It's more than just writing...
Yesterday I get the news that I had some poetry accepted, today it’s a short story accepted by a new website that is updating later this week called Ultimate Confessions. The short story is titled ‘Stolen Moments’ and I am hoping it is one enjoyed by all who read it.
So what else will the month bring? I’ve got a few short story submissions in at other websites that I am waiting to hear back on. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and hear about them soon. However I still have to keep writing, keep submitting and then moving straight on to the next piece. That’s part of the trick, isn’t it? Write, submit and move right on.
I got into a discussion a few days ago on a list I am on with another writer. One who, to my knowledge, has only been published in a few zines (I may be recalling incorrectly here) She mentioned how she would only target large houses as she was too lazy to do her own marketing. My jaw just about hit the floor. From everything I have been given to understand unless you are a NY House A list author you better damn well be prepared to do the vast majority of your own marketing or be prepared to pay someone to do it.
How many smaller houses now ask you to prepare a marketing plan? How many require you now to commit to marketing time? How many NY houses are going to pick up someone with no following and no drive to market?
What does she think giving interviews, running newsletters, blogs, doing book signings and attending conventions could be if not marketing? Sure many of us actually enjoy doing that, myself included even if the thought of going to Gen Con has me borderline shaking in my boots, but it’s still marketing. And I’m only a novice at this. I’ve got a hell of a lot to learn. But damnit I’m picking up a small readership basis now. I have people who *shock* actually buy my books and some of them even send copies to me to sign and for me to mail back to them.
It’s not always easy to accept that writing and book and having it accepted for publication only means the start of a long hard journey. The days of if you write it they will buy it are over, unless you are Stephen King…
So what else will the month bring? I’ve got a few short story submissions in at other websites that I am waiting to hear back on. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and hear about them soon. However I still have to keep writing, keep submitting and then moving straight on to the next piece. That’s part of the trick, isn’t it? Write, submit and move right on.
I got into a discussion a few days ago on a list I am on with another writer. One who, to my knowledge, has only been published in a few zines (I may be recalling incorrectly here) She mentioned how she would only target large houses as she was too lazy to do her own marketing. My jaw just about hit the floor. From everything I have been given to understand unless you are a NY House A list author you better damn well be prepared to do the vast majority of your own marketing or be prepared to pay someone to do it.
How many smaller houses now ask you to prepare a marketing plan? How many require you now to commit to marketing time? How many NY houses are going to pick up someone with no following and no drive to market?
What does she think giving interviews, running newsletters, blogs, doing book signings and attending conventions could be if not marketing? Sure many of us actually enjoy doing that, myself included even if the thought of going to Gen Con has me borderline shaking in my boots, but it’s still marketing. And I’m only a novice at this. I’ve got a hell of a lot to learn. But damnit I’m picking up a small readership basis now. I have people who *shock* actually buy my books and some of them even send copies to me to sign and for me to mail back to them.
It’s not always easy to accept that writing and book and having it accepted for publication only means the start of a long hard journey. The days of if you write it they will buy it are over, unless you are Stephen King…
posted by Terri Pray | 11:36 PM
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