A.L. Michael's Blog, page 5

Interview With a Bartender – Oscar

In researching my new book Cocktails and Dreams, I focused on what bartenders go through every night. I worked in a pub, where I was only ever taught to make one (disgusting) cocktail, so I don’t have much experience in this area. What I do have experience in is sitting in cocktail bars, watching people.

Cocktail bartenders have to hold a wealth of information, dozens of recipes in their heads whilst serving multiple people, answering questions and making the drink with flare! The balance of flavours and presentation of the drink are key.

For the next couple of weeks Interview With a Bartender is a Friday feature on my blog. I would love to hear what your favourite cocktails are, and if you agree with the bartender!

Welcome to Oscar, a bartender in London.

What’s your favourite drink to make?

My favourite drinks to make are any kind of sours, I find the wet and dry shake and additional complexity adds to the theatre and suspense of the drink the customers waiting for.

What’s your least favourite?

My least favourite has to be Cuba Libre…. how it’s classed as a cocktail I do not know!

What’s the best thing about your job?

The best thing about my job is seeing the intrigue in customers’ faces while they watch their drink being prepared, answering questions and giving tips that help people find and hopefully replicate their perfect drink.

What’s the most surprising thing about your job?

I was surprised at how unsociable the job can feel at times. Although on the clock I’m constantly talking with new people, I am still in work mode. Working 99% of the times when the public (including your friends) go out can be tricky!

If you were a cocktail, which one would you be?

I would be a Mai Tai.. Punchy, sweet, crisp and exotic !

So what do you guys think – should a Cuba Libre be classed as a cocktail? What cocktail would you be?

Work In Progress Sneak Peak

Creatively, this year has been a departure from the norm. I’ve got a new publisher, and my writing is growing, maturing, and (I hope) improving.

But even stranger, I’m moving into new genres. I’m working on a thriller under a pseudonym, which I’m hoping to get done soon, I’m moving into self publishing with the Ruby Tuesday novellas, and I’m working on what I call my ‘secret project’.

So I thought I’d share a little chunk of it here. It might be the opening, it might be featured later, it might not end up in it at all. But I’m very, VERY excited. And I’d love to hear what you think.

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She was born on the back of an easterly wind, strong and insistent, on the longest day of the year. A child born on a solstice was magical enough, at least to those who honoured the old gods, but one born at three am, on the longest day? A child come at witching hour to bid farewell to the sunshine.

The elders of the town did not like that at all.

Father O’Connor liked it even less. He paid no mind to solstices and stone circles. It was that baby, born out of wedlock, to a mother who did not avert her eyes when he looked at her. That was what drove him to an intoxicating sort of madness.

Aoife Grace had long been a woman who vexed him, with that obstinate chin and that long dark hair, always falling over her face. She never bowed her head, never even attempted meekness or humility. She never said anything, just watched him watch her as her belly grew, and grew. She took pride in nourishing this life that was doomed to be sinful. She loved to wave it in his face, this flagrant disregard for his faith.

And still, she came, sitting in church every Sunday, even as her ankles swelled and her stomach heaved. She sat in the back row and watched him, and he knew she must be tearing apart each sermon, dismissing the words of God as he spoke.

Every Sunday, until that baby was born.

She came into the world in silence, no screams or cries. The midwife was concerned, but Aoife looked at her daughter and knew she was an old soul in a new body. She kissed her forehead, and looked into those dizzying, strange eyes, one green, one blue.

‘I will protect you, I will love you, I will give you my life. This is my vow.’

The baby gurgled and blinked, as babies do. People visited, as Aoife was young and pretty, and they wanted gossip as much as anything else. They commented on her unusual eyes, her strange stillness, that feeling that even though she was a baby, she understood what they were saying. It disturbed them, and they made their excuses, muttering to themselves that Father O’Connor must be right, and the child must surely be the devil’s daughter.

Or, put more simply:

On a sunny morning, in a tiny rural village in Ireland, Fionualla Grace was born.

