Yes, That's Spam; No, Don't Do It: How to Avoid Alienating Readers

We all hate SPAM. Every author knows that spamming potential readers is a surefire way to alienate them (RIGHT?) - so why do some insist on invading your online space with their advertisements?

It turns out, based on some conversations I had this week, some authors don't believe what they're doing is SPAM. So here's my handy-dandy, not comprehensive guide, called "Yes, that's spam."

1) Direct Messages

Unless you are having an actual conversation (not argument) or the person has asked you to DM her some information, resist the urge to send a private message on any social media site.

The absolute fastest way to get someone who may have been interested in your books to unfollow you is to send one of those gross "thanks for following messages" immediately after they follow you. Bonus points if it's obviously automated.

For ex:

Thanks for following me! Check out my newest release Stupid Book on Amazon! http://amzn.to/1C53u9V (service of @tweetspammerco)

*yes that is a link to my alter-ego's book. Hey, I needed a link for my example. And you're in my space, after all.

This is not limited to sales links! Telling people where to find your website or other social media, or even messages without links are still considered spam. Private messages are a place for conversation, not for promotion of any kind.

It's like: Those obnoxious phone calls just as you're sitting down to dinner

2) Posting on Someone Else's Virtual Space

Posting about your book on someone's Facebook Wall. Promoting your book on a FB group that has not specifically invited you to do so. Using the comments of another person's blog post to link to/talk about your book. Posting about your book in forums not specifically intended for that sort of thing.

Really, posting about your books on any online space that you do not "own" and you have not been specifically invited to use for that purpose is always a big no-no.

It's like: Walking around a book festival, slapping stickers of your book cover on people without asking.

3) Goodreads "Events" and "Book Suggestions"

I know that someone is telling you to use Goodreads Events to announce your book launch and that someone is telling you to use Goodreads Book Suggestion feature to suggest your own book to anyone who's naive enough to friend you.

Someone wants people to hate you. I want people to like you and I'm saying: don't do this.

Events should be an actual event that someone can attend (virtual events are a thing!), not just an announcement of a book launch. And the Book Suggestion feature's intended use is for people who actually know each other (again, online friendships are a thing!) to suggest books they enjoyed to other people they think might also enjoy them.

It's like: Those pieces of mail that make it look like you're going to get in trouble with the law, but really they're just trying to make you sign up for a loan.

4) Tags

Tagging people in a picture when it's just a promotional image for your book. Mentioning people in a tweet that is promo for your book (or even tweeting a bunch of usernames with something impersonal). Using hashtags meant for communities in promotional posts.

It's like: #2 on this list and also implying that the tagged person endorses your product.

5) Repetitive Promotional Messages

If you tweet the same message about your book every day with a link, rethink that strategy. Also, if you post only about your book and nothing else, mix it up. You may think this is ok because those people have chosen to follow/like you, but you're not building your readership this way. Either your readers are going to unfollow you, or your message becomes background noise.

It's like: a preacher giving the same exact sermon every Sunday.


If you are doing any of these things, you are without-a-doubt alienating potential readers. I know some authors will argue with me, but you're deluding yourself if you think these things are a good use of your promotional time. I promise you the number of books you may sell will never outweigh the books you will never sell because you made someone feel like a customer and not like a person.

Yes, that's spam. No, don't do it.

Where To Find Your Perfect Critique Partner

Confession time: I read the last page of the book first. No, not the ending. I’m not all that morbid and besides, if I die tomorrow.... 

...I’ll probably be thinking of other things at the time versus “Damn, I wish I knew how that book wrapped up.” 

I mean the acknowledgments. I’m a total sucker for them! I love seeing the vast team of people who go into making a book sing and, after writing my own recently, I know just how heartfelt they can be. Front and center in my acknowledgments: my critique partners. They are the bomb diggity and I hope they know it.  At this point, they’ve all made the cross from critique partner to true friends...

... but at one point we started as strangers on the same journey. In next month’s post, I’ll blog about how to get the most from your critique partners and where and when to use them to your best advantage, but today I thought I’d start with how to find amazing critique partners of your own (cuz you know I’m not sharing mine. Well, I might.)

SCBWI: a professional organization of like-minded people is a great starting point. Many local chapters have organized critique groups that meet in person on a monthly basis and are open to all members. Generally these groups examine shorter pieces (a PB text, a chapter of a longer piece) and give critiques in person. Often subgroups form where members trade longer samples or full manuscripts on their own time.

CPseek: After Pitch Wars 2013, a number of the mentors joined together to form CP Seek, an online message board where writers can post “want ads” of sorts for online critique partners. Check them out- there’s gold in them thar hills!

