Author: Elizabeth Spann Craig

Writers’ roles in book promotion have changed a lot in the last twenty years.  Instead of being expected merely to write and edit, they’re looked at as partners in the publicity process.  If you’re not promoting your book in some way (signings, interviews, blog tours, website giveaways), then you’re really not doing your fair share.  This doesn’t come as a surprise to any writers who are plugged into the writing community.  After all, with Yahoo Groups like Murder Must Advertise, and writing forums that share tips on promoting, writers would have to have their heads under rocks to not realize the current climate for book marketing.

But when are you too committed to promoting a book instead of writing the next one?  Is there an alarm bell that goes off when you’ve spent too much time away from your manuscript?

In an interview with Galley Cat, Sue Grafton confessed that it used to take her nine months to complete a book.  “It used to take me nine months to write a book, then ten, then thirteen, and so on,” she explained. “Over the years, the publicity has begun to encroach on the writing process. Around the time of K Is for Killer, I began to realize that every time I had to do a phone interview, I was getting annoyed—’leave me alone, I’ve got work to do!”   She said that she went to her publisher to ask for more time to write and less time for interviews, and was able to work out an arrangement with them.

I’ll admit that I’m learning how to juggle promotion with my writing goals. I’ve just enrolled in a very informative online course, Blog Book Tours, which will help me organize and arrange blog publicity for my upcoming mystery, Pretty is as Pretty Dies (August 1, 2009).  I’m also trying to stay active in my promotional group, The Carolina Conspiracy.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far.  If you’ve got some tips to share, please chime in with comments.

Write First—Your writing is the reason you’ve got something to promote. Make sure you satisfy your writing goal for the day first.

Get Ahead With Your Blogging—Feeling pinched for time? Try penning several blogs in a row. That way, if you have a day when you’re pressed, you’ll have something thoughtful to post on your blog.

Multitask—Okay, I know this is a difficult one.  But it can be done (this is coming from a mom who frequently writes at stoplights, mind you.) But you can read and post comments on blogs while a pot of water is coming to a boil. You can write your answers to a blog interview while monitoring your kids as they do their homework.

Know When to Say No—Are you getting too stressed out? Is your stress level pouring out into your interactions with family and friends?  You should scale back.  Nothing is more important than people who are close to us. 

I’ve just recently come back from spring break with my children.  I think it was a nice break…for them.  I tried to maintain my writing schedule to the standard I have at home—with varying success.  I discovered though that it all balanced out in the end.  Some days (days I was in the car all day, for example), I was able to come up with some ideas to pursue, but I didn’t obviously commit as much to paper.  Other days, I accomplished more than my usual goal—but frequently I was putting on paper the ideas I’d come up with in the car instead of brainstorming new ideas.

This has been an unusual three weeks for me.  I’m actually working on three different manuscripts at the same time.  While I’m delighted at the opportunity to have so much work, at first I was hesitant about how to prioritize my projects.  The first morning I tried dividing my time was pretty harried.  I started with one manuscript, then I had an idea for the other work-in-progress, so I picked it up and worked on it for a while.  Then I got antsy because of my deadline for proofing my ARC (due May 4).  So I picked up the ARC to do a bit of proofing.

Not productive.

Many of you might be in the same boat.  Maybe you’re not working on three manuscripts simultaneously, but perhaps you have more than one project going on at once—are you promoting one book and writing another?  Or are you trying to develop a website or blog presence while you’re working on a manuscript?  You could be taking an online course to improve your writing skills (or teaching one), freelancing for extra cash, and writing a novel simultaneously.

Whatever your situation, I’ve discovered a few ways to help feel more organized.

Although it may seem obvious, it’s important to prioritize your projects by importance.  Do any of them involve a deadline?  If you have two projects with roughly the same deadline (something I’m experiencing now), try to prioritize the deadlines—which project requires more work before the deadline?  Will you be less frantic if you first finish the project that doesn’t require as much work?  Or will you be more relaxed if you focus on the project that requires more from you?

Plan your day according to your creative flow: Does one project require more creative output (writing) than the other (a proofing project, class, website development?)  If so, pinpoint when your most creative time of day is and plan to work on that project then.  Moments when you’re not feeling as creative are good for more rote chores like working on a website, research, and proofing.

Take breaks:  There’s nothing like getting burned out.  Busy is one thing, but strung-out is something worse.  When you’re taking these breaks, try to unplug.  Turn off your cell phone, close your laptop.  Try something active like taking a short walk, gardening, or housework (not as fun, but it needs to be accomplished too.) 

Set small and realistic goals for each day’s work:  It’s easy to get overwhelmed if your goal is the completion of several projects in the same time frame.  Instead, make reachable, realistic goals for your day.  For example:  This morning, I’ll write five pages for Project A. This afternoon, I’ll proofread one chapter.  Tonight I’ll blog. 

Keep a notepad handy.  Record ideas, but focus on the project at hand:  Frequently when I’m proofing or working on one manuscript, I’ll get ideas or bits of dialogue for another manuscript.  Instead of changing direction and picking up another work-in-progress, just quickly record the ideas on a blank paper to fit in the manuscript later.  This helps prevent the “running in five different directions at once” scenario.