Writing a Multiple Character Driven Novel, with Emily Benet

I was lucky enough to meet Emily a couple of years ago now, as part of the Finchley Literary Festival, and she’s doing amazing things with her books.

I caught up with her to hear more about her new novel, The Hen Party:

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I’m a huge fan of the book Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. It’s sharp, clever, funny and fast-paced. I’ve read it about five times. I’ve dissected it with coloured pencils, trying to understand how she so successfully knits together those three main characters and all those other entertaining voices captured purely in dialogue.

I love books written from the perspective of more than one character. Deborah Moggach does it really well too and my copy of Heartbreak Hotel is full of underlining and scribbles in the margin. After writing three books, Shop Girl Diaries, The Temp and #PleaseRetweet in the first person, I was determined to write a novel told from the point of view of more than one character.

I wanted the book to begin with a mystery and for each character to know a different part of the story. I also wanted a story set in Mallorca, because I had just moved there and I was besotted. Multiple characters in a popular holiday destination… aha, I thought, what about a hen party?

Then…

What about a hen party reality show?

…which goes missing!

The Hen Party starts with a director who has lost all the hens and goes back and forward in time revealing what happened. It was a challenge to write and I started it three times. I was determined for it not to be too soppy or cliché. I really wanted the story to be intriguing. Once I had the plot sorted, I ended up rewriting the characters to make them stronger, so they would stand out from each other.

The novel follows five hens and a director, so it’s important they all have different personalities and agendas. I used a colour-coded spreadsheet to help me coordinate the chapters. I used to stick strips of paper on a wall, but now I find spreadsheets more reliable.

Although I have finished The Hen Party I definitely haven’t finished with the multi-character driven novel. For my next book I’m already exploring an idea which focuses on a number of characters, all neighbours, responding to a crisis in their different ways. It’s going to be a challenge but that’s fine by me if it means I get better at my craft.

The Hen Party is a little different from my other books but my stamp is still clearly on it. It has moments of comedy and romance and hopefully enough drama to keep you turning those pages!

Book Blurb

Film Director, Kate Miller, is in serious trouble.  The entire cast and crew of the reality TV show The Hen Party has gone missing while filming in Mallorca.

To make matters worse, the network boss is flying in to check up on her production.

Kate thinks it’s all her fault. She hasn’t exactly been following the guidelines.

But if she is to blame, why were the hens arguing between themselves? And why is the groom-to-be calling her up in tears?

Kate doesn’t know the half of it. The hens have their own secrets and it’s only matter of time before they all come tumbling out.

A party of eight arrive on the island, but not everyone’s going home.

 

Biography

The Hen Party is Emily Benet’s 4th book. Her debut book, Shop Girl Diaries, began as a blog. Her second, Spray Painted Bananas, racked up a million hits on the online platform Wattpad and led to a 2 book deal with Harper Collins. They published her Wattpad book under the new title The Temp as well as her comedy about social media addiction, #PleaseRetweet. She lives in Mallorca with her husband and writes for abcMallorca magazine.

Universal book link for The Hen Party https://books2read.com/u/b5Oyq7

Website http://www.emilybenet.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EmilyBenetAuthor

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@EmilyBenet

Tagged: big little lies, comedy, emily benet, liane moriarty, novel, reality tv, the hen party, weddings, writing

‘Grow a Thicker Skin’: The most irritatingly true piece of advice to authors?

Dealing with bad reviews as a writer is part of the job. Anyone who thought they were going to write something beloved by millions with no criticism is the same person who expected to retire on the royalties from their debut.

But the only piece of advice we have for authors dealing with bad feedback is: Grow a thicker skin. And it’s true – you can’t let every one star ‘boring’ ‘didn’t care’ ‘is this author an idiot?’ comment stop you from achieving your purpose. You’re there to write stories, and more than ever, we live in a world where social media gives people the right to say whatever the hell they want from the safety of their keyboard.

