Sabbath? Saleem Sinai? Hamlet? Krapp? Oedipus? Oscar Wao? Antigone? Raskolnikov? Any of the characters in The Corrections? Any of the characters in Infinite Jest? Any of the characters in anything Pynchon has ever written? Or Martin Amis? Or Orhan Pamuk? Or Alice Munro, for that matter? If you’re reading to find friends, you’re in deep trouble.

Basically, there’s a double standard that pops up in fiction (and in media and in life) all the time: we expect males to be flawed (it makes them complex), but our expectations for females are stricter.

Plain and simple, it’s unfair.

For example: we forgive—even root for!—our male heroes when they show emotion (like cry hysterically; they could be heartbroken, after all) or are moody or are alcoholic or just drink and smoke way too much and swear constantly or are selfish or lie—we’re ok if they are unredeemable—yet these traits we love in our male MCs become, in female MCs, qualities of the dreaded “unlikable character.” (Dun, dun, dun!)

Males are hardly ever subjected to such criticism. One commenter on Erica Jong’s blog post concerning “unlikable characters” said “Unlikable = interesting,” and, well, that’s one way to look at it/(over)simplify it, but yeah!

A lot has been written already regarding Amy Dunne in Gone Girl, so I’ll mention how I love the female friendship explored in Rufi Thorpe’s The Girls From Corona Del Mar, and I love Ani FaNelli from Luckiest Girl Alive and Rachel Watson from The Girl on the Train. I love Megan Abbott and Gillian Flynn characters. They buck societal norms/deviate from the system—they don’t necessarily need or want the marriage, 2.5 kids, a house with a white picket fence life. These ladies scheme, swear, rage, lie, drink, and don’t really apologize for doing so. (Which is really why they’re “unlikable”—a woman can only be this complex if seeking redemption or is punished at the end…)

Look, there’s no “right” way to be a woman. We’re all “unlikable” (meaning interesting)! I’m pretty sure if I were a character in a book, I’d be labeled “unlikable,” too.

According to one of your bios, pieces of your first two novels are published in a variety of literary journals. What are your novels about, and what is your favorite and least favorite thing about writing?

I wrote a lot while I was in school (college) and most of my work was character based. I loved Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio and set one of my stories in and around a neighborhood 7-11. (I was also influenced by Karen Finley and  Miranda July, so I was a bit arty AKA experimental AKA weird in my work…ha!). I, unfortunately, don’t write as much anymore (so, good thing I get to work with writers).

I think it’s hard for me to make the time to write—to stop checking my email or doing laundry or watching TV or cleaning the bathroom in order to make writing a priority. I say yes to coffee with a friend and brush writing aside; I say “tomorrow, I’ll do it tomorrow,” and tomorrow turns into 10 years, or something! But once I set aside time, once I get my butt in the chair, you can’t pry me away. It could be 3 a.m. and I started writing at noon, but I’m not leaving. That’s the thing for me—I write in huge chunks of time. I’m not one of those “I have 5 minutes waiting for the bus so I’ll just get this down” people. Yes, sometimes, I jot down notes for a funny scene or a character quirk, but I can’t write like that. I constantly edit as I go, too. If I get stuck, I can’t “just move on”—that’s not my process.

5 On Publishing

Janet Reid writes in a blog post about what authors should do if their agent stops being an agent, “An agent who is looking to switch careers is an unhappy agent.” What did you so love about being a literary agent that you got back to work in 2009 not long after having had a stroke, and what are the parts of the job that might make someone—or, you—not want to do it, anymore?

I wouldn’t say I was unhappy agenting per se; I was super into reading the work—reading queries, requesting books, offering to rep, getting to revise (I love revising!—not surprising, I mean, considering I’m a writer, I get to put a creative stamp here), but it’s also business-y work like contracts and royalties, and I’m just not a suit. I went to school for writing, I’m not a lawyer or number cruncher.

I think (ironically enough) Lyn’s blog post about me as a great agent made me realize I am pretty great! Humblebrag, here—did you know I came up with the Courtney Summers book title This Is Not a Test? And my mom’s advice to me about boys showed up in Courtney Summers’s All the Rage? I also encouraged Amy Reed to edit the Our Stories, Our Voices anthology and helped shape the 2014 Stonewall Award winner Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills. (I’m not here to take credit away from anyone, either—these books are incredible—I just think I also deserve some credit!)

