Self-Promotion | Self Publishing

DIY Marketing/Promotion/Publicity is an evil necessity, I have decided. Since both my recently published novels, ?Frantic? and ?Crushed? came out simultaneously, I have been trying to keep myself awake, while writing and posting press releases on the web ? or ?media releases? is how Carolyn Howard-Johnson describes them in her bible, ?The Frugal Book Promoter?, making sure each press release I write has a different leader.

I?m dreading my next gargantuan phone bill, for I have been glued to the phone during the official office hours of 9-5, calling all the regional newspapers in the United Kingdom, Scotland and Wales, speaking to their lethargic book review editors, trying to make them interested enough to give me the devil?s thumbs up ? i.e. to e-mail them a press release on each book. A week has passed, with no response from any of them, which means I shall have to do a chase up call, pestering the provincial press some more. But, my heart?s not in it. All I want to do is write my new novel, but how can I be an ?artist?, if I?m immersed in self-promotion?

I went to a series of intense screenwriting lectures held at RADA last year. Not one of the optimistic lecturers mentioned the word ?publicity?, but admittedly they did sketch on selling your work: how you had to be a ruthless businessman when you weren?t creating. The emphasisis was on pitching your script ? especially if you were miraculously stuck alone in an elevator with ?Saint? Spielberg for a minute.

It was all very interesting, but the most helpful thing about the packed seminars was the art of salubrious networking at the bar. I made friends with a youthful film maker, who enticed me to attend a screenwriting course with him. I stuck one excruciating class out, but the Marxist teacher?s stifling teaching inhibited my burgeoning creativity. The academic emphasis was on the actual writing of the screenplay, but not one word was discussed about selling it.

A writer?s nature isn?t generally brash, which is a disadvantage when in the modern age of commerce, you have to put on a new ?hat? after you have finished writing, and adopt the schizophrenic role of a thick-skinned, pushy businessman. Even if you do have a subservient publicist to do the dirty work for you, you still have to unrelentlessly push yourself and your product during every waking hour.

I?ve been so over zealous with my promotional endeavours, that I mistakenly ?sold? the same story about my novels, ?Frantic? and ?Crushed? twice, to the Writers? Guild?s (UK) weekly, informative e-bulletin. They made a mistake too, by reprinting the item. Just when I was celebrating my double dose of publicity, I noticed the Writers? Guild had made an unfortunate typo in my bookstore?s URL. The result of which, Eiworth Publishing?s vital link didn?t work. I think I shall have to calm down with the releases though, for I am now noticing they are appearing in gluts on the same sites, even though I was careful to write different headings and leaders.

I?m being so over enthusiastic with my sporadic promotion, that I am impulsively calling up old journalistic cronies, bugging them to plug my books. As if they care? They are only interested in promoting film stars? ghost-written autobiographies. I even bribed a friend who?s got a showbiz column in a National newspaper. If he gave me a mention, I would give him a couple of free books, I implored.

Yes, I?m sitting slumped at my desk, my head filled with wild schemes on how to promote my books. It?s all rather depresing. By the laws of artistic nature, I should be in a lonely garret, writing my new novel, not trying to act like a desperate publicist. So far, one library has said they would buy a couple of copies of ?Frantic?. I must remind myelf to subtly bamboozle them about giving me Events. Not only do I now have to chase up all the newspapers I e-mailed last week, but I now have to bribe the friends whom I have already forced to buy my books, to atttend my future book-signings. ?Think positive? is my new Mantra.

Being an unrelentless self-promoter is extremely hard work, much tougher than being a solitary writer. However, if I have to concentrate on promoting all my new books for the rest of their print life, I shall never technically again be able to write alone in my head. For, I shall always be dreaming of ambitious schemes on how to self-promote myself. It?s not natural behaviour for a writer, who ideally would like to be left alone at his desk in order to create in peace.

Frances Lynn: copyright 2006

Frances Lynn is a professional writer and journalist. Her two novels, ?Frantic? and ?Crushed? are published by Eiworth Publishing at http://yourbookstore.eiworth.se/. Her musings about writing can be read at http://www.writerholic.blogspot.com/ Her personal website is http://franceslynn.org

Source: http://richsb.com/selfpublishing/self-promotion/

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