Online contests: Ever enter your query or first page in a contest and drool over another entries, wishing you could read their story ASAP. Guess what? They might be drooling over yours. And maybe you can. One of my closest friends and I met when she was sorting slush in a contest, trying to choose which queries to advance. She tweeted that she found one she wished she could read right then (hooray, it was mine!), another writer friend happened to see her tweet and looped me into the conversation. Several manuscripts later, we now talk ten times a day and even our kids have become friends, despite the eight-hour drive separating us. In fact, today I’m washing sheets in advance of their visit next week.

Writing Sites: Many reputable writing sites, such as Mother.Write.Repeat and Miss Snark will periodically open the comments on a post for writers to connect with other writers seeking CP’s. Back in 2012, I responded to one along with three others. We promptly formed a Yahoo group where we could trade our manuscripts with one another. Not quite two years later, we are now the MGBetareaders, twenty-four writers strong, still trading and now blogging as a group at www.kidliterati.com. In that time about half of us have become agented and some have signed book deals. Most importantly, the group has become a safe environment for sharing the ups and downs of publishing.

One valuable suggestion when trading work with a new critique partner: start with a manageable chunk of your works (maybe three chapters or so) to see if you are a good match for each other before committing to trading a whole manuscript. Finding a good CP can be a bit like finding a good mate. There may be some dating involved before you hit your perfect match. 

The greatest thing about this kidlit writing community is how supportive, welcoming and encouraging we are to one another. It’s something that warms my heart and takes (most of) the sting out of the sucky rejection part of this business. We have each other’s backs and well have yours, the moment you ask for it. So come find us!!

How to Build An Author Website

If anyone heard a long string of creative curse words emanating from the direction of my living room this month, that was not me trying to get on Santa’s naughty list.

That was me trying to learn website building software.

With the calendar about to turn to the year my book launches (hooray!) I was feeling behind the gun on some of my marketing efforts. Chiefly, on my web presence. Most days you’ll find me wasting time, er, “building my author brand”, on Twitter, and just try to pry Tweetdeck from my cold, dead hands. However, I termed my blog “my unblog” for the very reason that I knew I couldn’t be counted on to post witty truths on a regular basis and there is noting I hate more than a sad, neglected blog. Blog: out. On the other hand, a static website where I could show a little of my personality and introduce readers to me alongside my stories, was very definitely in. It just took me a while to figure out what that vision would include.

I started with research. Lots and lots of research. I began by bookmarking the websites of other debut authors to see what sort of information they were including. Next I made a list of twenty authors who wrote in a similar tone or style or for a similar audience to mine. I combed over their sites as well. And then I made a big old master list of all the things I loved about those sites and why. I knew right away that I wanted my site’s tone to reflect my writing style- light, fun, a dash of humor (hopefully).  I also knew right away that while the words should be mine, the design should not be. Unless I wanted to scare readers and, well, I don’t write horror, so…

                

I enlisted the help of an extremely talented illustrator I found on Etsy and commissioned a custom design from her. She worked with me to find a concept for a home page illustration and headers, as well as a color scheme. My particular challenge to her was to come up with something that would be girly enough to appeal to tween readers (as my first book is a middle grade aimed solidly at chicklets) but also sophisticated enough to sustain an older audience (as I’m hoping to publish a YA novel in the future). The result:

www.jenmalonewrites.com

I’m hoping I got it right! I had a little TOO much fun being interviewed by my tween self and I’m especially having fun with plans for my secret hidden bonus page. Hint: click on the hedgehog), though I suspect my future is full of endless tweaks. 

But for now I’d love to know what YOU look for in an author’s website. Do you visit them? If so, are you there to learn more about the book or the author? What type of information do you hope to find there?

A Writer Gives Thanks

A writer’s life is not for everyone.

There is something about that blink, blink, blink cursor on an empty page that could drive a person to the brink of insanity. There is rejection at every step.. There are days when notes from a CP appear in the inbox and suck the wind from sails. There is the lure of six seasons stacked up on Netflix and closets that need organizing and a million other ways to procrastinate a writing session away. There is rejection. Did I mention that already?

BUT… today is Thanksgiving, so instead I’d like to talk about everything that makes me grateful to be a writer.

That blink, blink, blinking cursor. It is possibility. It is imagination unleashed. It is a playground with an extra twisty slide and a zip line. It is sheer fun and limitless possibilities. I am most grateful for this.

I am grateful for tough notes from critique partners, beta readers, my agent, and my editor. The time they put into those notes means they believe in my story and in making it better. It means they are invested right alongside me.