There are a few tips writer friends have given, and a few I use when dealing with the low feelings when you get bad reviews:

Firstly, don’t go looking for them! Every author knows Goodreads is the place where lower ratings and bad reviews thrive. Goodreads, in many ways, is for readers, not authors. Don’t punish yourself!
Go and look at the bad reviews of your favourite authors – it reminds you that we’re all in this together.
Rant about the hilariously bad/mean reviews with your writer friends – again, you’re part of a community of which this is a standard experience.
Look at your good reviews, or the positive emails. I’ll always remember one review I had where the person said they were in hospital whilst their dad was ill, and reading my book helped them take their mind off it, and even laugh a couple of times. That has stayed with me and nourished me even as the negative reviews try to chip away.
Remember those times where you’ve read a book that just wasn’t for you – it’s not personal, it’s just taste. I’ve read books that everything about them was great, and I should have enjoyed them, but I didn’t. I, like most authors (I assume), I don’t write bad reviews – if I don’t like the book I don’t review it. Let the people who love something spread the word. If I didn’t like it, I’m not going to waste time pulling down something someone else has worked on. The same way I don’t walk into my friend’s home and tell them how much I hate their new kitchen.

 

But what happens when growing a thicker skin isn’t enough?

I kind of thought I had my whole ‘responding to criticism’ thing sorted – I know how to deal with feedback, bad reviews and I avoid Goodreads like the plague. I have a whole self care system in place for if I need to deal with bad feedback.

But sometimes, we are sensitive, soft beings, and however thick your skin is, a punch in the gut is a punch in the gut. If you’ve worked hard on something, spent your time and energy and passion pouring into something, only to have it rejected and dismissed or vilified – it’s going to have an effect. Humans with thick skins are still humans, and telling writers to ‘just grow a thicker skin and get over it’ sometimes doesn’t work.

I am in a phase right now where I’m looking at the book I was once proud of with a sort of shame, where I don’t really want to look at it. I’m trying to focus on my other books, I am desperately trying to write enough to get me going full time, and even though I’m driven and determined, I’ve stalled. Every time I try to write, it’s like pressing a bruise. I’m still doing it, I’m retaining my thicker skin and trying not to let it stop me, but that thick skin has been a little bruised and scarred.

But perhaps that’s how we thicken our skin – with scar tissue. Every setback and failure and rejection, every dismissive word and angry response – that is what builds thick skin. It’s not just pulling on a coat to protect you from the world, or turning out the light so you can’t see them – it is moving forwards, step by sluggish step, sometimes skipping, sometimes dragging a boulder behind you.

At times like this, I freewrite about my ‘why’. Why do I write? What keeps me writing? What could stop me? And it’s this last question that gets me, because without even pausing – nothing could stop me from writing. It’s my therapy, my creativity, my escape, a dominant part of who I am.

So telling authors to have a thick skin is, unfortunately, still the correct advice. It’s a hard world out there, and putting something creative into the world feels like putting something vulnerable and soft into a harsh space. It feels like hanging your poor, soft heart out on a ledge and seeing if people squeeze and poke it. But hearts are strong – they’re muscle, and whilst you feel those squeezes and pokes and bruises, you are becoming stronger and more determined.

You have a reason for writing, and when you put your work out into the world, you are a warrior, someone brave and strong. Protect yourself, look after yourself and remember that every bruise and scar you feel is your skin thickening, until, one day, you won’t feel those bruises at all.

Protect your why and keep on writing.

Goal Setting And Managing Your Expectations As An Author.

It seems like everyone these days is asking ‘What’s your why?’

It’s the kind of question that I heard four or five years ago, when I was doing my masters degree in creative business. That degree was designed to prove to me that being independent and profitable in a creative industry was possible. What it didn’t point out was how hard it would be.

‘What’s your why?’ is really asking for the strongest level of commitment you have. What is the thing that’s going to keep you going when you’re not making enough money and you’re struggling and life is hard? Your why is the thing that stops you from throwing in the towel.

Your why is motivation from behind, from a root or reason in the past – it’s your kick up the bum. Your goals are the motivation from ahead, the possibility, the want, the hunger. Just as we needs equal parts confidence and fear of failure, we need who we are and what we want to align, in order to achieve.

