Professional Development for the Professional Writer

I attended another workshop on marketing and promotion last Saturday run by Holly Roberts, USA Today Best Seller author. We can never get enough of this stuff, right?

In the fall, I attended one at our local Historical Novel Society meeting. I paid nothing for this one and gained a purse full of gold from Marylee McDonald’s stellar presentation.

I buy books on marketing and promotion. I read articles on marketing and promotion. I take classes when I can. Since this is not an area I feel confident in, I seek the information from knowledgeable others. As a professional writer, I have a responsibility to keep learning and growing. It’s my career, so I must assume the bulk of the responsibility for my success while being grateful for support from my publishers.

Every source says first write a good book. Well, I try. I do the best I can, but when I compare myself to Louise Penny, Jaqueline Winspear, Diane Mott Davidson, and others, I can see that my writing is not at that level. Yet. But I’m working on it. Honest.

However, the marketing thing can take over your life. At last Saturday’s Holly Roberts’ workshop, I learned so much about how to create a compelling ad, what I need to do on Facebook, and more. With four Facebook author pages, I need to up my game and post more content on each.

Okaaaay!

To figure out, maybe, how to be more efficient while being more effective with marketing and promotion, I am “attending” a Facebook group’s marketing strategies week-long focus beginning next week. For free! Maybe this one will be the magic bullet. Care to join me? Check out the 12-Minute Book Launch Challenge for yourself. 

I’ll be writing a limited series of what I’m learning/have learned about marketing and promotion. Come back next week for tips on building your mailing list and how to use it.

What are you doing that’s been effective for marketing your books without sucking up your whole life? Please share below.

Facebook: Are you struggling with the book marketing energy-time drain, too? Commiserate with Sharon Arthur Moore at http://bit.ly/2F6ntIO

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The Year of Writing Dangerously

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Welcome back to the Write Away blog and welcome forward to the new year. A year with possibilities, riches (of some sort, even if not money), and fulfillment. At least, that’s the goal, right? The resolution?

This time of year is clogged with suggestions for how you can make a new, improved you. Just resolve to this, that, and the other, and presto bingo! Out pops a better version of you!

Or not.

While about half of us make resolutions, only about 8% of us follow through. I talk more about making and breaking resolutions and a viable alternative tomorrow at Romance Righter, Angelica French’s blog (www.angelicafrench.blogspot.com). Check it out tomorrow if that interests you.

But back to Professional Writer You. Over the years I have tried different genres and writing formats to challenge myself. I’ve dabbled in paranormal, scifi, historical fiction, biography, romance, women’s fiction, and culinary mysteries.

I’ve written short stories, full-length plays, 10-minute plays, novels, novellas, and non-fiction.

I keep learning when I try a new format or genre. One goal this year is to try writing humor. That will likely be my most difficult challenge yet. Humor writing is hard! While everyone thinks that a dying nice guy is a tear jerker, we don’t all agree on what makes things funny. One person’s witty wisecracker is another’s annoying pest.

Another writing goal I have for the year is to write in first person. First person terrifies me! To only know what your narrator knows. Why isn’t omniscient observer good enough anymore? So, of course, I have to try it! What’s to lose? Time, right? Maybe get a bit of a bruised ego? But the old, “nothing ventured . . .” saw comes to mind.

Time and ego are small potatoes in the grand scheme. So, ride along with me? Prod me to tell you how I’m doing. Join me in The Year of Writing Dangerously.

And what are you doing to stretch yourself this year? Tell me of your writing travel plans in the Comments section below and what challenges you expect to encounter. Let’s enjoy our journeys together.

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