That blog post made me realize I would make a great developmental editor. Which was the “hands-on” part of (my) agenting—the reading/revising/notes/talking of ideas/etc. I did all of that and more, and I did it because I loved it. So, voila! Offering editorial services seemed like a good fit.

I thought about opening up my own agency, but a friend who runs her own agency said you can’t be creative, or as creative as you want, since it’s more paperwork/business stuff. Being a boss is hard! So I just decided to go the freelance editor route. Yes, I’m a boss, but it’s creative, so it feeds my punk rock/anarchist/progressive soul.

It wasn’t an easy decision. The feeling of guilt was heavy (the guilt of failing authors—not getting their books published or not getting a higher advance for their book, which you know they deserved). It was all too much. I am only one person, and tracking down editors (who just ignore follow-ups) or arguing about higher advances with editors or scrambling to find an audio publisher or a film/TV agent (garnering their interest is almost another full time job!) and keeping track of foreign rights—who has what where (another full time position)—was an insane workload. Most of the stuff I represented was not easy—the subjects were not big, splashy, blockbuster/fun reads—so it’s very easy to be frustrated. With every pass I, honestly, felt like a failure.

But at the same time, admittedly, I’m at the top of my game. Courtney Summers is a New York Times bestseller, and Amy Reed just did a New York Times interview on her book The Nowhere Girls and the Me Too movement. (Both ladies have exciting things coming their way.) And my first sci-fi/dark fantasy YA mystery What the Woods Keep is holding its own! But this success was a looooong time coming. As they say, too little, too late, right?

I had been reading a lot of writer/editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch‘s blog, and while I sometimes disagreed/it (sometimes) induced eye rolling, there were things I agreed with, like maybe—not saying “definitely”—maybe you should compartmentalize your career: have a lawyer look at contracts, have an accountant do your royalties, get a foreign rights agent, film agent, have an editor (or someone like me). Maybe you shouldn’t rely solely upon your agent. Your agent maybe should just submit/sell your book.

But in this fast-food/one-stop-shop culture, the writer-agent job grows, and so stress is greater. I had a stroke at 30—I’m not about to have a heart attack at 40!

It seems like writers today are told to think about marketability more than they might have been told that in the past. I can’t see Fitzgerald or Steinbeck worrying over what editors and/or the market is looking for. Has publishing changed in that way, or does it just seem like it? Or, maybe, were Fitzgerald and Steinbeck worried about marketability?

I don’t know if Fitzgerald or Steinbeck worried about marketability (I doubt it, too—if they did, it was a lot less/very different). Today you have to consider the current climate and how fast-paced life is and how technology is a big part of our life—social media/platform/audience. The writer has to worry about whether they even have the right to tell certain stories (and suffer the consequences of whatever they decide). I also think writers have to have hooks or concepts. Sadly, I’m part of the problem. I watch The Real Housewives and Little Women L.A., so I feed this stupid reality-TV culture that affects what books (stories/ideas) get published. (Sorry.)

Long gone are the 1990s, when I spent time aimless in plot, following my characters’ f-ups, like so many indie arthouse flicks I loved.

As someone with such an established background in the business end of writing, how do you approach a manuscript as a freelance editor—with a creative eye or with a business eye?

Both, but more so with a creative eye. I mean, sure, I bet I revise/edit (subconsciously) from a business stance (I do want these books to sell!), but I feel freer/able to edit work and go with whatever flow the author wants. I am not necessarily in charge of selling this book, so I am a lot less controlling. Ha!

Asked how often you would pass a query along to a fellow agent who might be more interested, you said, “Sometimes. It has happened.” It’s possible writers hope this happens more than it does, but is it actually pretty rare? If so, is it usually that agents are passing because they think no one will like it? Or is there a competitive element (“I don’t want it, but I don’t want anyone else to have it, either!”)? Or is it more like that picture of the double yellow line painted over a dead possum with the text, “Not my job”? Or: Is it that agents don’t, in fact, all know each other and have no idea what anyone else is looking for?

I have done this. I actually passed Amber McRee Turner’s Sway on to Joanna Volpe in 2008! However, writers probably hope this happens more than it does. Contrary to belief, not all agents know each other (they probably know of each other) and know more editors and what editors want/buy. Some agents are friends, for sure, but a lot are more invested in what editors like rather than, say, what their competitor is looking for.

