Path to Publication

by Dani Pettrey, @DaniPettrey

The path to publication was a long one for me. Seven years from the thought of ‘maybe I’ll write a book’ to the actual contract. I have friends for whom it has been much longer and some for whom it’s been far shorter. I hate those friends. Just joking…sort of ;)

The truth is, everyone’s publishing path is going to be different because we are all different and God’s timing is perfect. For me, that timing was seven years. For others, it is three or ten years.

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Conferences—Advancing Your Writing Career

by Robin Caroll

As a little girl, I had a dream—to be a writer. Life ensued. I went to college and graduated with a paralegal certificate, then realized I hated the legal industry. I wanted to experience life, so I went to work in the automobile industry. Stayed there, in customer service, for ten years. Let me tell you, THAT was an experience. Every now and then, I’d remember the dream and write a poem. Enter it in a contest, got a couple published. Then I got married and had my first daughter. I had such a busy life, how could I think of my dream? Until the day my little girl and I were reading, and I thought to myself, “I love reading, have always loved reading. I want to be an author, have always wanted to be an author.” I decided to do something this time. I enrolled in a Writer’s Digest fiction course. Completed it, and began work on a manuscript.

Life interrupted again. We moved—twice. I had two more little girls. But the dream didn’t die. And ten years after I completed my fiction course, I decided to do something again. I bought craft books. Joined writing groups. And learned about writing conferences. Before then, I hadn’t a clue that there were conferences you could attend to take workshops and classes to learn and study. Places you could go and be taught by nationally recognized authors. Events where you could meet with *gasp* editors and agents, face-to-face. Boy, was I hungry for that.

I attended some small, local conferences. Learned what a pitch was. Realized I was nowhere ready to pitch to an agent, much less an editor. Honed. Networking  Robin Caroll, Novel Rockettudied. Absorbed. It took me having gone to four conferences before I attended the “big” ones—ACFW National and RWA National.

At my first conferences I:

• Met my critique partners face-to-face and our relationship changed from just writing partners to dear friends for life.
• Met my mentor in person and realized I loved her just as much as I did on email and telephone.
• Met my agent in person for the first time.
• Pitched to the editor who ended up contracting my first book—the one I’d pitched to her.
• Networked with editors who I just like hanging out with because they’re fun
• Been blessed to have taught and encouraged other writers
• Realized how much I NEED conferences to feed my writing spirit 

Now that I’m published and have many, many conferences under my belt, I still wouldn’t miss going to at least one or two a year. Why? Because now I can:

• Connect with my writing friends. There’s something special about hugging a friend and praying with them in person.
• Network with others in the industry.
• Visit with my agent and various editors I’ve worked with.
• Get up-to-date information on this ever-changing industry.
• Feed my writing spirit.
• Learn new insights as well as brush up on my skills to hone my craft. 

Want to advance your writing career? GO TO A CONFERENCE. Yes, it takes money to go. Plan ahead. Apply for scholarships. Sale the kids. (Ok, I’m kidding about that.) But the expense is worthwhile—you’re investing in your career. And for me? It’s investing in my mental stability to be around others in this crazy industry.

Born and raised in Louisiana, Robin Caroll is a southerner through and through. Her passion has always been to tell stories to entertain others. Robin's mother, bless her heart, is a genealogist who instilled in Robin the deep love of family and pride of heritage--two aspects Robin weaves into each of her 25 published novels. When she isn't writing, Robin spends time with her husband of twenty-five+ years, her three beautiful daughters and two handsome grandsons--in the South, where else? She serves the writing community by serving as Executive/Conference Director for ACFW. Her books have finaled/placed in such contests as the Carol Award, Holt Medallion, RT Reviewer's Choice Award, Bookseller's Best, and Book of the Year.

Bayou Corruption

"Don't let them get away with it, Jacks-" 

Those were the sheriff's last words. Left for dead in the middle of the road, Jackson Devereaux's good buddy had slipped into a coma. Well, Jackson wouldn't let them get away with it, once the ace newspaper reporter uncovered who they were. He'd start with the lovely Alyssa LeBlanc, the only eyewitness to the crime. Problem was, she hated Jackson-why?-as much as she hated being back in the Louisiana bayou. Unfortunately, the truth lay deep in the bayou's belly. And whether they liked it or not, Alyssa had to lead the way.

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Platform ~ It Isn't a Dirty Word

by +AneMulligan  @AneMulligan

Everyone hates the word platform. But stay with me here. If you're a writer, you need one. These days, only the top 10% or less of writers have people who do all the marketing for them. Let's face it, the rest of us have to market. And you have to have a sphere of influence to market to. So here are some things you can do. 

7 Proven Tips for Building a Platform Before You're Published

1. Plan to spend an hour each day on building a platform. Think of it as

pre-published marketing. You may as well get used to it; once you do get a contract, you'll be spending hours marketing. That's in addition to writing the next book.

