Book-Giving at the Holidays

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I love giving books as gifts. Like LOVE giving books as gifts. It makes me happy on more levels than I can iterate:

• Introducing someone to a new world to get lost in
• Helping another author make a living
• Spreading the love of books that will hopefully be shared and talked about
• So on and so forth...

But there are some problems with giving books at the holidays too.

• For every Smutketeers 12 Days of Christmas that gives away tons of books and gift cards and stuff, there are ten authors who are pushing their books on readers and buyers. 
• For every author willing to answer questions to help you pick the best book for a reader, others ignore  questions completely. 
• And so on and so forth. 

If you are an author, this is really the wrong time of year to be a douchebag author. It's a busy time for everyone, but you ignore your readers and potential readers at your peril.

For example, my daughter is nine. She is a very advanced reader. Middle grade books, for the most part, are too easy for her. She's reading young adult and soaking it up like a sponge. But she's nine. While I don't see her stepping out and trying to become the next evil wizard bent on world domination, she can and will be inappropriate in certain things she choose to talk about. (In other words, I'd prefer books for her where sex and swearing are at a minimum, thank you very much.) Yesterday, I asked about a series she's interested in and (on the off chance it was caught) @mentioned the author. The author did see the tweet. Retweeted it in fact, but didn't answer the question about whether or not the series contained sex. She left it up to her readership to do so. Thankfully they did, and I know it's not an appropriate series for my daughter right now.

But too often questions online are lost to the aether. Thousands of people see them and no one bothers answering (to put it in perspective, this author has over 30,000 followers...3 answered the question, one with a "not sure on the last book"). I get it, and it's fine, but normally when people retweet questions, I assume they don't know the answer and are trying to help. In the case of a reader asking you about your books...you're the best source of information.

Will I potentially buy the series for my kid in a few years when she's older? If she still wants it. But that author turned me off her work personally. I would like to thank the readers who stepped up to answer my question, though.

If you are an author, you need to remember that readers and potential readers are necessary for you to make money. (We shall ignore pirates and jerky readers, obviously.) No readers, no money. It's ridiculously simple math that my math-hating 9 year old could figure out. Be kind to your readers. Be as generous to them as you can. Without them, you don't have a career.

Selling yourself

I'm trying to sell my car (because I'm getting a new awesome one!) and it's made me think about marketing yourself, which is applicable here.

Promotion is a pain. It is also, unfortunately, how you sell books. While it would be delightful to write a book and then never do anything again and have it sell millions of copies, that's just not how it works. Promotion and marketing are especially important if you're published with a small press or self-published. The big publishers will do more to promote your books, but unless you're one of their best sellers, you can still be doing more.

You can always do more.

But, don't be obnoxious about it. That's your basic rule of thumb, I think. Like anything, promotion is good in reasonable quantities. If you overdo it, people will want to hit you. Trust me, I will.

I love Twitter. I think it's a fabulous way to connect with people, see what people are up to, and it's especially great in the writer community. But there are inevitably those people who sign up for an account and then spam-blast their 2 followers every hour on the hour with promotional tweets. Uh, no. That's not why ANYONE followed you. Same goes for Facebook. The people who follow you or like you or are friends with you are there because they're interested in you. In your books too, sure, but you as a person more. So go ahead and promote yourself on Twitter or Facebook or other social networking sites, but don't let that be the only thing you do.

Be personal, let people into your life a little bit. I'm not saying show them pictures of where you sleep, but let them get to know you. Whether that's funny stories about how your writing was going, typos that made you giggle, or whatever, but don't make it all promotion. Because I (and most of the rest of the universe) are likely to unfollow you as fast as possible and possibly report you for spam.

Most people seem to have gotten the hang of social networking these days, fortunately. But word to the wise, real life is like that too. (What? Life is like the internet? No way! It's true. Fewer cats, probably. I digress). Asking your friends and family to buy your book is great. Please do not badger them about it. People have a variety of reasons for not being able to purchase a book. I'm pretty sure your Uncle George is not the reason you didn't make it on the New York Times bestseller list.

There you have it. Promote, but not too much. Just don't be obnoxious.

Words to live by  :)

Skye

I'm Rarely Beautiful When I'm Busy

See the title? Yeah. I'm usually busy, which causes a certain degree of rolling out of bed, whipping my hair up and going about my day. I usually remember to brush my teeth, shower and get dressed, but beyond that... it's just not important. I mean, I spend my day running errands, cleaning and sitting at my desk with only my dogs for company. Perfect hair, make-up, etc are a waste of time. 

Here's the funny thing though, I can clean up quite nicely. And I have the pictures to prove it. There are some people who know me, however, who are... not fond of these pictures. I know of at least one who when asked by a Facebook friend how she knew me included a link to a different photo and a "this is what she really looks like" in her response. Uh... thanks? (Actually, I didn't think the word thanks at all. I did think some other words, but we won't go into what they are.)

But it's true. My average day does not involve corsets or great lighting or a professional photographer who has been paid a lot of money to bring out my best. Hell, my average outing with family or friends involves at best a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am job on the hair and make-up. And clothes? I'm a big fan of comfort when dealing with my family--it makes getting out of Dodge quickly a lot easier. (I have also grown very adept at running in heels for the same reason.) 

I can't think of anyone who normally looks as good on an average day as they do in professional photos. (This is why they always do those "stars without make-up" things in tabloids. They're human too.) However, at this point, I don't want to show my readers and fans the every day me. If they run into me at the grocery store, they'll get that, but not online. Online I try to give them my best me. (And yes, the best me wears a corset most of the time. Deal with it.)

As an author, everything you do online is scrutinized, from your photos to your typos to how often you pimp your books. All of it. The only way to get ahead of that game is to scrutinize yourself and decide up front how you want to present your brand. For me, a big part of my brand is openness. I write with the door open, and I tweet/facebook with the door to my mind open. I don't hide my views on issues any more than I hide what I'm working on (unless I have to contractually). 

There's a mantra at one of my publishers that says "Your boobs are not your brand." As much as it might raise some eyebrows, I don't disagree with that. If that's all an author has to offer, that's a problem. However, I don't look at my photos and think that. For me, that has a lot more to do with another part of my brand: women are sexual creatures. We're allowed to be, damn it. We shouldn't have to hide behind drapey fabrics and muumuus. It's a sort of freedom that I allow my characters (even the book with no actual sex has a bit of sexual discovery in it for this very reason). 

Another reason I love the corset pictures? Confidence--which is also part of my brand. I stand/sit straighter when I'm wearing a corset. I feel better about myself and it shows. More often than not, my characters also deal with confidence issues and finding themselves. It's an important thing because so many women--young and old (and men too)--struggle with their confidence. I try to show through my writing those little steps (and some big ones) that help to build a person up. 

So, today, I'm sitting here blogging in a t-shirt that says "Neighborhood Witch," a pair of jeans, and some slippers that really need replacing. My hair is twisted up in a clip and isn't even dry yet (which will be a problem I  have to deal with later). And I have no make-up on. This is me as I sit at my computer and avoid normal human interaction. 

But that chick in the pictures? She's me too. She's me when I need to go out in the world and talk to people. She's proud and strong and open and sexy and confident. She's my brand, but she's still me.