I’m going to be straight with you here:

If your why is making loads of money as an author, going to fancy parties and being a bestseller – I’m going to have to burst your bubble.

HOWEVER -versions of that exist. People reach bestsellers lists every day. They break into the top hundred in Amazon charts, they win competitions and sell lots of books. Sometimes they have a good month/quarter and their royalties are excellent. Maybe they go to a great conference or party with load of other writers.

Elements of these goals are true and possible, but I would hesitate against making goals until you know the industry. Once you’ve been doing this a while, you know which goals seem realistic, and which ones are just smoke and mirrors.

For example, most digital authors’ goal is to get paperback. Understandable – opening to a new audience, holding it in your hand, feeling it be this real thing you created. But paperbacks don’t sell well, especially in certain genres. They’re more expensive to produce and harder to sell. When they don’t get picked up by certain bookshops, it damages your reputation and you might not get another chance.

So the goal, whilst feeling like a definition of success, is probably something that stands in the way of your success.

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I am a big fan of a list, and I would encourage you to come up with a couple of long term and short term goals.

The long term ones can be a bit more fantastic, if you like. But they should be grounded in the industry, in what you know and have learnt as an author. Yes, I still dream of paperback, even though it’s silly. But perhaps I think of a different genre of book that would benefit from PB. Or actually, it’s a POD system for this other book I’m writing. Let your knowledge and experience influence your goals, and vice versa.

Short term goals need to mean something to you.

For me, it’s about improving and using what I’ve learnt. My goal for my next book is to get 100 reviews on Amazon, improving on my previous number. So I break that down – who can I reach, when do I do it, what’s the timing of the launch, can we do anything to encourage reviews, how do I promote in the best way possible? I do my research and I come up with a plan.

That goal doesn’t mean anything to anyone else but me. To some 100 reviews is ridiculously low, to others its high – but it’s my personal goal, a sign of my own growth and improvement.

So what are your short term and long term goals, and how have they changed since you started writing?

Same Same but Different: What to do when you’re sick of your genre.

Surely everyone’s had the thought at some point.

‘God, why is every thriller since Girl on the Train a ‘girl on the something’?’

‘Ugh, why is every chick lit book set in Cornwall this summer?’

‘Why do all the covers look the same?’

‘Why have they all got song titles?’

‘Why is there always bunting?’

Why doesn’t anything seem original any more?

 

I do not write ‘typical’ chick lit. There is not going to be a little house/cafe/cottage by the sea/beach/river. Nothing I write is adorable or sweet. Occasionally it’s heartfelt, and sometimes it’s sentimental. But most of the time, I like to think, it’s funny and it’s genuine.

I’m not saying none of these other chick lit books are, I’ve read a lot of them and they’re very good. What I’m wondering is why we all have to be marketed the same. When I look at the books that grip me and demand attention, they’re the ones that have been marketed to look different, to stand out. From some authors, the different and the unique is embraced. For others, we are encouraged to write ‘same, same but different.’ The tropes of the romantic genre must be met, and manoeuvred and there should be no surprises. X meets Y, include something marketable, create a cute location, throw in a wedding or an island holiday, give it a happy ending and wrap it up with a bow.

Now, no author wants their work made small in that way. No one wants to think this story they’re writing doesn’t have value. But I’ve lost faith in the market, a little. Perhaps because I’m following hundreds of authors and bloggers, so that every romance book this summer seems to have the same blue cover. Because every thriller says it’s the ‘next girl on the train’.

I was burnt out, basically. I was tired of writing stories that already seemed to be written. I wanted to write stories that tested me, that I could measure my craft by. I could easily spend the next ten years knocking out snarky women’s fiction, but I didn’t feel like I was growing. So I’ve decided to experiment.

When in doubt, play. As a kid writing stories, I didn’t let not knowing about something stop me. One week I’d be writing a Ten Kingdoms sequel, the next a story about two special agents working to defeat a government agenda. The week after that I wrote a story about a girl being afraid to start dating, and then one about two twins called Ruby and Sapphire, who each had psychic abilities and were recruited by MI5. In between, I wrote fanfiction for TV shows, and got myself a little following.

