Top Ten What Not To Do List

In my post yesterday I said:

"I'm on quite a few listservs, where I lurk, but do read about what novelists are doing, desperate to get their books out there and I'm astounded by how many of them are on their own trying any damn thing to get press.

Often making bad mistakes, which can seriously backfire with readers."

I got several dozen letters asking me what those mistakes were. Here are my top ten.

Now, before you read them and write me screaming and pointing out the two or three authors who break these rules and make it work doing exactly what I'm saying not to do - I know. There are excerptions to every rule. But for the most part, these are some things to avoid.

1. The biggest mistake is to assume that worked for one writer and one book is going to work for you.

Publishers - even free lance publicists who cost mega bucks - tend to do the same basics for all books. ARCs go out to the same list of contacts, press releases go out to all the same media outlets and the reviews and articles fall where they may.

But authors can make a greater effort to figure out what is the one special thing about his/her book that might reach readers on a visceral level and grab them.

Which leads us to--

2. The great majority of us are not trained actors and entertainers. Usually, it's not our faces, our bodies, our personas, or our stage presence that will sell our books.

It's our stories, our vision, and our voice.

There are many authors I could pick to make this point, but I'll chose the easiest. The ubiquitous Dan Brown.

Certainly one of the most successful authors in American right now. What do you know about him? What kind of car does he drive? What designers does he wear? What parties has he been seen at? How many times has he been married? Where did he go on his last vacation?

But we do know that stuff about Paris Hilton.

Readers don't want/need from authors what the audience at Letterman wants/needs from today's it celebrity.

So that's a round-about-way of suggesting that you shouldn't talk about yourself all the time.

Most of us are not for sale, it's our books that are.

It's not a question of whether an author is fascinating or not on a personal level - it's that our trivia and trials might not have any connection to the tone and tenor and sense of our books.

We are creating fiction - our own facts can get in the way. If I present a boring life to my readers - it's going to be so much harder to get them to think of my novels as thrilling.

Which leads us to--

3. All press is good press is not necessarily true. You can go too far.

It's really popular - especially on line - to go for controversy thinking it will get you attention and attention will guarantee sales.

Sometimes it works.

But sometimes we just ain't that pretty when we are up on that stage naked with the house lights on.

Sometimes that actually turns off more people than it turns on and you lose potential readers.

In the last two months I can think of three authors who I vowed to never read again based on their non fiction admissions/writings/bloggings and revelations.

Which leads us to--

4. Be true to your inner voice.

For instance. It's very popular to be snarky right now. But it's getting tired. Don't be snarky unless of course your novel have some snark.

Like Jennifer Weiner. She can pull off her blog and it's occasional snarkiness because it fits what she writes about in her books. You find characters in Jennifer's novels who are very similar to Jennifer in her blog.

And she is honestly funny. Not wannabe funny.

Which leads us to--

5. You can't interest anyone in reading your fiction or helping you sell your books if you annoy them.

And it's easy to annoy people.

By sending them too many emails all about you and your book, over and over and every time something happens. Yes, we all need acknowledgment - but we need to ask for it from the appropriate people in our lives.

By subscribing people to your newsletter who haven't asked to be subscribed.

By sending out too many newsletters per week/month/year than you have real news for.

By posting online in all the same places about all the same things. Especailly when those things are you, you, you.

By being a narcissistic blogger.

By believing your own press.

Which leads us to--

6. I talk to a lot booksellers who say not many authors make a sincere effort with them. They just walk in and assume their books should be there front and center and when they are not, the authors are not all that polite about it.

They also mention how few authors bother to actually buy a book when they come in the store.

It's a relatively easy way to endear yourself to a bookseller.

Buy a book when you stop in for a signing, a reading, or just to check on placement. Even a tiny bookstore has 6000 books in it. A big superstore has over 200,000. So. Don't just walk in and complain that your book was supposed to have coop so why isn't it on the table.

Which leads us to--

7. You know the adage in fiction - show don't tell. Well telling doesn't work when it comes to getting buzz either. Telling your readers how good your books are or how well you are doing isn't usually the best strategy.

