Tags
Amazon, CJ Lyons, ePub, Indie, Seth Godin, Sherry Isaac, Short Stories, Smashwords, Sweet Dreams, What You Wish For
It’s done. D-O-N-E, done.
The house is staged, the windows washed, and I have a powerhouse of guest bloggers lined up for the balance of April (while I direct traffic to and from my house).
First up? My bestie, Sherry Isaac, who has begun the exciting process of Indie publishing her short stories.
Next week, we have Zack Kullis, under(space optional)cover F.B.I agent and word play guru of the double entendre variety.
Me? I thought I’d be overwhelmed by the number of people tromping through my house.
I was underwhelmed with the response, and hold Nascar and The Texas Motor Speedway personally responsible for insane traffic conditions.
Or…
Perhaps in was ill-advised to organize my underwear drawer. When we had no showings yet scheduled yesterday, I texted my ACES Realtor. [I’d give you her name, but I haven’t yet asked if she wants to be associated with the shenanigans on this glob.] My text?
“Just as expected. Undies organized and no one shows to poke around in my drawers. Yes. A wiser woman would reword that sentence.”
This left me with time to ponder writing related things.
Should I enter The Catherine this year? Should I craft a long versus summary level synopsis? Should I get fake big toenails for DFWcon? (Fred-on-the-right, and Ginger-on-the-left gave a toes-up on this one.)
With so much swirling around in my non-imaginary world, I am tickled cobalt blue that I have a guestie from my bestie. TAKE IT AWAY, SHERRY!
WRITE TO DANCE ANOTHER DAY
by Sherry Isaac
A book is a dance, a courtship between reader and writer. My first foray, I feel like a nervous debutante at her coming out ball.
The dance hall is crowded; big name authors who have circled the ballroom before over-shadow my brand and my book cover. As easily as tender toes ensconced in velvet slippers, my ego is easily crushed.
What’s this? The readership-at-large did not rush out to buy my book? They failed to organize a parade in my honor?
Hark! My pride has suffered an injury most severe. I may not survive long enough to see the first quarter report. If only I could react to perceived rejection with Lizzie’s aplomb.
Sales stagger. The champagne cork does not pop. The book sits on the shelf, a wallflower waiting for an invitation to dance. Not a single new ‘want to read’ tag, not one new declaration of love.
I’ve studied brand and promotion as much as I’ve studied craft. I know that someday my prince… er, readership will come. I know this is normal, yet I can’t help myself. In spite of best-selling Thrillers With Heart author CJ Lyons’ advice to Write The Next Book, I feel I must do something to boost sales.
Write the next book, she says. To twist a phrase from Seth Godin,
“I can’t [write my next book], I’m too busy integrating this new technology into my workflow!”
One eye on the sales report, I check my reflection, fuss with my hair, fiddle with my ear bobs, pinch a little pink into my cheeks. My inner Eliza Doolittle bursts to the surface. I want to spread my wings and do a thousand things. Blog! Tweet! Update! Post!
Presto!
Truth is, there is no presto, there is no voila. It can take as much time to grow an audience as it takes to grow a novel. Social media is new and trendy, but time is the method that’s proven.
I don’t need Holden Caulfield to point me out as a phony. Social media is transparent. At my core, I’m a shy and private person. Sharing excerpts of my day feels artificial to me, so I know updates won’t ring genuine with my followers. My social media tag should read, Don’t follow me, I’m lost, too.
Our book is like a child. We must release our child into the world, let it go, trust we did our very best. This is hard, because letting go means relinquishing control. A book release is like a conversation started. We must trust that our audience will find us. When they find us, we must trust they will respond, that the conversation we started with our first release will continue.
A million updates do not a conversation make. Checking sales reports every ten minutes will not prepare us to answer when our audience does respond.
Writing the next book will.
Craft is key. Writing is hard, but it is the strength and quality of the writing that will build a long-standing audience. On the secret to success, CJ says, “Write a great book, give your readers time to find it and tell their friends, and repeat.” It would seem Seth agrees when he tells us to “Build an asset… A brand isn’t a logo. It’s a promise and an expectation.”
Yes, I’m an odd duck. To chose to sit out the dance seems backward, to give up control, absurd. Think about it: what kind of success would Dirty Dancing have been if Baby chose to sit in her corner, saying “No, thank you. I think I’ll sit this one out,” when Patrick Swayze extended his hand?
Still, I hold firm in my decision to sit out the social media dance and refer you back to CJ’s advice on advertising. What the readers want is not repeated promotion of a book they’ve already read. What they want is another book.
You’d think that I could muster up a little soft-shoe gently sway, but I don’t feel like dancing, no sir, no dancing today.