Now, most of these stories didn’t have legs. But the point was, I was unencumbered by fears of branding and marketing and having a name. I wrote because a story appealed and it was fun. I played with genre and expectations, and just let the story tell itself through my fingertips.

So I’m doing the same again. I dealt with feeling like a tiny fish in a huge pond of ‘same, same but different’ books and decided to write something different. This has of course, left me in a pickle. As I’m now writing a whole bunch of books at once. I’ve got my romantic comedies for Canelo (the first of which will be out on 24th July 2017), a darker Ruby Tuesday novella (Out sometime in September 2017) a magical realism book and a thriller under a pseudonym. I’m also quietly plotting a more serious women’s fiction book.

My ideas, before expanding my space and genre, were beginning to stagnate. I wasn’t excited by anything any more. Everything felt the same. Now I don’t feel the need to stay in my lane, I’m making greater progress.

So, when you’re feeling weary and blue, when you think you’re stagnating and unsure of what story to tell next, I would encourage you to remove your fences, your limitations and your fears. And just write for fun. The stories that need to be told have a way of making themselves known.

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How do you deal with a lack of ideas, and do you ever feel like all these books are starting to look the same?

 

 

 

We’ve Come A Long Way, Baby: Acknowledging growth and success in an industry that makes you strive for more.

Facebook Timehop has helpfully informed me that on this day, three years ago, my first women’s fiction novel, The Last Word, was published. At the time, it felt like a huge deal, and something different for me. I kind of fell into being a chick lit writer – I’d planned to write terribly important literary fiction, in the tradition of UEA grads. That was the thing to do- write something gritty about the working class/drug abuse/quirks of rich people, and then I ended up writing something just for fun, for myself, and it launched a whole career for me.

I am currently in ‘Achieve’ mode – I have a three year plan, a ton of different projects I’m working on, and I’m expanding my scope. I’m learning as much as I can so that in 3 years I can (financially and creatively) say that I feel like a success, and that my life has balance.

What I didn’t think to do was to look back at the three years that got me here.[image error]Even in thinking how different my life was in 2014 has given me an appreciation for the hard work I’ve put in, how much I’ve achieved and how much writing can change your life. Before The Last Word, I didn’t have my writing buddies, I had no idea what a blog tour was, or Netgalley or how to market a book. I didn’t know anything about publishing and I in no way thought that I would have so many books in me. Looking back to see what got you here is invigorating – look how much I changed and how much I did when I was just muddling through! I didn’t have a plan, beyond ‘keep writing books, hopefully make more money.’ Now I have a plan! Who knows what life will look like in another three years time.I encourage you, whatever business you’re in, to look back at how your life was three years ago. What have you achieved, what have you changed, what is closer to making you happier, and what steps have taken you further from that? What have you been putting off, that you kept meaning to do in those three years? Travel somewhere, learn something? What is that goal that’s niggling in the back of your mind? Why didn’t you do it?Now, time to plan for the next three years. I was listening to a TED talk by Laura Vanderkam about time management (which you can watch here) and she said that most jobs will have a review period at the end of the year, or some families will send out a newsletter about what’s going on with them at the end of the year. She says to write that review, that newsletter now. Write those things you’ve achieved down before you’ve achieved them, and then put the steps to achieving them in the diary first.Looking back lets you prioritise – if you didn’t do that thing you wanted, then light a fire and get going. If you did more than expected – go you! Look how much you can achieve! Now, what are you going to do next, with this precious time you have?Be proud, make plans, reflect, and adjust your flight path if necessary. We’ve come a long way, baby. And we have so many places yet to go.

 

The Bazillion Great Things about Having A Writing Support Network

When I was studying creative writing at university, it felt like a competition. There were only so many spaces out there, in the ‘literary world’ and every piece you wrote had to be the best. It had to be meaningful and exploratory and say something about life.