This is not about you.

It's the book.

It's about the characters.

It's about the story.

Don't even do this on lists of other writers.

Everyone will say, oh how wonderful and act like they are all happy for you, but honestly, behind your back and when they go off line or walk out of the writers conference, only your best friends or family really care about you and will be happy for you.

How many novel's have you actually bought because the author him/herself told you how good it was and well it was doing?

Other potential sandtraps.

8. Contests. If you are going to run a contest really connect what you are giving away to the book. (And bookmarks don't count unless they are diamond studded).

9. This has come up before but newsletters and blogs need to be really interesting on an on going basis. And preferably not all about you, you, you.

10. Showing Up. It is so transparent when authors show up oh so conveniently on listservs, web communities, blog comment sections etc just to talk about themselves - be it their new release or to shout about a new review. It's obvious. And it’s abusive of the community.

If you have any don'ts to add to the list, please write me at [email protected] and I'll post then at the end of the week.

Comments

[kitty]

Many of your excellent suggestions are simple courtesies of life, just common sense.

[Katharine Weber]

Excellent list.

[Demented Michelle]

Hmmm. I disagree with some of this :). Specifically regarding blogs.

I like the me, me, me aspect of blogs (aside from book pimping, book pimping is boring). I enjoy hearing people talk about the interesting/funny/sad things that happen to them.

I guess, I would ask you, if people aren't supposed to talk about themselves, what should they blog about? The weather? The Jackson trial? The graphical standards for RWA? (Which, imo, got a little old when every blog on the net was talking about it. Blogs ceased to be different, they were all focusing on the same thing).

Yes, I don't like blogs that solely pimp books or read like a telemarketer's script, but I do like personal anecdotes. Even Weiner's snark relates back to her in that, at the very least, it's her opinion if not also somehow related to her personal experience.

I like blogs because they are just as individual as people. I'm not going to like everyone, nor will everyone like me, and that's okay. You can't avoid it. I can at least respect people who are genuine--the ones who play nice just to sell books, those are the people who don't see my money.

Just my two cents.

Michelle

[M.J. Rose]

>

Dear Michelle,
Thanks for reading the blog and writing.

I agree with you totally. When its done well it is perfectly fine to do it. That's why I mentioned Jennifer Weiner. She can pull it off. Not everyone can. And for every one who can there are at least 100 writers who can't.

The purpose of my post was to get writers thinking of how to put their best foot forward to the general population. There is a fine line between writing about your life in an interesting, engaging, memorable way, and posting about how brilliant you are and how much your fans love you without any charm, pathos, empathy or wit

[Dee Stewart]

Thank you so much. Oh, boy. Too right.

[Leora Skolkin-Smith]

these are terrific guidelines, MJ. I've been a bit lost as to which to follow. Mostly I began to think I had was popping into the one web community I was a member of just to post review news and was feeling progressively guilty about . Now when I withdraw from there it will be a less ambivalent choice. But I really hate all the self-advertising and getting bombarded privately, too, with it. The constant need for stroking is exhausting. So too some the blogs seem to go way overboard on all this too and I avoid them. I do like some of the personal stories if they're honest and backstory taught me alot about what authors were going through.

[Cece]

Great list...especially #3 since I've also started an "avoid" list based on blog shenanigans.

[Anna Hecker]

MJ,

This is a great list, but I'm a little offended at your comment that "mega-bucks freelance publicists" always send books to the same media outlets. At least in our case, this simply isn't true. First of all, we READ every book we receive and then create a custom list of media contacts based on who we think will want to feature the book. It's our job to "make a greater effort to figure out what is the one special thing about [an author's] book that might reach readers on a visceral level and grab them," and finding different angles on a book is our specialty. That's why we get paid "the mega-bucks."

Regards,
Anna Hecker
Carol Fass Publicity

[Richard]

Great list. The thing I hate the most is when self-promoting authors go into the comments section of someone's blog and really have nothing to say except maybe to compliment the blogger.

[UYGU]

http://www.hugechoiceof.com/