Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.
Many of us are frustrated by publicity. It's our least favorite part of writing. But what's your favorite part of publicity?
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Talking about my imaginary friends can be a delight, so I enjoy in-person events more than any other kind of publicity-seeking. Over the years, I have gained a lot of comfort with vending at a table and having one on one conversations with readers, and I really enjoy it when the pace is good (neither overwhelming nor lonely).
I've got two of these events upcoming:
Bookmarks Festival and Splatterflix Movie Festival, my next two vending venue |
I also enjoy being on panels with other writers at conventions, bookstores, library events, or the like. That's half networking/socializing with other writers and half engaging with readers. It's a great opportunity to get to know other writers and build community AND, especially when the other panelists are generous with their support, a way for us to help one another reach new audiences. Someone might attend because they know one of the other writers, but stick around to hear about my work, too, just because we were paired on the panel.
I'll be a part of one of these through Horror Writers Associations in November:
Here lately, I've been enjoying doing panels and interview for channels on YouTube or podcasts, too. It's nice that geography doesn't have to be a limiter for a taste of some of that camaraderie.
So far as online publicity, I enjoy blogging or writing articles about some aspect of my writing life (like this blog hop, for example!). I get a kick out of choosing pull quotes and making little images to highlight them.
The Menopausal Superheroes, as drawn by Charles C. Dowd |
For me, this doesn't feel as yucky as "buy my book" types of online marketing. It's more about trying to be clever or cute and highlighting what's cool about my story and the people in it.
I have the best time, when I look at publicity opportunities as time to engage with other artists and the public and let go the pressure to sell a lot of books. When I feel too much pressure to sell well, the interactions get tense and weird and I don't enjoy myself (and probably neither do my potential buyers).
What about y'all? When you have to promote something, how do you like to go about it? Or when you're receiving the promotion, what's the least annoying/most engaging? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!