Well, you know what? I was eighteen. I had jack shit to say about life that someone hadn’t already said. I had limited life experience, and everything I wrote was obnoxious and self indulgent. But that was okay, because that’s what learning the craft was for. But no matter what, no matter if you wrote something for enjoyment, or wrote it to prove a point, if you were proud of it or hated it – someone would tear you down. Under the guise of constructive criticism and a ‘need to feedback’ (especially as you got marked for participation) someone would rip the shit out of the heart you wore on your sleeve.

And so I learnt not to talk about my writing. Not to share ideas, not to discuss it for fear of dismissal. The fact that I’m better on paper than in person adds to this fear – that ‘no honestly, it’s better than it sounds’ as noses turned upwards made me irritated and fearful. But you know what else it did? It made me write. It made me write without a need for someone else’s justifications or opinions. It made me write for me. It made me get a book done and dusted and published, because I didn’t let anyone else see it. I just did it.

And now, years later, I can see why people have writer friends. Because it’s not a competition any more, it’s a way to keep sane and motivated and happy and because it’s about people who get you. Writing is a super lonely business.

So here’s the things I love about my writer friends:

They will always make some noise on publication day, or any sort of event.
They get how infuriating it is to get those one star reviews that say ‘haven’t read it’ or ‘file didn’t open’ or ‘thought it was a different book.’
They get how elating it is to get a five star review where someone really loved what you did.
They get the lure and danger of social media, but the absolute need for it.
They are happy to answer questions, and are a fountain of knowledge. Issues with rights, don’t know how to promote, editor ignoring you? They’ve been there, they know what to do. And what not to do.
They know the hundreds of annoying things people do when you’re a writer (e.g Ask if you’re going to be the next JK Rowling; ask how much money you make; ask if you’re a ‘real’ writer; ask you to write their life story; ask you to come up with a story on the spot; pitch you an idea for an amazing book; comment that it must be so nice to have all that free time to write; explain that they’d write a book if they weren’t so busy).
They will make you LAUGH YOUR ARSE OFF about these things, because you realise they happen to everyone, and it’s a bloody funny old world.
They will make you realise you are not alone, and we’re all in this battle.
You will commiserate when things are awful, and you will feel proud of each other when amazing things happen.
You won’t feel jealous of their achievements, but their achievements will make you feel like your dreams are possible.
You will realise ‘writer’s bum’ is a thing, and that everyone is trying to find ways to burn calories at their desk and not reach for the chocolate hobnobs when times are tough.
You will realise that the drunken writer’s cliche has probably come from the ridiculous one star reviews and accidentally stumbling onto Goodreads – gin is often required.
They will share your rage when hateful reviewers use GIFs to animate the mean things they say about your work.
They will also wonder how someone can possibly have so much hate in their veins they need to animate their insults.
They will teach you to have a thicker skin, and laugh your arse off.
They will help you spot a mean review from a wannabe writer a mile off.
They will help you feel better about self promotion.
They will be there to discuss the important matters, not just Oxford commas and present tense first person narratives, not just ‘what’s the word for this?’ but representing minorities in writing, why there aren’t enough gay love stories and whether the world is ready for what you want to write.
They will make you a better writer and a more empathetic, thoughtful person.
Sometimes you will feel jealous and you will feel bad, and then they’ll be so lovely that you remember you’re not a terrible person.
When you’re balls to the wall against a deadline, you’re writing 5k words a day and it’s not coming fast enough and you’re sure it’s shit but you’ve got to get the book done…they’re there. With hilarious GIFS and cheerleading over the internet. And they GET IT. Because they’ve been there.
They will teach you all the things they learnt along the way. Sometimes you will feel like a newbie, and sometimes you will feel like a zen master, able to pass that knowledge along.
You will make mistakes. You will put a bad book out, or you’ll sign a bad contract, or the book won’t sell. And they won’t be there to say ‘I told you so.’ They’ll be there to help anyway they can, and share their stories of their own mistakes.
They will make you forget the horrible time you had with other obnoxious teenagers learning to write, because they are your colleagues, your friends and your support system.