Your editing service, Feral Girl Books, is geared toward female/female-identifying voices. You write on your website, “I am drawn to the unique pressures and circumstances girls and women face. […] I firmly believe female characters deserve to be featured with the same depth and range as their male counterparts.” When did this focus first become a priority for you, and are you seeing a change in the publishing landscape as far as female-identifying voices are concerned?

I feel like my whole life has been leading up to this moment, actually.

I have always been drawn to females/female voices; feminine energy is something I’ve always been around. My mom and my BFF are very strong females in my life. (My BFF has been my partner-in-crime since we were five! We went from elementary school to junior high to high school together, and we are close to this day. She was in my hospital room as I recovered from this stroke—she might as well be my sister.)

I was lucky growing up, having strong female role models in the form of family friends and a great lady who lived across the street and who kinda became my substitute grandma. But I also came of age in the ’90s on the West Coast, and I’d be remiss to not credit the Riot Grrrl movement—Bikini Kill in particular—as a driving force. I credit that movement for keeping my confidence/self-esteem afloat through high school and bad boyfriends, etc.

Briefly, I played with the thought of working for a rape/sexual assault hotline (like RAINN) or a domestic-violence shelter, but I also loved writing, discovered zines, and through zines discovered Emma Goldman, Simone de Beauvoir, Claude Cahun, and Diamanda Galás.

A lot of the Riot Grrrl movement was overwhelmingly white, so it wasn’t until college that I got thinking about intersectionality and women, race, and class—which is the title of the first Angela Davis book I read.

Knowledge is so powerful.

I know I’m lucky to have studied women’s studies/read feminist texts, and I now think it’s important to big up these voices. Kathleen Hanna believes archiving is a vital feminist act. Me too. We [women] don’t want to be erased.

I want to help be part of that change. I want to get writers before the agent stage, and I want to whip them into shape so an agent won’t overlook them/won’t say no. This certainly happens—which is why so many straight/white/rich dudes get published before anyone else. The same thing happens when writers work with a less hands-on agent and get requested rewrites/revisions from an editor but end up rejected. I want to help! (Yes, some agents are more than capable of revising, but they’re busy, and their clients feel ignored.) I also want to help them be/feel heard! I don’t want us to be erased—not now, not ever. If I can, today, I’m here to help stop it. They say the future is female, so welcome to my fempire, ladies. (Thank you Lifetime [Television] for the word fempire. I use it all the time!)

Thank you, Amy.

How to Use Swag to Support Your Book Marketing

Photo credit: Ellen Munro on VisualHunt.com / CC BY

Today’s guest post is by author Dawn Reno Langley (@proflangley) of Rewired Creatives.

More than a million books are published every year, and whether you go traditional or indie, you have a lot of competition. Marketing your book falls squarely on your shoulders no matter where on the publishing spectrum you fall—so you need to how to get the most for your buck. “Book swag” is a proven tool for gathering readers and devoted followers.

So, what’s swag?

Any kind of material used to market your book is considered swag—including little giveaway items that remind readers of your work. Book swag comes in many shapes and sizes, ranging from the basic paper bookmark to personalized bottles of expensive champagne. Some readers collect magnets that depict book cover art. Crafters design keychains featuring book covers or author photographs. Collectors treasure the subject-specific book swag, such as personalized candles, jewelry, or handbags.

When to use swag


Before your book is published. As soon as you have a copy of your book cover, it’s time to use that cover in every way you can. Post it online, send news to your friends, and get some copies printed to use as business cards or fliers. Carry them with you all the time. Give a copy to everyone you talk to: friends, family, hairdresser, bartender, high school buddies, the barista at the coffee shop, the girl on the bus. Make sure you include a link to your website or Facebook page (or Instagram account) on the flier. Tell everyone your book is coming soon!

Whenever you do an event. Once your book is published, you should have something to bring to the events you schedule—whether it’s a bookmark or a poster, some personalized candy or simply a business card. Make sure you hand your reader something free that they will either look at again and again (think fridge magnets) or will pass along to another reader (key chains, bookmarks, pens).

Whenever you send a book to a reader/reviewer. You should include a personalized note with your book—and you can also include swag.