By taking a little time to prioritize and plan, I’ve had a really productive last few weeks; even while working on three things at once while traveling. 

I’ve been really slammed with writing lately, but I have come across several interesting blog posts that I thought I’d share here.

The first is a guest post by Veronica Heley on the So You Wanna Be Published blog regarding the need for great back cover copy (even if you’re in the manuscript-pitching stage) and some tips for writing it.

Agent Rachelle Gardner’s blog discusses preparing yourself for success—what being a successful writer entails (expect a major time crunch), and questions you may want to consider to help yourself be more organized/professional in your approach.

The Mysterious Matters blog has been a treasure trove of information for mystery writers lately.  Among them: advice for writers from editors, publicists, cover designers, etc. , ten mystery characters this editor would like to see retired , and this editor’s thoughts on various mystery sub-genres.

Vivian Zabel weighs in on the Make Mine Mystery blog about some pitfalls she encounters in some mystery novels. 

The Blood-Red Pencil takes on showing, not telling. 

Et in Arcaedia, Ego has been posting an interesting series, “Letters from the Query Wars.” 

Rachelle Gardner’s blog recently discussed switching genres.  She contends that you can’t be successful in publishing if you change genres.  She recommends specializing in one particular area.

I’m not sure that I agree.  I’ve read several authors who write under different names for different genres (Marion Chesney/M.C. Beaton is one).  Plus, I personally know authors that have left one genre for another and write under their own names.  If I’m a reader and I’m following a particular writer, I may be interested in switching genres to see how the author handles a different type of series. 

But the article raises a good point; it can help your career to focus your efforts on a particular area/genre.

Picking your genre:

First of all, you need to look at what you usually read.  Is your nightstand stacked with thrillers?  Or do you lean towards police procedurals and cozies?  I’m you’re more familiar with the plot structure of one particular mystery genre, that’s the one you’ll likely have an easier time writing.

Second, how much research are you willing to put into your book?  Be truthful with yourself: do you have a lot of hours to sink into ballistics and forensics research?  It’s important for your information to be correct.  All mysteries require some degree of research–whether finding out how the structure of a small-town police station, or discovering how long it takes certain poisons to begin working.  If you sign yourself up for a Patricia Cornwell or P.D. James-style book, make sure you have enough time to devote to getting all your facts straight. 

Third, what’s your comfort-level with writing graphic material?  If you’re not comfortable lending your name to a book with excessive bloodshed, expletives, or lurid sex scenes, your discomfort will likely come through your writing to your readers. Choose a genre with content that’s easier for you to successfully portray. 

Last weekend our guest blogger was J.A. Konrath.  He made a switch from humorous mysteries to dark thrillers—he did, however, use a pen name for the new series.  He didn’t want the readers who expected a funny read to accidentally end up with a frightening book like Afraid.  He has heavily cross-promoted the new series on his website, though, which has encouraged many readers who follow his lighter, more humorous books to try something different with an author they enjoy.  He may be experiencing the best of both worlds. 

Next blog, I’ll take a look at the clues and red herrings of another mystery and deconstruct what made it work.

Today we welcome our guest blogger, Jack Kilborn (pseudonym for JA Konrath), whose new release Afraid will hit the shelves March 31.  Click here to read a sample.  Be sure to check out Joe’s popular blog—a must for writers–A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.  The month of March has meant a whirlwind blog tour for Joe—he’s visiting several different blogs every single day of March.  Wonder if it’s working?  He reports that on March 1, Google had 68,400 listings of his name; on March 19th, the same search brought up 79,000 hits.

Thanks to Joe for stopping by.

Do you outline or wing it?  Or a combination of the two?
Sometimes my contract requires I turn in an outline in order to get paid. While outlines are useful, and make the book easier to write, I prefer winging it. But I always have notes nearby, reminding me which scene comes next, where to add clues and reveals, that sort of thing.

Do you occasionally get writer’s block?  How do you work through it?
Never. Getting a paycheck is a powerful motivator.
There are times where I don’t feel like writing, but what does that matter? If you work in an office, can you avoid going in just because you don’t feel like it?
If you’re truly tortured by writers block, and getting words down is absolute agony, consider doing something else less painful with your time.

What type of writing schedule do you follow each day?
If I’m on a deadline, I write up to fourteen hours a day. If I’m in between books, or working on something not yet under contract, I spend about three hours a day writing, and five or six doing promo stuff–blogging, updating social networks, etc.

Are you working on something now?
I’m finishing the rewrite for TRAPPED, the second Jack Kilborn horror novel, and also working on a stand alone novel and a few short stories.

Any tips for successfully writing suspense?
I’ll tell you tomorrow. :)

What was behind your decision to use a pseudonym for your new series?
A new genre means a new demographic and readers. While the Jack Daniels thrillers I write under the name JA Konrath have some scares in them, they’re also filled with laughs. The Jack Kilborn books are scare-machines, no laughs at all. While some of the Konrath fans will also like the Kilborn books, a lot of them won’t, and vice versa. So it’s best to keep the brands separate.
Remember that books are a commodity, like cars or white bread. Branding is important, and the goal is to establish a connection in a customer’s mind between an author and a certain type of book. JA Konrath is funny but scary. Jack Kilborn is all scary. If I ever do something all funny, I’ll have to invent a new name…