 

So to my writing friends – THANK YOU. You keep me sane and motivated and calm. You are a fountain of knowledge and hilarity.

Dealing with the ‘Business’ Side of Being an Author: tips and tricks.

I know. We’re artists. Creatives. Imagineers in a world of drudgery and darkness.

But we still have to do our tax returns.

Being an author is a fine balance between the art-driven self, and the money-driven self. If you want to write for free, and just want to have a couple of people read your book, of course that’s fine. It doesn’t make you any less of an author. If, however, you’re one of what I assume is tens of thousands of us who would like to be able to write full time eventually, then it’s time to start thinking about the business side.

I’ve spent a few months doing research on this, as though I did an MA in Creative Entrepreneurship, which made me thinking about funding streams, deal-making, self promotion and branding, it didn’t tell me much about the specifics of being a writer, and what that means. Sadly, neither did my writing degree. We focus on the art, but the business side needs a space.

So, here’s some points I found useful if you want to work your way towards making more money, writing full time or just feeling like you’re achieving more:

 

Register with the HMRC – if you’re making money from your books, however little, it’s worth registering straight away. After all, even if you’re just making pennies now, this time next year, you’ll be a millionaire (Rodney), won’t you? Keep any receipts for relevant writing-related spends, including things like printer ink, tech, books, promo costs, and any training/travel to training, and any journals or memberships. It’s costly being a writer. Think of all the pens.
Sign up for PLR – if you have a book that’s currently out in the world, ebook or print, it might be in a library. Signing up for PLR means you get a little back whenever someone borrows your book. Now again, might be pennies to start with, but we’re setting up for long term success, aren’t we?
Join Amazon Associates – A similar thing – when you share a link of your book on Amazon through your website or social media pages, you get a little back for recommending people come to Amazon, even if they don’t end up  buying your book, but buy something else. This also isn’t just for authors, so anyone can do it.
Get your branding house in order – Don’t like social media? Tough luck I’m afraid. If you’re an author hoping to sell some books, research has shown Facebook ads are the way to go. Make sure you have everything you need for people to know who you are, and find your books easily – a website/blog, a Facebook author page, a Twitter handle, and anything else you want. Research is still being done as to whether making boards on Pinterest, sharing images on Instagram, sharing videos on Youtube or making book playlists on Spotify will help sell books, but it will help give your readers a sense of who you are and what you do. Find the things you enjoy, and make them a way of selling who you are. It also helps with the next point…
Find your tribe– your fans are out there. So find them. Call out for them! Offer prizes and goodies, ask what they’d like to see in your next book, ask how they want to be advertised to, or how they choose which books to read. Your existing fans are your greatest insight to what you’re doing well, and what you’re not. Author and marketing specialist Mark Dawson has offered some great advice about how he gets his books out there, sending non-finalised copies to an Advance Reader Team of fans, who will come back to him with criticism. When he felt unsure about an ending, it was his readers who agreed with him, and encouraged him to rewrite a more satisfying ending. The result? 200 people who felt valued as readers and fans, and who immediately gave a good review on publication day. You can hear more about this on the podcast Self Publishing Formula and on Joanna Penn’s interview with Mark on The Creative Penn podcast. (Both of these are invaluable resources, even if you’re traditionally published).

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The most important factor that I keep coming back to, and was the same thing I learnt doing my creative business degree is – define what success means to you.

My idea of success has changed over the years. At first it was ‘write a book’, then it was ‘get a book published’, then it was ‘get some reviews.’ Whilst I did manage to survive as a full time writer for a couple of years, supplementing my income with workshops, classes and tutoring, I am aiming for a life where I don’t have to do that. Now, that might not be achievable until I’m a few years off retirement, but luckily, writing is something you can do for the rest of your life, if you enjoy it.

Success for me looks like over a hundred reviews on this new book, a lot of promo, noise and visibility on this new series, getting an agent, and in the next two years, being able to go down to four days a week at work. This job is a long term goal. You build a backlist, you build fans, a readership, a writing community. These do not come the minute your book goes live, or is placed on shop shelves. And my biggest mistake has been in not collecting that data, recording my fans, getting a subscription newsletter up and running, or a street team. I’m working on those things now (if you’d like to subscribe to the newsletter, please do) as well as experimenting with different types of social media, exploring promotional tools I’d never thought of.