Types of swag

$ = less than $1 each  |  $$ = $1-$5  |  $$$ = $5-10  |  $$$$ = $10+

$ Bookmarks. Tried and true and cheap. Easy to stick into the book, and if you can sign them for your readers, they are more collectible. Design them well and you’ve made them works of art. I’ve made bookmarks with rounded corners and embossed writing, as well as simple glossy bookmarks printed on both sides. Consider linen paper for an elegant and simple approach.
$$ Bookplates. Prior to the book’s publication, ask your readers if they would like a signed bookplate. Offer the bookplate free if the book is ordered off your website. The bonus here is you’ll build your mailing list prior to the book’s pub date.
$$ Magnets. Use the book’s cover as your main image, add a line about the story, and a mention of your website or social media.
$ Business cards. Use an image of the book cover on one side and your contact info on the other side. If there’s room, you can also include brief blurbs or a short hook.
$$ Mini notebooks. Print your book image on the front cover and your contact info on the back cover.
$ Sticky note pads. Nothing is more effective than your book title and website at the top of each little note.
$$ Posters. Small ones (8 ½” x 11”) are more effective than large ones, unless you have a particularly beautiful cover.
$$ Keychains. Again, use the book cover. Since keychains are small, think about what part of the cover will print clearly.
$$ Fans. A writer friend of mine, Leslie Zemeckis, printed hand-held paper fans with her book cover and information about the story to promote her new book, Feuding Fan Dancers.
$$ Bags. If you’re attending a book fair, bags are effective because readers will carry the rest of their swag in your book—thus advertising your work while carrying everyone else’s inside.
$ Postcards. I love using postcards, because they’re so versatile. I use them to invite readers to book events personally, I write them to book reviewers and feature writers, I send them to friends and family to announce new books. Think about this: emailed newsletters and invitations to events are easily dismissed with a quick click of a button. If you receive a postcard, you’re more likely to look at it more than once (that’s your goal: get the reader to look at your marketing piece at least three times).
$ Stickers. Though some writers swear by stickers, I’m not personally sure they are as effective as other pieces of swag. I order “signed by the author” stickers and make sure they’re on every book I sign. In larger bookstores, your book is more likely to sell if it’s autographed.
$ Buttons and pins. Readers who attend the larger conferences and book events are particularly fond of collecting buttons because they’re easily stored.
$ Pens/pencils. A pen/pencil might stay in someone’s pocketbook/pocket for years. Every time the reader picks up the pen, they will think about you and your book.
$$ Jewelry. Earrings, bracelets, necklaces. Many of the big companies create inexpensive pieces, and crafters on Etsy design swag that is both interesting and collectible.
$$ T-shirts. Unless you have a huge budget, you won’t be able to order too many T-shirts, but if you’re crafty enough, you can order some iron-on stickers and make your own T-shirt giveaways.
$$ Bottle openers. Inexpensive, useful, and they may become a staple in your reader’s kitchen drawer, used on a regular basis.
$$ Wine glass swag. You can go inexpensive with plastic or full-on, high-class with crystal. Did you write about wine? You need monogrammed wineglasses for bookstore owners or reviewers. They’ll never forget you. Guaranteed.
$$$ Personalized wine. You got the budget? Go for it! Get a local vineyard to name a varietal after you or your book, and have a giveaway designed to get very special respect and attention.
$$ Cups. A plastic cup with your book title and name printed on it has a relatively long shelf life. Book covers, however, don’t print well on cups, so my suggestion? Stick with text.
$$ Lip balm or lotion. Simple, small, lip balms are popular at writers’ and readers’ conferences. Romance readers (who number in the bazillions!) love having that little something-something for their skin. Science fiction readers, not so much.
$$$$ Local tourist goodies. A book set in the mountains in Kentucky might use decals or coasters from whiskey distillers. When your characters live in Paris, you might order some Eiffel Tower keychains. Or choose plastic alligators as a joke to giveaway to readers of your Floridian memoir.

The design should match your subject matter

The most important thing to remember when creating book swag is to focus on your book’s theme. For example, my last novel was set in Thailand and elephants were main characters, so I created kitchen magnets prominently featuring elephants. Though my novel is more than a year old, those magnets still hang on readers’ fridges. In other words, use your own imagination to reach your audience “where they live.”

One of the best marketing tools I’ve seen was for I Love Men in Tasseled Loafers. Author Debbie Karpowicz created chocolate tasseled loafers as swag for the launch party. She sold more books that night than some people sell in their lifetime, and I’ve never forgotten the title of her book. If your swag can do that job, you’ve created the most effective advertising tool there is: one that makes people remember you and your book.

How much is it going to cost?

