Two panels I attended at Wiscon 38 were so closely related and important that I decided to merge my notes and put them all in a separate post. This is that post. First, the panel descriptions.
1. Is social media all there is? What about book-tours or signings or Conventions? Ideally, you want to do everything but you can’t do all that and write as well. In terms of return for the effort, social media give much more exposure. According to one panelist, when you’re writing Middle Grade (MG) books it’s different. This is because MG books are bought by gate-keepers – parents, teachers, librarians – rather than by the kids themselves. This means that to connect with your audience, you have to go through them, and that may mean a physical presence instead of an internet one.
2. Which social media? Ideally, be on every platform you can. If you’re a newbie at this, just get onto all of them and see which works best for you. One of them can be your primary platform, and others feed off that one. Facebook is possibly mature. Twitter and Tumblr are currently active; and Youtube is a good option; it’s “sticky” which means people come there and stay for a while. Reddit is a possibility. And if someone wants to “friend” you – do it. What have you got to lose? If they turn out to be terrible in some way, you can ‘unfollow’ or drop them.
3. Are blogs dead? A few years ago, authors were encouraged to have blogs. Now, it seems no one’s reading them any more. Individual blogs – unless you are John Scalzi – may be more trouble than they’re worth. (Hmmm!) Multi-author blogs that are magazine-substitutes (with multiple contributors, and significant following) are useful, and blog-tours with the writer contributing to, or interviewed by, such blogs are a good way to gain exposure. But every author does needs a website or blog as a sort of landing site, so they can be found on the internet and provide up-to-date information. It’s important to be easy to find. But you need to use other social media to connect people to your blog.
4. What about multiple pseudonyms and multiple accounts? Many do it. It’s definitely more work, but may be needed for “branding” if you have different audiences. The question is, who are you trying to reach with each separate account? But if you are present as more than one “person” – reblog yourself. If you’ve written something as John Smith, reblog it on your Joanna Jones site as well – if it’s relevant to John’s following as well as Joanna’s. You can save some work that way.
5. You need to be visible. “Presence is promotion” – Jesse Stommel, one of the panel. Do you have an interest people would like to hear about? He recommends finding your enthusiasm and sharing it, using it to build a persona. Ellen Kushner mentioned a radio show, Sound and Spirit that she did for a number of years that brought her a following even though it had nothing to do with her writing. You need to create an illusion of intimacy with your audience, so they’re interested in you and by extension your work. It’s a constructed relationship. It’s important that an internet presence should not be all about selling your book; people get turned off by obvious sales pitches.
6. It’s a long game. Constructing the relationship takes time, and you may not see an immediate impact on book sales. Google analytics does help to see what impact your site is having, but how it translates to purchases is not easy to estimate. One panelist said it takes 3 exposures before people decide to buy a book. They may see a review and file it away in their mind, then hear a friend talk about it and still not respond. But if they then see the book somewhere online or in a store, they might decide to buy.
7. Effective reviews. Someone mentioned research that showed that reviews influenced book purchases only if they included a picture of the book. Author pictures also had an influence. The recommendation was – always try to get a picture of the book into a review; and always have an author picture.
8. Have a press kit. If you’re trying to get reviews, or visit bookstores, or practically anything – you should have a press kit. It should include a photograph (head shot) with high enough resolution to print. It should include a list of publications, and something interesting about the writer. It should have a press release about the latest book.
But do NOT have a database of questions with every possible answer somewhere out on the web. It makes interviews less interesting.
10. Book panels and book clubs can be good ways to get exposure. If they like you and your book, they can become fanatics and your best supporters. “Sell your book by not selling your book” – people are more interested in hearing about the author than “Buy My Book!” Hiring a publicist doesn’t necessarily work, for that reason. Consider having questions and study lists with your book, if appropriate.
Make sure your cover is professional, attractive, works as a thumbnail as well as full-size. And that it signals the right genre.
Hire an editor, especially for the back-cover material. Typos there can kill the book.
12. Some panelists recommended BookBub. It’s a site that charges for promoting a book that is on sale to its genre readers lists. It doesn’t accept all writers, though.
13. Make friends with other writers and show up for them. If they have a new book, help them get the word out. This helps when you want their help in getting the word out about yours.
14. Consider having a monthly newsletter. Develop an email list of supporters and fans. If you’re keeping a blog, it can be a round-up. One panelist includes things like Deleted Scenes from her book, photos of locations where her book is set, and other interesting material. Make sure it’s entertaining.
15. How do you stop outreach from eating your writing time? Use time-fragments. One panelist needs uninterrupted time for writing, but in five minutes while waiting for a bus or 30 minutes during a kid’s activity – she can write a Tweet on Twitter, or a note on Facebook.
16. Do get on Goodreads and on Amazon. Every writer is a reader. Write reviews of books you enjoyed. Avoid reviewing books you dislike; it’s not worth the effort, and can just make you enemies. Also, try to get people to review your books on these sites. It’s a necessary evil. Many reviews may not boost your sales much, but a lack of reviews can kill them.
