
Lately, I’ve been feeling like an old lady. One of those who sits in her rocking chair and gazes up at the planes in the sky with befuddled skepticism at the new-fangled flying contraptions. You put wings in a brick and throw it hard enough, it’ll fly, I reckon. We’ll see, won’t we?
Let me explain. I’m only forty-one, so while Depends seems like a pretty nifty invention when I sneeze, or laugh too hard, for the most part I don’t feel particularly old. But when it comes to promoting a book, I’ve been feeling pretty ancient. My last book came out ten years ago (second baby arrived, and wow, there were a LOT of things that seemed way more important than publishing for a while), and I have to say, I was pretty good at the promotion merry-go-around. I had a smaller publisher, and we were expected to do most of the promotion, which meant a ton of cold calls, setting up my own signings and printing out bookmarks and posters to advertise, and the endless round of stock signings that seemed like a very bizarre episode of Groundhog Day. Fifty-fourth bookstore, same as the first!
I had a website, yes. I believe there was even something called Myspace back then (flashback Tuesday, anyone?), but if Facebook was around, I was not aware of it, and there was definitely nothing like blogging (like we know it today), or Twitter, or Tumblr, or Instagram, or… well, you get the picture. Sending out emails was second choice not first. I recall putting together hundreds of advertising packets for bookstores and libraries, and actually going to post office, and MAILING them, and a good old-fashioned phone call was always the follow-up.
When I signed with my splendiferous agent Sarah Davies more than two years ago, she asked me if I had a Facebook page or a Twitter account. Facebook I had heard of, and had been avoiding for a myriad of reasons (imagine Wendy being pulled into the technology age kicking and screaming) and Twitter?? What the hell was that? It sounded vaguely dirty, because sometimes when I look in the mirror, I still see a twelve-year-old. But I obligingly signed up for Facebook and Twitter and she was right (of course), because when I talked to my editor for the first time, we had a ten minute discussion about social media that I either faked very well, or actually DID know what I was talking about because she very nicely decided to offer me a contract. Still not sure she hung up the phone laughing her patootie off!
Flash forward to now, and I have a book coming out in three weeks, and I have a blog tour planned (Yes, I had to Google it because I HAD NO CLUE and yes, I’m extremely excited because what a great targeted way to meet readers who actually have interest in what you have to say!), my very own blog, a Goodreads profile (which also fell under the province of very-good-things-that-had-yet-to-be-invented-ten-years-ago), and plans to do a Skype book club tour in April. Again, to reiterate, NONE of the things I just mentioned were part of my promotion efforts ten years ago.
Yes, there are still the old standbys. I will still be doing signings and library and school appearances, I will still do stock signings, I will still attend conferences. I will still look into the eyes of a potential reader and talk very earnestly about why they should read my book. But as I prepare to launch myself into the wide-open skies of the social media world for the first time, I still can’t help but feel like that old lady in the rocking chair.
You put wings in a brick and throw it hard enough, it’ll fly, I reckon. We’ll see, won’t we?
Let me explain. I’m only forty-one, so while Depends seems like a pretty nifty invention when I sneeze, or laugh too hard, for the most part I don’t feel particularly old. But when it comes to promoting a book, I’ve been feeling pretty ancient. My last book came out ten years ago (second baby arrived, and wow, there were a LOT of things that seemed way more important than publishing for a while), and I have to say, I was pretty good at the promotion merry-go-around. I had a smaller publisher, and we were expected to do most of the promotion, which meant a ton of cold calls, setting up my own signings and printing out bookmarks and posters to advertise, and the endless round of stock signings that seemed like a very bizarre episode of Groundhog Day. Fifty-fourth bookstore, same as the first!
I had a website, yes. I believe there was even something called Myspace back then (flashback Tuesday, anyone?), but if Facebook was around, I was not aware of it, and there was definitely nothing like blogging (like we know it today), or Twitter, or Tumblr, or Instagram, or… well, you get the picture. Sending out emails was second choice not first. I recall putting together hundreds of advertising packets for bookstores and libraries, and actually going to post office, and MAILING them, and a good old-fashioned phone call was always the follow-up.
When I signed with my splendiferous agent Sarah Davies more than two years ago, she asked me if I had a Facebook page or a Twitter account. Facebook I had heard of, and had been avoiding for a myriad of reasons (imagine Wendy being pulled into the technology age kicking and screaming) and Twitter?? What the hell was that? It sounded vaguely dirty, because sometimes when I look in the mirror, I still see a twelve-year-old. But I obligingly signed up for Facebook and Twitter and she was right (of course), because when I talked to my editor for the first time, we had a ten minute discussion about social media that I either faked very well, or actually DID know what I was talking about because she very nicely decided to offer me a contract. Still not sure she hung up the phone laughing her patootie off!
Flash forward to now, and I have a book coming out in three weeks, and I have a blog tour planned (Yes, I had to Google it because I HAD NO CLUE and yes, I’m extremely excited because what a great targeted way to meet readers who actually have interest in what you have to say!), my very own blog, a Goodreads profile (which also fell under the province of very-good-things-that-had-yet-to-be-invented-ten-years-ago), and plans to do a Skype book club tour in April. Again, to reiterate, NONE of the things I just mentioned were part of my promotion efforts ten years ago.
Yes, there are still the old standbys. I will still be doing signings and library and school appearances, I will still do stock signings, I will still attend conferences. I will still look into the eyes of a potential reader and talk very earnestly about why they should read my book. But as I prepare to launch myself into the wide-open skies of the social media world for the first time, I still can’t help but feel like that old lady in the rocking chair.
You put wings in a brick and throw it hard enough, it’ll fly, I reckon. We’ll see, won’t we?