But why spend part of your budget on these giveaways? Shouldn’t you purchase $400-$600 in advertising rather than postcards, magnets, posters, and imprinted T-shirts?

After writing and promoting 30+ books, if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that the one-on-one advertising works better than anything else—and the best part about book swag is that usually you’re the one handing the swag to your reader. One-on-one contact. That contact is important, because readers remember you and your work if they have a bookmark in their latest book or a magnet on the refrigerator door. Those pieces of swag keep your book and your name in front of the people who’ll most likely buy your next book: the readers you meet at conferences, book signings, and workshops.

Where to buy your swag


PrintRunner. Inexpensive paper goods printed to your specifications.

Etsy. Search for “book swag.” Everything from postcards to gorgeous, handmade pieces of jewelry, sold directly by the artisans.

Oriental Trading. Oddball little giveaways for those on a strict budget.

VistaPrint. Easy-to-use templates for postcards, bookmarks, special products.

Michaels. T-shirts by design. Lots of craftsy items for the do-it-yourself-er.

CafePress. Custom t-shirts for the literary client.

Adco Marketing. T-shirts, caps, paper products, chocolates. You name it; they got it.

World Market. Specialty wine charms and interesting international goodies.

Uprinting. Custom bookmarks

StickersandMore. The name says it all.

Merchly. A popular service for indie musicians that focuses on apparel (for humans and pets) and bags

The last word

When I think of swag, I think of giving the reader something connected to the book, something that’s memorable, and most importantly, something in my price range. But I don’t want the item to look cheap, so if my budget is tight, I simply create the best-looking bookmark I can.

Use your imagination. Brainstorm with friends. Think about your book’s subject matter, its setting, or its main theme and tie into it!

Your turn: Share your swag ideas and successes in the comments.

Something to Remember as NaNoWriMo Begins

Photo credit: The Cleveland Kid on Visual hunt / CC BY

I have a love/hate relationship with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which is a strange relationship to have when I’ve never attempted to participate. Partly that’s because I don’t write fiction, but even if I did, I chafe against many community initiatives—I’m just not a joiner.

NaNoWriMo is about more than that, of course, and I’ve long seen the good it can do. It leads to a couple vital things for the writing life: commitment and practice. I’ve always remembered this quote from Anne Morriss about commitment: “The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating – in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.” That, I think, is the value of NaNoWriMo.

Still, I see more evidence these days that writers feel pressured to produce—produce more in shorter amounts of time, especially in the indie author community. When I ran a guest post about how long it takes to write a book, it received more visits and discussion than any post that month. People are judging themselves harshly, and the resulting anxiety only makes matters worse.

In this month’s Glimmer Train bulletin, Rachel Heng enters the discussion with her essay, How I Wrote My Novel in Two Years and Other Accounting Tricks. She writes:

Many of my creative breakthroughs happened on my evening commute home or while sitting in a meeting room or walking through the fifteenth overpriced wedding venue that week. All those other commitments took time away from the actual writing, but what I’m realising now is they also gave my subconscious the room to figure out characters and worlds and plot problems. All the time I thought of as “wasted” had never been wasted after all. Everything goes into writing, everything is writing.

These days, I try not to force myself to sit at my desk for five or six hours straight just because I feel like I need to be Writing.

Read the full essay.

Also this month at Glimmer Train:

Writing What We Run From by Laura Roque

Strikethroughs and Strikeouts by Peter Sheehy

Marketing Advice Roundup: Best of the Last Year

As one of the editors of the The Hot Sheet, produced in collaboration with journalist Porter Anderson, I regularly read and report on marketing trends that affect traditionally published and self-published writers. Today I’m sharing the most useful articles we’ve found and mentioned in our newsletter in 2018.

If you find this useful, you can get a free 30-day trial to Hot Sheet, as well as 30% off an annual subscription in honor of our three-year anniversary. Use code 3YR when signing up; the code works for a limited time only.

General book marketing advice


How to sell books (for indie authors) in 2018. David Gaughran discusses various reader-magnet and lead-generation models. Read at his blog.


Why and how to reach the right readers. It seems counterintuitive, but rather than seeking a broad audience, you should focus on a narrow one. Diana Urban at BookBub explains the strategy.


Take time off writing to level up your marketing skills. Indie author Karen Myers offers a detailed look at how she improved her book marketing and what resources she used to increase her know-how. Read at the ALLi blog.


