How to Promote Your Writing: a quick masterclass

Hay & Psychologies Magazine Ways to make an agent stop reading….

How to Promote Your Writing: a quick masterclass

One thing I’ve learned since The Missing One was published in January, is that promoting your book is almost as hard as writing it. It can feel hideously uncomfortable to tweet about a good review, or ‘inform people’ on social media about sales or awards. It can feel truly cringe-worthy to put yourself ‘out there’ when fundamentally you’re most comfortable alone in a darkened room, with your laptop and no humans. But if, as a writer, you don’t do anything to promote your work, then the chances are (unless you’re Hilary Mantel) that it will sink without trace.

I came across Chris Hill, author of Song of the Sea God, on Twitter. I noticed he had a staggering 16.7 thousand twitter followers, a thriving blog and a serious social media presence, even though he has no mighty publicity department behind him (he is published by Skylight Press, a very small, niche publisher). How has he done this? He doesn’t seem like a lunatic self-promoter. And (as well as writing) he has a full time job. So, I asked him a few questions – which he kindly agreed to answer – because I can’t be the only writer wondering how to do this without going mad.

First, what’s your novel about? Hi Lucy, Song of the Sea God is about a man who comes to a small island off the coast of northern England and tries to convince the locals he is a god. In some ways it’s a book about the nature of religion – what it means to people, how it works. There’s humour in there, particularly in the narrative voice, but it’s quite dark and murky as well. Though it’s not well known, it’s becoming quite a cult book, and I’ve been delighted by the response I’ve had.

Your Twitter presence is really strong. Should writers bother with Twitter? As a first time published author you start off basically invisible. Anything which can help you to become more visible has to be a good thing. Of course it takes time to build up followings on Twitter and Facebook, and Google+ and so on – all marketing takes time. But for most new writers unless you are willing to market your own work you are missing a real opportunity. I was a bit naïve in the beginning – I believed a publisher would do all that for me, but they have lots of books and no time. I soon realised if I didn’t help myself my book would tank – and I didn’t want that to happen.

Can you give us your top tips for increasing your twitter following? Follow people – then some of them will follow you back. It’s amazing how many people just expect followers to come to them. That might work if you are some sort of celebrity but not otherwise – you have to do the work and find them. Once you get bigger you seem to attract followers, like a snowball gets bigger rolling down a hill. But you have to push it to start it off. Also – have fun with it. I’ve found I love Twitter and social media generally – I’ve met some lovely people, and some lovely readers.

Your blog is also very popular: for those writing or thinking of writing blogs, what would be your tips for success? It helps to post on a regular day. And to try to give people something either useful to them or interesting to them – to repay them for giving you their time. If you can do that consistently you will build up a following over time. Also – it helps if you have decent followings on social media so you can ‘cross promote’ your blog. A basis of blog, Twitter, Facebook – what people call an author platform – can be quite a solid thing to build on.

How do you choose your blog topics? What have been the most popular ones?

When I worked for newspapers we used to talk about ‘news you can use’: stories that give people information they need. That holds true for blogging. If I answer the sort of questions you have asked here – what works on Twitter? what works on a blog? then I get lots of visitors. Of course, you also want to write about books and fiction, and the writing process. And write about your own book a little too. Being controversial helps as well – though I’m not by nature a controversialist. The most comments I ever received came when I criticised the ‘write a book in a month’ movement nanowrimo. And I got a lot of hits when movie star Nick Frost stopped by to add a comment criticising me (unfairly in my view) for being ‘a bit harsh’ to his mate Simon Pegg in one of my posts. It’s all about balance though – I don’t want to upset people, movie stars or otherwise, and I don’t want to spend all my time doing social media tips. I try to get the mix right.

Do you think people put too much emphasis on the big conventional publishers? 　I’ve written three books so far and only found a publisher for one. It took me a lot of time and a lot of rejection slips to find a publisher of any sort. Sea God is literary, quirky and outside the norm and I think big publishers, and the agents who feed them are looking for the next big seller – which is likely to be in the mould of the last big seller. Agents who have shown an interest usually say ‘Write me a thriller – one which obeys all the rules’. But it strikes me I’m better off trying to be the best I can be, than trying to turn myself into something I’m not. Publishing is changing – because of Kindle, obviously, but also digital printing technology, which has made it possible to print hard copy books more cheaply. So there are more small presses around and, of course, self-publishing has become a phenomenon.

You have a day job in communications – how do you make time to write? I do PR for WellChild, the national charity for sick children, and before that I worked in local newspapers for 20 years starting as a reporter and finishing as an editor. I’ve got a growing family too so I am busy – but I’ve always written round the day, at evenings and weekends. I carry a notebook around with me and scribble in it on the bus and so on. Once I’m properly working on a book I put in the hours in front of the keyboard in a more focussed way. I’ve written another novel that’s lighter, funnier and perhaps more commercial than Sea God, but I haven’t been able to find a home for it at the moment. I’m also working on a short story collection, which I’m hoping my current publisher might be interested in. I’ve written stories for years and won some prizes including the Bridport.

Song of the Sea God is available on Amazon here (you can read the first few pages to get a feel for it) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Song-Sea-God-Chris-Hill/dp/1908011556/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349468028&sr=1-1