Besides the writing of the world’s best novel, there are a few things to consider before that novel makes it to print.
When I spent my years writing novels that didn’t get published, I also spent a lot of time planning what would happen when I finally was. And part of that planning was, of course, the nuts and bolts of completing a manuscript. Not only do you need to have it finished and formatted properly, but once it is, you need to sit down and complete the business aspect of the writing and write a synopsis.
SYNOPSIS
Not just the full synopsis for the benefit of your agent or for getting an agent, but you’ll need the 25 word pitch (also called the “Elevator Pitch”, something easy to say while in an elevator when someone asks, “What’s your book about?”), the paragraph, the one page, and then the full page. All of these are handy to have. But the 25 word pitch is the most important. Know it. Memorize it. Use it. The others are handy for query letters to agents. I also found the 25 word pitch useful in conjunction with the synopsis as a sort of introduction. I still use it on my outlines that get pitched to my editor. My agent loves them. (And when getting an agent, the synopsis must tell the ending. They want to see if you CAN write a full novel with a competent and satisfying ending).
So you need all that to get an agent and for the agent to use to send to an editor. But once that’s all done it’s time to think beyond the writing stage and start thinking about the marketing stage. When you sign a contract these days, very often the publisher wants to see a marketing plan from you.
MARKETING PLAN
Marketing plan, you say? Didn’t I already do the hard part and write the bloody novel? These days, that is only the beginning.
Part of that marketing plan is, of course, your online presence. Do you have a blog, substack, or podcast? Do you have a website? Are you on social media? Are you keeping up with the ever-changing industry?
First, let’s talk blog and website. But you aren’t published, you say. What would I have to put up on a website or a blog? I mentioned more on this on another blog post.
Once the manuscript is done, it will be helpful to upload a discussion guide right onto your website. A book club I visited once said that readers want as much as they can get on a book and about the about the author when they decide on a book for their group. And providing a discussion guide is one more step in offering added value to you and your novel. In fact, my former publisher St. Martin’s picked up my discussion guide right off of my website and put it in the paperback edition.
Same with the blog. Please don’t give us another newbie blog on “how I’m working hard to get published” with stories about your cat and your Aunt Sadie. Unless your Aunt Sadie is a famous actress or explorer, leave her out of it. In fact, get used to being a professional. Lose the personal social media page or blog. Frame your blog or podcast on your book series. Is it about a detective who quilts? Then let it be about quilts. Is it a thriller set in L.A.? Then become the expert on the down and dirty of Los Angeles. You are the expert on whatever it is you write about.
STILL MARKETING
And speaking of being an expert, you will want to get yourself speaking engagements at your local and not-so-local libraries, at professional organization luncheons, at any place they want to have you. And so you need to prepare some presentations, something that says a little about you and a little about your books. You can’t always do a reading of your book and, let’s face it, a lot of authors are pants at reading aloud. Have something interesting to offer by way of a presentation. I talked about medieval history and the myths people have about the era when I was writing my medieval mysteries. Now I talk about Sherlock Holmes and the Victorian era. And I bring props.
You can bet that gets an audience’s attention. Word gets out that your talk is interesting and fun. You will get asked to a lot of places. Again, remember you are the expert in whatever it is you are writing about. If you are writing a cooking mystery, then get ready with that hot plate and start talking.
Just as you’ll need several lengths of pitches, so, too, will you need several versions of your talk. Depending on the venue, you might need a fifteen minute talk, half an hour, or full hour. Be ready and flexible to talk about you and your book in any version. But don’t hard sell it. You’re selling you as much as the book itself.
EVEN MORE MARKETING
Don’t forget marketing to libraries. You should be collecting library addresses for both sending promotional material to, and for making presentations. How do you amass those mailing addresses? Well, there are fifty states right now. Each state has a capital. And each capital has a main library. Start there. Because you will be printing and mailing postcards to get the attention of those librarians that acquire books. That’s a final sale, that is. Include a list of indie bookstores. Start Googling. Use “variable data” or “mailing services” with printers for those postcards. That means you won’t have to stick on individual mailing address labels and stamps. Places like Vistaprint will take your art and your Excel document of addresses (formatted correctly, of course) print the postcard and at the same time print an entirely different address on EACH ONE. Believe me, it saves huge amounts of time. And cheaper bulk mailing with a service that does this.
Is all this part of your marketing plan? Yes, it is! Include in your marketing strategy the places you plan to go to talk about your book and what that presentation is. Do you have an email list to announce about your book release? You should be working on amassing that. Review site friends? Friends on social media? Do you Bluesky? Do you have followers? These are the things to start on now before the book is in print, the things that should be on your marketing plan.
Is it a lot of work? Yes. Is it rewarding to have your book on bookstore and library shelves and in people’s hands, in audiences that have come to hear you talk? You bet it is. But it happens because you are prepared. Prepared to hit the ground running.
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