PubPt: Market Yourself & Books While You're At It

Dear Readers,

I just got back from a really great event given by the Publishing Point (#pubpt) called “Market Yourself! (and books, while you’re at it)” held in the conference room at Simon and Schuster. And I found the place on my first try! However, I did stand across the street in frozen terror for a few moments when I realized that I was entering THE Simon and Schuster. (Yes, I am a dork. Nothing marks a wannabe like an action like that, but I couldn’t help myself.)

Due to excessive planning, I arrived quite a bit early and spent over an hour searching the neighborhood for a coffee shop with free Wifi (there weren’t any—I asked 6 within a 4-block stretch). I finally gave up and just waited in the Metro Café across the street. And at T-1/2 hour, I made my way in.

So of course the guard couldn’t find my name on the list. I was able to convince him to let me in anyway (I swore I had no plans to disrupt the magnificent work of S&S) and after getting up to the 14th floor, I wandered around a bit, not wanting to burst into the wrong room. (Why, oh why, did I arrive a half-hour early? I really thought people would come early to mingle, but alas—this was not the case.)

I was the first one there and waited uncomfortably , feeling like an intruder on the inside workings of the Publishing Point & the wonderful Maggie Hilliard (@MaggieHilliard), Susan Danzinger, and others, for at least 20 minutes until people started to arrive. And there were plenty of people. They encouraged us to tweet during the event but I couldn’t get a Wifi connection (what is it with me and Wifi today?). I didn’t want to mess with my phone and have my notes suffer, so I just turned my phone off and focused on the guest speakers.

After a roll call—I wish I could remember everyone who came but it just went by too fast!—we went over a little bit of what the Publishing Point does. Check out their website: http://publishingpoint.ning.com/ and be sure to sign up for their group on meetup.com to find out! They have lots of useful info to share and you’ll get to learn from the best.

The first speaker was Max Kalehoff (@MaxKalehoff). He’s an expert on developing brands and, whether we like it or not, to get anywhere in publishing we each need to be a brand. So what does that ACTUALLY mean? To explain this, he used a case study about his own company, Clickable. Maybe, to make this easier, I’ll use myself as a case study.

Everyone is selling something. In publishing, we’re selling books or a book idea or a manuscript of a book. Online, we’re basically selling ourselves. The first thing you need to figure out is: What are your goals? Using myself as an example—What I hope to get out of being online is connections. I want to establish myself in the literary community and have all the privileges and responsibilities that come with it. (I’m already on my way with all of my blog readers—you guys are the best!)

Next step: Figure out the core insight into your niche—what is this group missing? Is there a problem that could do with a little fixing? For me, a problem I see is that everyone trying to get into the publishing industry wants to appear perfect and fearless. This makes authors unable to relate to them and the young professionals themselves seem…inhuman. How can an author relate to an agent that isn’t human, that doesn’t convey passion for their work? What’s wrong with showing how eager you are to live your dream? With saying you are nervous on your first day? It may not be a huge problem, but I think the lack of honest, firsthand journeys into the publishing world is a niche that should be filled.

The next step is to question where you can fill in: What can you contribute that they’re missing? What can you do more or be better at than everyone else? In my case, I’ve decided to be completely honest about how hard it is to get into the publishing industry and be embarrassingly personal. I’ll tell you about how I get lost or flub someone’s name or get really excited when I should be cool—because I think sometimes the publishing industry could do with being a little more human. Therefore, I think I can make connections by contributing my personal story—both the wins and losses.

Next step: Establishing outbound connections. This means helping people for nothing. The only thing you need to do is remember to leave your name. I know all you readers are good people, so you already do this the same way I do. Answer questions on other people’s blogs, crit. other people’s manuscripts, be generally helpful. This rule boils down to karma (see @jamieharrington’s blog for a nice post on karma in the publishing world) http://www.totallythebomb.com/friends-getting-theirs.

Then comes the big step: Inbound engagement--setting up your own blog, Twitter, participating in chats, forums. When you do this, be sure to have some sort of theme that you will blog on—it’s very confusing to have someone who talks about random subjects every time they sign on! People want to know what to expect when they come to see your page. Make sure you are reaching out to the people who are interested in your product (product = you! your book! But be careful—if you intend to write several books, calling your blog after one of those books could trap you). For example, the theme of my blog is right across the header—my journey to break into the publishing industry. I share insights that I gain, stumbles that I make, and I hope that others will also share their insights.

The sharing of content is linked with the last step: educational and marketing assets—keep them coming back for more. The second speaker, Stephen Baker (formerly of Business Week) also talked about offering things of value. Don’t talk at, talk with. Be present.