Editors will look for your online presence. Besides your website or blog, you want them to find a large Internet presence. Spend time web surfing and commenting on blogs. Each time you leave a comment or publish a blog entry, you leave a Google stamp of your name.

2. Find something no one else is doing. When I first started writing, not much was online about how author's got published. Most interviews were in print magazines, and no one blogged about their writing journey. In 2005, Gina Holmes, decided to chronicle her first novel journey. She soon realized for all the work it demanded, there were three readers, and I was two of them. We talked about it and she decided to interview some authors. Novel Journey (now Novel Rocket) was born. She soon brought me and Jessica Dotta, on board so we had fresh articles every day. The rest is history.

3. What can you do to make yours unique? Combine interviews with a favorite hobby, or charity. Have you wanted to fund a home for retired cloggers? Perhaps you love Olympic curling. Find novels that have athletes in them and interview the author. Do you raise bees? Feature a video from The Sting. The point is to integrate your hobby, other job, and/or passion into your blog to draw another segment of the market. You'll have a built-in fan base when your debut novel releases.

4. Set how often you'll blog and keep to it. Best is every day, but if that won't happen go for once a week or partner with a few other writers. Find authors in your genre and start a genre blog, like Kill Zone where some great thriller authors blog.

Author Michelle Griep does short blog posts Monday through Thursday. On Friday she does a vlog (video blog post). Her blog, Writer off theLeash, is informative and her wry humor shines through.

5. If you can join with other writers, it splits the workload. We split the work between three of us when we started Novel Journey. We posted new interviews each day. Then, we added teaching posts by authors we had previously interviewed but who had new novels to promote. Now, we have a regular crew of 29 and our own writing contest.

5. Follow other blogs. Another way to build your Internet presence is commenting on blogs. Lots of them. One very clever author, Bonnie Calhoun, realized the potential for marketing through blog tours. She amassed a large contingency of bloggers and contacted a number of publishers, who supplied the books for reviews posted. Most of these bloggers are writers and building platforms for themselves.

6. Network and trade links with other writers. Join a professional writers organization like ACFW or RWA. Offer to swap posts with other members, do guest posts, and even ask what they'd like to see on your blog. The more links to your blog, the higher your Google ranking.

7. Social Media. Choose two or three and be active. There are several great sites for writers. One of my favorite social media sites is unique. Started by Nora St. Laurent, who isn't even a writer, it's called The Book Club Network (TBCN). Most of the members are book club leaders. TBCN connects them with authors. She has them share what works and doesn't in their book club. Besides offering a tremendous resource for book clubs, one of these days, she'll write a book and will already have a platform in place.

So get creative and get busy so when your book is completed, you'll have your marketing platform in place. 

While a large, floppy straw hat is her favorite, bestselling novelist Ane Mulligan has worn many: hairdresser, legislative affairs director (that's a fancy name for a lobbyist), drama director, playwright, humor columnist, and novelist. Her lifetime experience provides a plethora of fodder for her Southern-fried fiction. She firmly believes coffee and chocolate are two of the four major food groups. President of the award-winning literary site, Novel Rocket, Ane resides in Suwanee, GA, with her artist husband, her chef son, and two dogs of Biblical proportion. You can find Ane on her Southern-fried Fictionwebsite, Google+, Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, and Pinterest.

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Lisa Bergren ~ Creative and Collaborative Marketing Tips

 
Lisa T. Bergren is the author of over forty books, and the latest is the Grand Tour Series, beginning with Glamorous Illusions and continuing on with the newly released Grave Consequences and the upcoming Glittering Promises. When she’s not messing around on Facebook or Twitter, she’s usually researching or writing her next project. She lives in Colorado Springs with her husband and three children. You can find her at LisaBergren.com, Facebook.com/LisaTawnBergren, and @LisaTBergren.

Collaborative Marketing
By Lisa T. Bergren 
 
So you’ve shouted the news about your new release on Facebook, Twitter, and your author web site as well as covered it in your author newsletter. How else can you get the word out about your book?

Form a Website/Blog Loop

In 2012 I released a YA series and after another author read Waterfall, I was invited to take part in an ABA-oriented scavenger hunt, in which I hosted a YA author and yet another hosted me. We formed a loop of about 30 stops, and it was so successful, it’s been oft-repeated and gone on to incorporate more than 100 authors, with three separate arms. Now everyone wants in, but you can’t always take part.

What readers loved was that they both gathered clues for a potential prize, but also learned about new authors they’d never heard about. What writers loved was that readers who had never heard of them, now had, and were buying their books.

So I brought that same concept over to my Christian-fiction pals, and we formed a loop last summer and fall, and will do so again this May. Each hunt has brought me at least 1000 new visitors to my web site, and gotten at least 900 to focus on my name, title and cover for a minimum of a minute. You just can’t buy that kind of advertising.

