Author questions and answers

[Jessica]

I'm not going to profess to be an expert on the subject of writing, but after having done this for almost two years now, I know a lot more than I used to. Are there any newbies out there who'd like to know how I went about getting published? Any questions on the process or the aftermath?

[Gordon]

How useful was the publisher at the editing stage, Jessica?

[Jessica]

Hi, Gordon. I will say that I had a lot of luck with my publishers. Both Night and Silver diligently worked with me to get my books as polished as we could make them. Keep in mind, however, that when you present a book to a publisher, it should be as close to perfect as you can make it. Every publisher is different; some choose to allow the author to self-edit and don't offer editing services, while others have a multi-step editing process and get very involved in editing.

[Gordon]

Hi Jessica, I was equally lucky with Olympia. Although I did my best to be as close to perfect as possible, they wanted two chapters rewritten for the best possible reasons and that's what I did. So they got
quite involved.I think the result was a much improved book!

What did yours do to market your books? Have you done much marketing yourself?

[Jessica]

I probably market too much! Tim Roux, my publisher at Night, is fabulous at getting word out and we've had several kindle review sites feature my books. I've also held book signings, speaking engagements at two libraries, two television interviews and built a blog as well as a facebook page dedicated to news about my books. My author friends have been fabulous and I've had perhaps a dozen or so reviews/interviews on their sites. All in all, I've been very blessed to have built a bit of a following and my brand is slowly building.
In my opinion, the marketing is the hardest part of the whole author thing! There's just not enough time in the day to do all of the promotional stuff I want to do. I could literally comb the web every single day for eight hours straight to market my books. It also seems as though previously author-friendly places are cracking down on self-promotion, so it's getting harder and harder to find places to go to get word out. I just had some business cards printed and I'll be spreading those around to see what happens.
Gordon, what have you done to market? Have you had much luck with anything?

[Gordon]

Hi Jessica, Yes, I've done a fair bit of marketing and, like you, find it hard going and time consuming. My book was only published late last year and I've concentrated on selling it locally, mainly in the London Borough of Sutton. My biggest success has been with local papers. I've had articles published in four up to now which I'm sure has boosted sales. I've also had two reviews published, one in Sport magazine which has a 300k circulation in London and another by the Historical Novel Review in the US. Also a kind author friend posted one on amazon.co.uk. I've given talks to three Rotary groups and a book club and have several bookings for more. WH Smith, one of our largest booksellers, is especially interested, since I sold 21 in a signing at their Sutton store at the weekend. I'm trying to find a reviewer at a national newspaper. I haven't looked at libraries yet or many independent booksellers. I also think the blog is helping (see my goodreads page). I agree that marketing is hard but I must admit, I like doing it!

[Splinker]

Hi. As you have a few books under you at this point, when do you plan on marketing your latest work? Do wait until it's done or do you start blogging, interviewing etc., prior to release, or even prior to finishing?

[Jessica]

Hi, Splinker! That's actually a really good question, one that I'm having a bit of trouble answering. I think that if you can build a brand, a bit of anticipation is a good thing. If you have one book out (which you do) and you're gaining readers, it's a good idea to throw out snippets to build some anticipation. I've been told by one of my publishers to do that, while the book is in final edits. Get people excited about the upcoming work. Then they'll be lining up to buy it when it comes out. I think timing is the key. It's one thing to build anticipation, but if the timing isn't right, you'll have to start all over again.
I released five books within a year and seven months, and the breakneck pace sort of built a readership and some momentum, but I think I could have done a better job. However, I was an amateur when everything started happening. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing (Well, ok, I still don't) and if I had to do things differently, I may have, although I'm not sure what. I think I could change things I'm doing right at this moment. I could push for more author interviews, go back on TV to do another interview, try to get a local radio station to host a Q&A, gather up some promotional materials to hand out in advance of the release and try to really build some steam right around the time of the release. As it is, I almost feel like I'm back-pedaling.
Still, as I'm hot on the trail of book #6 and setting a goal to have it done by June 1, I'll start doing some promotional stuff right now that's not book-specific. I'll try to be visible and create a buzz so that when the next book hits, it might have a fighting chance. Does that help?

[Gordon]

Hiya Splink! Fancy seeing you here! Hope you and your great book are doing well! Gord (The Harpist of Madrid)

[Splinker]

Hey! Niceto see you as well. May we both avoid the bargain bin.