What Have You Done For Yourself Lately?

(Though this post first ran March 2, 2012, I find I’m still saying the same thing to authors today. What have you done for yourself lately? ~Callie)

Dear Author,

What have you done for yourself lately?

You’ve written a book?

Not enough.

You’ve had it accepted and printed by a publisher?

Not enough.

You met with your publisher and came up with a marketing plan.

Not enough.

What have you done to ensure your book reaches all the people you know will love it?

What have you done for yourself lately?

You want radio. You want TV. You want print. You want to go viral.

Yeah, I know . . . You were counting on your publisher to make some magic.

Here’s the deal: Some publishers rock n’ roll, while others are rock bottom.

And even if you’re with a rock n’ roll star of a publisher, your “baby”—your book—is just one of hundreds of books your publisher is raising. You gave your publisher custody, but there’s still some major co-parenting to be done.

Learn about publishing so that you understand what your publisher and the publicity department are talking about.

Be upfront with your publisher. Ask: What are you going to do? And if you aren’t happy, don’t waste time complaining. Bury the complaints and sort out what you can do on your own. And if you need help, sort that out, too.

What have you done for yourself lately?

I know you don’t want to blog. You don’t have time for that. You are writing other books and articles and a million other things.

Do you have a site? Or a blog where you could include info. about all the awesomeness you are creating every month? Can you repurpose any of it, to develop a series on your site?

If you do change your mind and decide to blog, will you consider a theme, something that you can repurpose for later—perhaps as a book?

What have you done for yourself lately?

I’ve checked out your  Facebook profile. Why do you have one for friends and one for your book? Every time you have a new book, you’ll have to start another following. Do you really want to do that over and over? Instead of building a book presence, build a YOU presence. Readers want to get to know writers, not a book. Yes, they’ll read the book, and get to know it that way, but their questions will be for you. Their interest will be in how you wrote it, why you wrote it, and so on. Find them. Don’t wait for them to find you.

What have you done for yourself lately?

You’ve heard the power of online outreach, but your ego is still stuck on the traditional.

You still dream of Oprah, knowing if she’d just had you on her show . . . That would have been it. Your book about the gentle caring side of the T-Rex, and the inaccurate pop-cultural portrayal of it as a killer, would have been a best seller.

Stop the insanity. Time to wake up.

What have you done for yourself lately?

Please look in the mirror.

If you aren’t happy with the outreach for your book, blame the person looking back at you (unless it is your mother, or kid, or significant other, standing in front of the mirror with you , in which case you should make sure you are looking at yourself—and blaming yourself).

What have you done for yourself lately?

Unless your name is Janet Jackson, stop singing others the line “What have you done for me lately?”

Do something for yourself.