Do you have 6-10 author friends with published works? Consider rallying the troops for your own version of our scavenger hunt! Figure out the dates, get firm commitments from all involved (if you have a broken link, you’re in deep weeds), and then get your party started! Speaking of parties…

Throw a Twitter Party & Invite Your Author Pals

In conjunction with the last hunt, I had my first Christian Fiction Twitter party, which was fairly successful. It’s hard to judge how many took part, because many see the Twitter stream but don’t jump in to comment. I’ll try it again this summer, and do more build-up to hopefully get more engagement. But let’s face it. If you’re into Twitter at all, there’s a voyeuristic aspect that’s kind of fun. If someone’s dialoguing with another, you can click on that person’s stream and put the conversation together. It’s almost like listening in. And readers get a special thrill over listening to authors talk to one another. It’s like being given entry to a secret club. Why not give them that thrill and talk a lot about one another’s books? They’re listening. Even cooler? Use a unique #hashtag and readers can continue to discover that conversation for months to come! Speaking of conversation with friends…

Cultivate Friendships with Book Bloggers

Let me introduce you to your new BFFs: Book Bloggers Who Already Adore You. They won’t think of your new coziness as usury. They’ll think of it as mutually beneficial. J You’ve likely been sent 25-100 free copies of your newly published books. These weren’t meant for your grandma and her buddies at the retirement center. These were really meant for you to give to influencers--people who will influence others to all flood the bookstore or online retailer and buy your book. Now if your grandma is one of those, give one to her. But then move on to book bloggers!

PLEASE NOTE: There are more and more book bloggers all the time. Savvy women have discovered that if they commit to blog, books will come. What you want to find are those book bloggers who both have some decent traffic and engagement on their site, but also LOVE YOU AND YOUR WRITING. You’re looking for the kind of blogger who would, honestly, promote your book, even if they had to go borrow it from the library to read/review. The kind of blogger who talks, and people listen. Know of one…or ten? Send ‘em a free, autographed book. Consider offering another as a prize if they do a special post or interview with you, which you can, in turn, link to on your Facebook author page (you have one of those, right? No? Get thee to the Book of Face immediately and create one!)

AN ADDITIONAL NOTE: If you’re an indie-published author, many book bloggers refuse to review you. I know. It stinks. But there are some who will—and it’s even better if you can send them an e-file rather than go through the expense of posting a paperback. Check the blogger’s guidelines to find out if they’re open to indie- or self-published works so you don’t burn that bridge you’re working so hard to build.

So there are a few ways to take publicity from lonely to a corporate experience. Bring in your friends and have fun with it!

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Author Colleen Coble's thirty novels and novellas have won or finaled in awards ranging from the Romance Writers of America prestigious RITA award, the Holt Medallion, the ACFW Book of the Year, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers' Choice, and the Booksellers Best awards. She writes romantic mysteries because she loves to see justice prevail and love begin with a happy ending.

NETWORKING WITH YOUR PUBLISHING HOUSE

Everyone wants to be a part of the camaraderie at their publishing house, but few authors are really good at the networking that is part of becoming “family.” It feels almost calculating to teach a course on how to accomplish that, but my editor Ami McConnell encouraged me to share the way I build relationship. She says it’s something every author needs to know.

1. Your team. Realize it’s not about YOU. It’s about THEM. If you can’t care about the people who are your team, you shouldn’t be writing in the Christian genre because as a Christian our first thought should be for OTHERS. And what better place to care about people than with your publishing partners? They are usually overworked, underpaid and harried. People can sense sincerity. Be grateful to be where you are and realize you are not God’s gift to publishing.

a. Your editor
b. Your associate editor
c. Your marketing director
d. Your publicist
e. Your cover designer
f. Your publisher—yes even him/her

2. Plan a visit to your publishing house. Even if it’s on YOUR dime.

3. Learn the key people’s birthdays and send a card. I even send a small gift like a Starbuck’s card.

4. Take a picture of you with the group, stick it by your computer and pray for them.

5. Meet your sales rep. When you’re going to a different area, contact the rep in that area and let them know you’re going to be signing books. They’ll generally turn up and you can forge a friendship.

6. In all areas, be a professional. This means don’t complain. Have a good attitude even if they mess up (and everyone does) just as you’d want them to have a good attitude if you mess up.

7. BE GRATEFUL!! This is a big one. I can’t tell you how often I see ingratitude. Not a big enough promotion budget, someone else got this or that. When someone inside the house does something great—like selling foreign rights or bookclub rights—send them an email saying thank you and follow it up with a card. Or chocolate! You can get a list of who does what from your editor or publisher.

8. Talk up your house! Be proud of them and who they are.

9. Recommend other writers to them. It helps your house know you are proud of them. And it’s paying it forward to other writers.

10. Extend all these things to publishing professionals out of your publishing housed. Editors move around and so do other professionals. My new publicist just came from WaterBrook. It happens all the time.

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