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Publishing in a Pandemic: An Insider Interview with a Book Publicist
The first half of this year has been a monumental test in flexibility and resilience for authors and everyone in publishing. My debut novel, The Kindest Lie, will release on February 9, and that...
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Spoilers Won’t Spoil Your Book Promotion. How to Use Them to Pull Readers In.
Spoiler alert: this post is not going to talk about COVID-19 or the state of our world and the ways in which we’ve all needed to adjust. But it is going to look at the pandemic as an example of...
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A Hack for Getting to the Heart of Your Story—and Staying There
When my younger son was in the first grade, his teacher gave the class a writing assignment that consisted of finishing this sentence: “The most important thing about [insert your name] is____” My...
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PR: When a client genre jumps
John Cunningham, my longtime client, called during the height of COVID, when many of us were either crying daily or making sourdough, to say he had dusted off an old manuscript, re-wrote much of it...
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Published Authors Share Wisdom from their Debut Journeys
Publishing a book is the scariest, most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done. It’s hard to believe that my debut novel, The Kindest Lie, will enter the world in less than a month. One of the best parts of...
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Book Promotion is a Marathon Not a Sprint
“My publisher told me that sales numbers the week of publication will make or break my book’s future. Let’s hurry and make sure as much news as possible goes live that week!” “With my publication...
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I Choose Joy, Dammit!
I should not be writing this post right now. I should be working on my second novel, which is due to my editor, in three days. I should be promoting my first book, which just launched three weeks ago....
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How to Celebrate New Releases
My latest book, a YA speculative fiction novel titled The Ghost Squad, is out this week. I’m delighted, of course–and thank you so much to WU for helping me celebrate its release with a Take Five...
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Book PR and Marketing Questions Answered
Earlier this month, Greer Macallister wrote a post for WU entitled, All the Things I Don’t Know, which struck a chord. In this day and age of double-masking, remote learning, and where should I get my...
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Twenty Authors Talk About the Second Time Around Part One: The External...
Like firstborn children, debut novels get a lot of attention. I’m a firstborn myself, as well as the first grandchild in a cohort of twelve, and I’ve always liked the role. But what about second...
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A Look in the Mirror: Your Author Photo
What makes a good author photo? Beauty? Drama? Clever lighting? Is it the picture that most honestly captures the current appearance of the individual, or the one that mysteriously reveals their true...
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Book PR and Marketing Questions Answered Part III
So I went to see Lady Boss: The Jackie Collins story at TRIBECA Film Festival the other night, and Jackie’s daughters discussed how their mum and the late actor Roger Moore (James Bond) would send...
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A Pre-Launch Playbook for Debut Authors
The forthcoming launch of any book is a heavy lift, rife with news to announce, people to call, and updates to publicize. But if you’re launching a debut? It’s an especially daunting endeavor...
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3 Tips for a Great Cover Reveal
We wouldn’t need the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” if people weren’t always doing exactly that. The cover of your book is important! It makes a huge difference to how the book is perceived...
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Book PR and Marketing Questions Answered Part IV
I’m going to start today’s post with one of my favorite business words, “expectation”. Yes, I know, I speak of this word often as it comes up sometimes daily for me. Considering a new marketing...
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Event Tips n’ Tricks for the Vain, Shallow, and/or Insecure
A lion tamer at Bertram Mills Touring Circus, Ascot, 1936. Photo by Edward G. Malindine Certainly our work is the most important component of an author event. With that in mind, most of us choose...
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Who’s Who in Your Publishing Village
As a debut author not long ago, I was desperately uninformed about who’s who in the publishing world. I knew I’d be working closely with my agent from day one, and ultimately the editor who acquired...
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Cooking up Great Book Buzz: An Author’s Experience
In an earlier post for WU, I wrote about the process of writing my audio-first novel for adults, A Hundred Words for Butterfly, and how it had differed from other novels I’ve written, because of the...
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Success Without Self-Promotion
image by SEWphisticate Self-promotion isn’t the most famous naughty s-word, but it can still feel like a bad word to today’s authors. I hate self-promotion, you might say. I’m so sick of talking about...
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Book PR and Marketing Questions Answered Part V
This has been on my brain for some time, and what better time to write about it than the holiday season. Here goes… I believe we’re forgetting to say our thank you’s. I also believe that because of...
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