Make a good impression with your author photo. Goodreads offers specific tips for engaging headshots. Read at their blog.


How to get non-bookstore venues to host events with you: Marketer Penny Sansevieri discusses the ins and outs of getting stores like Costco, Hallmark, and Starbucks to agree to a book event. Read at her blog.


NoveList is the best book database you’ve never heard of. At least I hadn’t heard of it. NoveList is available (hopefully) from your library and can help you identify lookalike authors for your marketing. Learn more in Book Riot from Abby Hargreaves.


A sci-fi author self-publishes his work, sells a few hundred copies, then gets a deal with Hachette three years later. It’s an outlying case, to be sure, but it shows the power of high-profile fans. Read more at the Goodreads blog.


Book covers


Your book cover is critical to sales. Marketer Penny Sansevieri goes over a variety of rules to follow when designing your cover, especially if you want to drive online sales. Read at her blog.


How to brief a cover designer. Authors and publishers alike both know the number-one marketing tool for any book is its cover. Indie author David Gaughran explains how to get it right. Read at Kobo Writing Life.


Social media marketing


How to avoid exhausting your social media followers. Publishing industry vet Amy Collins describes how you can drive away even loyal readers by talking too much about your own books—and she offers alternative strategies. Read at the Book Designer.


How to market yourself on Instagram. Thriller author Melissa Frey offers concrete action steps at Shayla Raquel’s blog.


There are strategic differences in posting video on YouTube versus Facebook. YouTube videos tend to be longer as well as branded or sponsored. Learn more from Gabriele Boland at NewsWhip.



Some old-school media tactics no longer work. For instance, it’s no longer enough to link to influencers to get them to share or send automated messages. Get up to date on best practices from Aja Frost at Buffer.


Pre-orders


How a pre-order strategy can build a book’s platform: Indie novelist Cheryl Bradshaw describes her step-by-step process for pre-orders as part of a book launch. Read at the BookBub blog.


Learn how to get pre-orders. Novelist Therese Walsh offers 11 ways to promote pre-orders. Read at the BookBub blog.


Ebook pricing, advertising, giveaways


How to advertise and sell more books: Indie author Nicholas Erik offers a 4,000-word article on how to analyze the profitability of your paid ads. Read at David Gaughran’s blog.


What’s the best price for your next ebook promotion? BookBub offers guiding principles based on data collected from their own promotions. Read Diana Urban at their blog.


Try a contest instead of a giveaway. Indie author Ian Sutherland outlines a creative method for using a free ebook to attract email newsletter sign-ups. Read at the ALLi blog.


Amazon specific


Improve your keyword strategy for selling on Amazon. Learn how to increase the chances of your book being discovered by identifying the best keywords for your book. Read Dave Chesson.


Top tips for advertising on Amazon: Indie author John Doppler offers specific and actionable tips if you’re running AMS keyword-driven ads at Amazon, which are open to all authors who sell through Amazon KDP. Learn more at the ALLi blog.


Why you can’t trust AMS (Amazon ad) metrics. Author Ian Lamont discusses the problem with the stated “average cost of sales” and how to correct for it. Read his blog post.


Learn how to use Amazon also-boughts in your marketing strategy. Sell more books by understanding Amazon’s algorithms and recommendation system. Read Ricci Wolman at Written Word Media.


Learn about Amazon search optimization. A search engine marketing blog tackles a variety of approaches for keyword research at Amazon. Read Shannon Roddy at SEMrush.


The latest trends in ebook pricing for Amazon. The folks at Written Word Media have crunched the data from their own ebook price promotions and offered insights for authors. Read at their blog.


BookBub advertising


How to increase book sales through BookBub Ads. Diana Urban offers step-by-step advice on improving the effectiveness of BookBub email newsletter ads (which do not require editorial review and can run anytime). Read at Writer Unboxed.


Making the best use of BookBub CPM ads: Indie novelist David Gaughran offers tips on maximizing click-through rates for CPM (cost per thousand impressions) ads in BookBub email newsletters. Read at his blog.



Licensing



You can license anything to anyone—if you know what you’re doing. Author Kristine Rusch discusses the lucrative potential of licensing your intellectual property. Read at her blog.

If this was useful, I think you’ll enjoy The Hot Sheet. Get a free 30-day trial, as well as 30% off an annual subscription in honor of our three-year anniversary. Use code 3YR when signing up; the code works for a limited time only.