Raised by Nancy Drew and Miss Marple, Sherry Isaac’s rich storytelling is laced with a pinch of mystery, spiced with a dash of the unexpected, and served with a dollop of suspense. Her novels and short stories feature heroines who, like wildflowers, appear fragile, yet thrive in the harshest conditions. Sherry weaves love, life and forgiveness into tales that transcend all obstacles, including the grave.
The Forgetting earned the Alice Munro Short Story Award in 2009. In 2010, her novel, Homecoming, earned Honorable Mention in the Georgia Romance Writers’ Maggie. That same year, the Heart of Denver’s Molly contest declared her heroine, Hannah Marsh, ‘Unsinkable’.
Sherry believes in romance, identity, and the depth of the human soul.
Find Sherry at her Psychological Sizzle blog.
Her first Indie ePub, What You Wish For, is available on Smashwords and Amazon. Have a look, buy it! You will NOT be sorry.
BONUS!
Today is the official release date for Sweet Dreams. <<==== That’s SmashWords Linky Love.
SO! For those who have chosen the Indie ePub route, share your advice or experiences. Are you considering that route to publication? Please share your thoughts, ask your questions, or just say “hey!” I need some play time in comments today, and we want to give Sherry a grin of glee when she pops in to share her thoughts. Hope you all have a good one!
Gloria Richard 
What the readers want is not repeated promotion of a book they’ve already read. What they want is another book.
I love this line. And it’s spurring me on this morning when I’ve sent off the last revisions to my editor and am just waiting for the next stet/ Yes! Write! That’s what authors do so I’m off to ignore my email and my phone and my husband and my itchy nose. I’m off to write.
Margie Lawson would L-O-V-E your Zeugma, Elaine!
Come to think of it. I love it, too. Can I steal it? No? Curses!
Sherry is The Bomb when it comes to setting goals and sticking with them. She spurs me on to write. Her success will lie not only in her incredibly poignant voice, creativity, and humor hits, but also in her persistence.
Have a happy, happy, productive day.
And, do not scratch that itchy nose unless you’re on a break.
Elaine, I’d like to say I’m late to the comments on my hostess’ blog because I was writing, but the truth is, I’m here this morning to postpone writing. Writing is hard, and I wonder, do we let ourselves become caught up in the pressure to comment and tweet and what not because using the label ‘promotion’ makes all those updates seem legitimate?
That said, here we all are on Gloria’s gloB. Time to Par-Tay. Woot!
I L-I-V-E to comment on blogs.
One day I may turn that energy to writing my own blog articles.
Until then, color me gleeful. I have the best bestie in the world.
Oops. “waiting for the next step” it should read above 🙂
Zeugma?? Did I skip a lesson, Gloria?? Okay, first of all What You Wish For was great so everyone visitng today should go immediately to Smashwords and buy it. Then buy the next one.
Don’t worry, shy-Sherry … the best stories find readers and no matter what we do or how many times we tweet or talk nonsense on Facebook … the stories are what counts.
Take the good advice you already know to be true and keep writing them 🙂
AWESOME advice on Sherry’s short stories, Florence.
Sweet Dreams was the first short story of Sherry’s I read. Her talent rocked in that story
I was hooked, and have yet to read one of her shorts that didn’t sink the hook deeper.
Her stories do count, and I’m certain the readership will follow with each planned publication.
But, I’ve got to admit, I’d be doing more than a few refresh functions per
hourminute if I were in the enviable position of taking the plunge into Indie ePub.As for Zeugma? You mean you don’t have all of Margie’s rhetorical devices memorized? It’s time you took yourself for a Rocky Mountain Immersion Master Class retreat.
I didn’t know you wanted to be my sponsor. You are toooo … toooo … toooo kind 🙂
I know … Zeigma is about your underwear drawers … or the place you stash your drawers 🙂
You have no idea what might be found in my underwear drawer, Florence. 😉
Florence, I’ll give you a hint. The zeugma is a particular type of a list of three, and it is in Elaine’s initial comment.
As for the What You Wish For love… thank you!
Wise words,Sherry, to which I relate in every way. I love to dance but the social media boogie often leaves me staggering for a seat on the sidelines hoping to find a quiet corner simply to write. It’s hard to find the balance … have I done enough … or too much? The quest continues … Congratulations on your next e-release! I am off to download!
And Miss Gloria … Mess up that undie drawer and they will come!
Social Media Boogie! LOL
Okay. Here’s my plan for getting showings:
1. Mess up undie drawer
2. Cook fish
Those first two yielded a showing on Friday.
If those folks don’t make an offer, I’ll up the ante and…
3. Throw my undies on the closet floor, while
4. Stuffed cabbage rolls bake in the oven.
I have my marketing plan. WOOT!
Any boogie is exhausting, and Sherry Isaac, don’t even pretend you don’t love the challenge and the rhythm.
As an advertising professional I can relate to the art of promotion and how important it is to build up a following. I have always knocked around the idea of writing a book and I give credit to all of you who do it. It is a lot of work.