17. Serialising – mixed reviews. Some people serialize the first part of their book – as a teaser, or a sample – and charge for the remainder. Someone mentioned a site called Patreon to do this. One author puts out her chapters as she writes them to her list, with a warning that it’s a draft and could change in the final book. This engages readers, and also encourages them to buy the book later. Some serialize their books publicly in the hope that readers will want the whole book in once piece later, or that they’ll buy subsequent books in the series or by that author. But some panelists didn’t care for the idea; it provides too many opportunities to lose the reader.
18. Back list matters. If readers discover a book by you, they want to buy more. If there’s a body of related work, it provides that many more entry points for potential readers.
This year, the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA – “Siff-ra”) also had its annual convention in Madison, at the Inn on the Park. This is Wiscon’s alternate hotel, a short walk away from the Concourse (which is the main hotel). Wiscon and SFRA co-ordinated, so those attending either event could also go to the other one. This worked really well; the academic offerings deepened the whole experience.
Unusually, I found myself awake early Friday morning, eager to get started on the Con. After a decadent breakfast at the Dayton Street Grille, I attended a couple of SFRA sessions – presentations of academic papers. Walking up to Inn on the Park, I noted with sadness that a wonderful antiquarian bookstore (“J Taylors Antiquities, Notable Books & Rare Maps“) had closed down and the space was for rent.
One SFRA paper I found particularly interesting was an analysis of the economic system within some questing-type videogames (“Bind on Pickup: The Virtual Economics of Digital Science Fiction” – David M Higgins). Though I’m not a gamer myself, I thought the design of these alternate universes – and their parallels with capitalist ideals – quite interesting. “Bind on Pickup” refers to the way in which treasures/ weapons/ etc that players achieve in the course of the game “bind” to the player, so they cannot be sold or given away within the game and thus prevent a secondary market from arising or stronger players unfairly helping weaker ones. Within the real-world capitalist system this would be ideal for profit-maximizing. It in fact applies to some kinds of electronic products that cannot be sold or given away.
I got back to the Concourse in time for lunch and The Gathering, which is like a fair in a large meeting room. There’s free coffee and cookies, a clothing swap, tarot readings, fabric arts, paper arts, hair-braiding (and we saw the pretty and complex results on people for the next several days!), and Galley Ho! offering pre-publication book galley for a one-dollar donation. I tried to avoid this table, which is overly tempting, but when I met up with Julie, she had an armful of books and I couldn’t resist going over to check it out. In about five minutes, I had acquired more books than would fit in my suitcase.
Dropping the books off in my room, I decided to attend a panel before I was tempted to return to Galley Ho: “Class in the works of Hiromi Goto.” In some ways, it focused more on the immigrant experience and cultural issues than just class. Hiromi Goto attended, sitting quietly in the back of the room. Though it was interesting, I think I’d have got more out of it if I had read her books first.
Friday evening’s ‘People of Color’ dinner, organized by LaShawn Wanak and Tempest Bradford, was awesome. There’s just so much cameraderie and enthusiasm and general noise! I found some people I already knew, including Nisi Shawl’s mother, a gentle and engaging lady who I met at Wiscon 37, as well as some new and interesting people. Then I went on to the Opening Ceremonies. It’s always nice to see and cheer for the people who make Wiscon happen. Especially after I got involved with the FoGcon committee, I’ve developed a sharper appreciation for what it takes to make a Con.
I picked panels over parties. “The Politics of Being Poor” was excellent. A couple of panelists spoke from direct experience about the difficulties of poverty. It’s worse when it happens suddenly, in one case owing to a disability that not only cost medical bills, but prevented them from working. Very quickly, the family went from solidly middle-class to impoverished. They didn’t even know what services were available or how to get them. Panelists spoke of the patchwork of services available, but the paperwork – and effort – required to access them is daunting for someone without a car and maybe with some mobility issues. Being poor, one said, is a full-time job. This whole system needs to improve, but the poor are so busy with survival that they cannot always agitate for change. They discussed the embarrassment of depending on Christian charities if you’re not Christian. They also spoke of the problems with food pantries. One suggestion: If you’re donating to a food pantry, donate some cake-mixes that don’t need any additional ingredients except water (none needing eggs, for instance) and birthday candles. Poor moms also want to celebrate their children’s birthdays, and baking a cake is a good way – if it’s available.
“Can You Be Transphobic and Still be a Feminist?” was a wholly new topic for me; I had no idea that some people who consider themselves feminist object to trans women being considered women – or that this had started in the 1970s. Everyone on the panel was trans, and so they could speak to the direct effects of this kind of exclusion. Bottom line: a person’s gender depends on their own definition and what they identify as. No one else has the right to tell a trans woman what gender she is.
After that, I did swing by the parties. They seemed very quiet, perhaps because it was nearly midnight. Also, this year, some of the 6th floor party rooms were converted to regular guest rooms. The parties were split between the 6th and 2nd floors, making it difficult for people to drift back and forth.