Book Promo—Are you having fun??
Thoughts from the book promo/marketing trenches.
Okay, I’m deep in the promo window for my next chapter book series, AVA LIN. And I feel like I’m spinning in different directions at the same time. Some moments, I want to shout about my book to all the world, because I’m so excited about it! And then other moments, I want to hide under a rock because I feel like I’m annoying people or opening myself up to rejection. How awkward that this career for introverts involves so much extroversion!
So I’m trying to take deep breaths and focus on the fun. Today’s post kicks off the next few weeks where Christine and I will be focused on marketing. Next week, we’ll start with a paid post, Marketing Part One: The Toolkit, where we discuss various options you might pursue. In Marketing Part Two: What’s Worked For Us, Christine and I will talk about what we efforts we choose to pursue and why. And finally in Marketing Part Three: Working with Your Publisher, I’ll talk about things I feel have helped me work with my publicists.
Are you having fun??
Deciding if something is fun or not encapsulates my current philosophy for personal efforts in promo/marketing. Since we know our personal efforts probably won’t significantly move the needle on sales, I try to release some of the pressure on myself to post unless I feel like it. Here are some things I’ve had to shift in the way I think about things:
Separating the effort from the outcome
All too often, I’ve found myself second-guessing or feeling bad because I posted something and nobody responds to it. Or because I do a book event and nobody shows up. But if I stop thinking about how other people are responding and try to focus on doing things because they make me happy to do, then this stops being such a big deal!
These days, I try to post on social media because I really have something I’d like to share, and I try not to share FOR the likes. I try to do events because I’m excited about the event itself, rather than for sales. (I do try to make sure there will be some kind of audience there, but hey, sometimes there’s not!) It’s still easy to get caught up in the results, so it is something I have to continually remind myself of. Am I doing something because it makes me happy to do? If I’m having fun, it can justify the effort in itself—and everything else is just gravy.
The Gravy
Even if something gets little/no response, you never know who saw it and what they took away from it. Sometimes my posts with little traction get a like weeks later. Maybe it’s just a few people that engaged, but maybe one of those people found something compelling there. Maybe your event helps your relationship with bookstores even if it didn’t sell books. Being true to yourself and not forcing it will feel better for both you and your audience.
Have fun and then post about it
Another approach is to just DO fun things. And if you happen to take pictures, then post about it! If you don’t, don’t worry about it. (If you’re feeling pressure to take pictures that you don’t actually want to take, stop it.) This past week, we got a few kidlit friends together to celebrate the launch of Faith Kazmi’s debut picture book, BOX OF DREAMS, illustrated by Christine Almeda—and took some fun pictures along the way, including a stop at Linden Tree Books! Fun!
But what if I’m annoying everyone with all my social media posts?
This one is a tough one and I still struggle with it. I think I probably do annoy some people while others have no idea that I’ve been posting anything at all.
So I return to the same question: Am I having fun posting? This is also why I try to come up with new ideas for posts—to keep it interesting for me and for the people who may see my posts. Keeping things mixed up between graphics or videos or activities or read-alouds helps keep me interested in posting and hopefully also make my feed feel less monotonous. My posts turn into mini creative projects that I’m having fun with.
And if I hit the point that I’m not having fun, or I’m annoying myself (it happens), then I figure nobody is having fun and I should just skip posting. Which is probably fine from a promo standpoint! We already know that our personal efforts are only a drop in the bucket for sales, so again, it’s all just added bonus.
I don’t always get it right—meaning sometimes I realize I was posting for the wrong reasons AFTER I post, because I realize the post doesn’t really make me happy. Or I start taking pictures at an event and then realize I don’t want to any more. It can be tricky to untangle those feelings sometimes, so I just try to do the best I can.
Let it roll off you
This is the last part of my current philosophy: I’m trying not to overthink it all. (Though maybe this post is evidence that I’m still overthinking it all.) I figure, if I annoy someone, they’ll get over it. If I stay true to myself and what makes me happy, it doesn’t seem like anyone (at least, anyone that matters to me) could be mad at me for that. And so what if they are?
When I was in Hawaii with my kids this past spring break, we saw a monk seal lying on the beach, completely unperturbed by the incoming tide smashing over his face. And we decided that’s a great way to be. BE LIKE THE MONK SEAL.
But if it’s just for fun, what’s the point?
I know many of us are on social media because we feel the pressure to promote. I certainly wouldn’t spend as much time posting on social media if I didn’t have books to promote. So it’s not ONLY the fun that drives me. But, here’s the weird cycle of things… I think that if you prioritize having fun, it will probably still result in people discovering you and your books. Maybe even more so because it’s an honest representation of you. So to keep my mental sanity, I’m trying to focus on only doing the things I’m having fun with, and ignoring the rest.
Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks of marketing posts to find out what Christine and I choose to do when promoting our books (beyond social media), and why. But remember, with all the tools and options and examples we show you—don’t get overwhelmed. Find what’s fun for you!
This post is so useful and realistic - I work with lots of writers and I will be sharing with them all!
This is so in line with what I've been thinking about lately! I think this is the healthiest and most sustainable approach both to book promo and social media in general. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!