It is a lot of work, Filbio. Safe to say, most of us had no idea how much work until we were knee-deep in the quagmire that is our work-in-progress. But its in the blood, we have to do it. We have to write.
We have to remember, word-of-mouth is the most powerful advertising there is. If we put out a sub-par product, no amount of flash promotion will outdo negative comments.
You had me at …”as an advertising professional”…, filbio.
I feel a grovel for a guest blog overwhelming me.
And, I agree with Sherry. Word-of-mouth is the best advertising there is. And, not because word-of-nose garners more Ka-Shnorts than clicks on the buy button.
Ah, yes, I think every author would agree, Sherry. We need to try many things before we figure out what works promotion wise. I’ve decided to slow down the social media and write the next book.
I’ve started a list of what I do promotion wise (although it’s difficult to measure when I have nothing self-published) to keep track of what’s productive and what isn’t.
Hopefully that will help for the next release.
Ah, there’s that sneaky element, Time, again. Sharon, you give so much, in your friendships and in your writing. Shall all come back to you, tenfold and more.
And, both of you have enviable talent that will pay off as you continue to release the next and the next and the next….
ERK! Speaking of next. Me thinks I should quit dithering in comments and get the first done so I can have a next. Forsooth.
Sherry, you are handling so much currently in your life, I’m simply in awe of everything you do. Patience, ma belle, it will come.
Miss you!
Amen, Carole!
As you so eloquently said: It’s hard to see the forest with your nose against the tree.
To you, Carole, I say, Ahhhhh.
To Gloria, Ditto on the Amen, and on the Carole St-Laurent quote. Soon, we’ll have enough Caroloquialisms to print a book.
“I don’t need Holden Caulfield to point me out as a phony. Social media is transparent. At my core, I’m a shy and private person. Sharing excerpts of my day feels artificial to me, so I know updates won’t ring genuine with my followers. My social media tag should read, Don’t follow me, I’m lost, too.”
How did you know this about me?!? It’s o.k. to say you copied this right out of my noggin’, Sherry. We’re all friends here.
This writing gig isn’t for the faint of heart, that’s for sure. Some days social media can really feel more like a struggle and another “should”, but it’s also connected me with talented and witty writers like you and Gloria. For that, I’ll always be thankful.
Aw, shucks, Tami! Thanks for the…talented and witty… comment hug.
If you hung around in chat with Sherry (like I do), you’d also add whack-a-doodle to that list. Just sayin’…
Sometimes (IMHO) promoting the work and talent of others is the best way to build a faithful group of followers for one’s own work.
Plus (!)
globblogging more than once a millennium. You and Sherry rock the informative and regular blog world.Me? I hang around in comments and blog-jack.
Off now to The Amazon. I must get Sherry’s well-deserved 5 stars up for Sweet Dreams..
Gloria, it’s about using our talents to their greatest effect. You + Blog-jacking = CyberUniverse Harmony.
Tami, in some ways, I envy those who can tweet and update with such ease. I admire the authenticity of their updates, congratulate them on their sincerity and marvel at how they accomplish staying on top of the demands of life and writing while keeping their followers abreast of both.
I have to remind myself that their strengths and my strengths are not the same. I hope you do the same. We must do what speaks to our truest self.
In case there is any doubt, I love rocking out at your Kasbah!
Yes, we really do have to keep our eyes off the sales records. It can drive one MAD. 🙂
Congrats on your new journey. I have two of your shorts stories now and can’t wait to read them!!!
Great guest post, Sherry!
I am another one who is “kinda plugged in” to social media.
I’m extroverted, but I like to really sit down and chat with people, eye to eye. So social media feels kind of empty to me. But I’m having a hard time with the released thing. I keep futzing. Not good.
On an unrelated note: Gloria, I used to be a professional organizer. Make sure your closets are REALLY organized. And make sure your towels are folded perfectly. I once had people get into a 3-way bidding war because “they knew it was the house when they saw the towels.” I don’t even know what that means. Just do it. That house sold for 25K over asking.
Oh, and make sure you don’t leave any shizzy around that people might want to steal. I’m serious. People take stuff. Losers.
Good luck with the house!
A professional organizer? Really? Back-in-a-flash. Must check airfare from ??? to DFW. Which airport, Renee? Which airport is best? I NEED you!
On the towel front, I am anal about my towels. Folded to the same size and in the same way, and stacked with only the final fold showing. Neat, tidy, color coordinated.
Define REALLY organized closets, please. Should I race out and purchase matching hangers for the master? There is one closet awaiting action from my bubble talk:
Hubby: I am NOT cleaning out the closet behind the bar.
Me: I know you aren’t.
Bubble: Because I’m going to do it when you’re golfing.
Weather curtailed The Hubsters golf days, and slowed my sneak-it-out mission. Curses!
Thanks for the good wishes. Back atcha’ on your new get-a-way.