So, what does success look like to you, and which tools would you recommend for the ‘business’ side of being a writer?

 

 

Tagged: author business tips, authors, business, facebook adverts, joanna penn, mark dawson, newsletters, podcasts, social media for authors, writing

Writing and Jealousy: A natural marriage?

I am a fairly zen person. I do yoga, practice mindfulness, try to treat people with respect, and I regard jealousy as a negative, and pointless, emotion.

But being a writer is a job unlike most others, and it’s easy to see the success of other writers in your genre, or in your area and think ‘Goodness, I wish I had that’ or even, ‘Hey, why the hell don’t I have that?’

That doesn’t mean you are denying these other writers their good luck or the rewards of their hard work, but where in other careers there is a clear path to the top, the rungs of promotion and targets, writing doesn’t have that.

A debut author with no blog, no concept of blog tours or social media and no fanbase can get to the top of the charts. An author with more friends than you might get more reviews, so that the system feels skewed.

When you’re down, when the words aren’t flowing and the sales aren’t coming in, these things can feel unfair. And it is easy to dwell on this unfairness. Because, for all that writing is a wonderful community of friendly, creative people, connecting online and sharing their knowledge, social media shows us how much of a rat race writing is. Absolutely everyone seems to have written a book, to be vying for a top Amazon spot, to be tracking their metadata and using titles and covers that seem similar to previous bestsellers. Because writing is a business. And if you’re going to act as a business person when it comes to your writing, then you have to accept that sometimes you ARE going to want what someone else has, you ARE going to feel like you’re more deserving, or have worked harder, and finally, you’re going to have to accept, that business, like life, is unfair.

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But, this does not mean you are destined to be a jealous, embittered writer who never feels like they get the breaks they deserve. It means you have to start looking at your work like a business if you want those results.

Quantify your goals (how many books do you want to sell, what ranking do you want to reach, how many books do you want to bring out in the next few years?)
Ensure your goals are realistic (you are not going to win the Man Booker Prize for your romantic comedy, but if prizes are important to you, look and see what’s around).
Assess your weaknesses and create an action plan (Need more reviews? Want a longer blog tour? Want to merchandise? Want to get involved in the local community?)
If other writers are achieving the things you want, ask them how they did it! Turn jealousy into motivation!
Keep writing the things that make you happy, and make you proud. Slipping into a genre you don’t care about, and writing inauthentically and without heart, just to make a few bucks, is not good for your brand or your soul. If writing is a business, it should also be a joy.

 

I would also suggest assessing what your personal success story looks like – how do you define success for you and your books? Everyone always holds up the big names as examples of success, but it’s the writers bringing out content, writing great books and managing to survive who really impress me.

My personal goals:

Take a writing class/go on a retreat. I’ve been running workshops for so long it would be nice not to be responsible, and just enjoy someone else leading it. Also, I see this as a craft, and you have to practice your craft.
Talk to people about what I want from my books, and how to get it. If I want to write a book that is turned into a movie, what do I need for that? It’s all very well yelling into the Twitterverse that I want someone to take on my books, but what about learning to write a book that would be easy to adapt for screen?
Get an agent to tell me how to do a lot of this, and fight my corner. Currently working on a book for this, but so many books to write, so little time.
Be engaged as a writer more prominently in my local community. Whether this means running things, building relationships, joining a writing group…

 

What do you think about the place of jealousy – do you ever get jealous of other writers? What are your goals for success, and do you have any tips for other writers to manage their expectations or reach their goals?

 

Also, in case you missed the news earlier in the week, I’m excited to announce I’ll be writing three books for Canelo, The Martini Club series, with the first book out in the summer to be Cocktails and Dreams. I’m also running a Writing for Wellbeing workshop in Watford Waterstones, FOR FREE, on Thursday 27th April at 6pm.