Stephen Baker also discussed his experiences using his blog (TheNumerati.net) and Twitter (@SteveBaker) to promote his book, The Numerati. He also discussed his use of social media and how, at the time he was writing, certain publishing houses were still unsure of how to use this tool, afraid it destroy the mystique of the author. I guess we’ll see how far we’ve come when we find out how much he is allowed to tweet when his next book comes out.

Both speakers said that it’s hard to measure success in blogging since no one knows which numbers to look at, but the idea is to have something show up once you are googled. I absolutely agree with this. I know talking to you all is like preaching to the choir but it can never hurt to hear it again. Having a personality is just as important online as it is offline. I promise, when I seriously consider a manuscript I also seriously consider the author and I know that publishing houses do as well. Seeing someone who is taking their career seriously by promoting themselves is a great sign that they will be committed to promoting their book once it is published.

Almost forgot to mention that I met some really great people there, some employed and some looking for employment. I ran into Elana Roth (@elanaroth) in person—yay!

Whew, that was a long one! Sorry about that, but the event was full of info! I have another great event tonight (different sponsor) so off I go again. I hope you found that helpful and until next time…

Dear Endings, Your Happy Sappy Little Bows are Strangling Me

Dear Readers,

Having been closed for the past few days, I’ve had a great opportunity to catch up on my reading. (To be honest, I don’t know why I say “catch up” as I never really catch up on reading—it’s like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon: you never feel any closer to finishing than when you started.) But all this reading—manuscripts & published novels—has me frustrated out of my mind. Why, you ask? ENDINGS. I’ve already done a post about prologues (which are one of the biggest destroyers-of-openings, post can be found here: http://bit.ly/Prologues) and I think now is a great time to talk about endings.

No matter which genre you’re writing, the ending is essential. This is the last thought the reader is going to have of your story, the taste you’re going to leave in their mouth. If you write a fabulous book but a terrible, incongruous ending, the ending is going to be the only thing the reader remembers. Those few pages are going to stop the reader, who might have adored your story and your style, from recommending your work to any of their friends and probably from picking up anything you write in the future. Yes, it’s that important.

And so, I’d like to highlight just a few of the biggest issues I’ve seen with endings:

1) Forced

Too many authors make the mistake of thinking that everything has to have a happy ending—it doesn’t. Don’t feel that everything has to be tied up with a neat little bow with all the characters smiling, holding hands, and singing kumbaya. Don’t insult your readers’ intelligence. If you’ve written a strong, compelling book, don’t force and ending that doesn’t make sense. There are sad endings; there are bittersweet endings. If your novel talks about mental illness and institutionalization, it might not make sense for everyone to be reconciled at the end. It’s much more important to stay true to your characters and tone in the ending rather than forcing the plot somewhere it doesn’t want to go.

2) Preachy—“and what I learned today, boys and girls…”

One of the most frustrating things for me as a reader is a story that forces not necessarily a happy ending but a moralistic one, especially in YA literature. Teens are preached at from every angle in their lives—they go to school, religious institutions, live with their parents, are watched all the time. They always have someone telling them what’s right and wrong, how they should think. They absolutely do not need it in books, too. Don’t force your characters to make the “right” choice at the end just because it’s “right” if it’s not actually consistent with who you have written them to be. They can have done the wrong thing and learned from it; it’s more important to show the change than to throw the “what I learned” moment in.

3) Three dimensional characters suddenly become stereotypes

Writers should know more than anyone—characters are human. If you have a character that is 3-dimensional all through the story but then becomes an stereotype at the very end (the person who decides it’s time to face up to their responsibilities & offers to be punished, the weak person who is suddenly a hero, etc.) you’re just leaving a sour taste in the reader’s mouth. Real life is more complicated than that.

4) No change in character/no development

The other problem with so many endings is that they don’t incorporate any change in the character. Stories are about growth, especially in YA, where characters experience extreme emotional growth in a very short time-span. It’s not about learning a lesson and shoving it in the face of the reader but rather how the character has or is going to incorporate those lessons into who they are becoming. The ending often just shows us the first step in this new direction. If they didn’t change at all, make sure that’s what you intended because otherwise it just seems like a long story where nothing happened.

5) Series whose book couldn’t stand alone

Okay, you’re a tease and we know it. You want to put out another book in the series and you’re leaving plenty of room for sequels—I respect that and so do the rest of your readers. Hell, we love it! But don’t forget, we need to be able to survive between books. Your story has to end at a logical stopping point; don’t cut us off in the middle of the story. Your book has to stand alone. Tease us with what will happen, the upcoming adventures and problems of our beloved hero, but don’t just stop. There needs to be method to this madness. A great place to stop is usually where the path has changed directions; we know that the journey isn’t over but we’re okay with taking a short breather. I think the Harry Potter series had this down pat.

So what do you all think—what are the other cardinal errors of endings? What are some books that have done endings very right…or very wrong?