Well, there’s no way to sugarcoat rejection. Or is there? Helpful rejections make you stronger, make your focus tighter, show you ways to improve, make your stories better. Sometimes something might look like a rejection, but is really a redirection and a door opening elsewhere.  I am grateful for those.

I am grateful for the kidlit community we all share. I may spend my days in pajamas (forget what I said earlier- I believe I am most grateful for THIS!) staring at a monitor, but I love venturing out of the house if it means meeting up with kidlit types. This year I loved seeing and making friends at the NE-SCBWI conference, BEA, the Boston Book Festival, an NCTE conference tweet-up, as well as numerous book launches and my two monthly writer groups. Knowing this community is out there, sharing in success and hugging out those rejections warms my heart more than pumpkin pie and hot cocoa.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes this Thanksgiving to thank your muse, your critique partner, your agent, your readers, or your fellow bloggers and just revel in the fact that we’re pretty darn lucky. At the very least, it beats having any of these jobs!

A checklist for your author website

Hey YAtopians! Your resident publicist, here. I've been spending a lot of time lately looking at writers' websites for my day job (Event Coordinator at my county library) and have been repeatedly frustrated by some of the same missing information.

So I though I'd share a checklist of all the things I'm looking for when I go to a writer's (unpublished or published!) website.


1) Contact Me

This should be noticeable somewhere on the screen as soon as the page loads (above the fold, if you will), with no scrolling or clicking on other pages necessary. If you want to be contacted by media and people who want to give you free publicity, this is not optional.

If you do not handle your own publicity or right negotiations, make sure these contact people are also listed clearly on this page - not at the bottom in 2.5 pt font.

On a side note: It's my personal preference to have an email address versus a contact form, because I can track who I've emailed in my "Sent" folder. ESPECIALLY if your pen name is Jane Doe and the name on your email address is Reignbow Moonblood and you don't mention the discrepancy and I'm like, "I've never heard of you, you crazy person?"

2) Social Media Links

Facebook and Twitter, at the least + anywhere else you want people to find you. They either need to be immediately visible or somewhere that makes sense to a four year old, like on your aforementioned "Contact Me" page, not on your "Writing Inspiration" page. (I wish I was joking.)

3) Your Books

For the love of Godiva almighty, if you have published books, don't make me go on a scavenger hunt to find info about them. As I say to clients, make it as easy as possible for people to give you money. This info should not be (only) in your sidebar or in your About Me page. You should either have an overall "Books" page or a page for each book.

On this/these page(s), you need:

• your cover
• your blurb
• external buy links - this means Amazon and B&N at the very least. I know most of you get higher royalties if we buy from your publisher's website, but you don't get any if we don't buy it at all. We are comfortable with the stores we like and don't trust strange online stores in the age of identity theft.
• if the book is not yet released, clearly indicate the release date!
• optional: the name of your publisher (if it's a selling point)
• optional: one or two short review quotes. NOT pages and pages of quotes.
• optional: a link to the book's goodreads page
• optional: ISBN
• optional: if you have magazine/journal articles you'd like to highlight, the bottom of this page is a good place

The following things aren't what I would consider "necessary," but highly recommended:

4) Some Way to Subscribe to News

Whether it's an option to subscribe to your blog via email or a more official newsletter, make sure people who want to receive updates about your books can easily do so.

5) Meet Me / Meet Sarah

Don't do this. I don't know if this means "About Me," or "Contact Me" or "Meet me in person."

On a related note, if you're doing in-person events, make sure to have these somewhere clearly labeled on your site. If you just call it something like "Events" or "Appearances" you can post virtual appearances as well.


That's all I have for now, but I'm sure I'll think of more later today. Probably when I'm in the shower. :-)

If you'd like me to take a look at your author website and provide (very brief, very basic) feedback, feel free to leave your link below!

Why You Need An Elevator Pitch Even If You Always Take The Stairs

"Elevator buttons and morning stares

Stranger’s silence makes me want to take the stairs"

I couldn't resist starting with a little Taylor, partly because every day should have some Swifty lyrics in them and partly because it’s the perfect intro to today’s topic: the elevator pitch.

When I was querying, I was somewhat horrified that I needed to condense my entire novel into three paragraphs that would have an agent salivating. THREE tiny paragraphs to sell a whole novel?  Can’t be done, can’t be done, can’t… fine, I’ll do it.  But I won’t be happy about it.

If you feel the same way, you’re not going to like this post. Because I’m here to tell you you’ll need to go even further. You should also be able to sum up your novel in one sentence. 

Feel free to mount the same argument that I did with respect to elevator pitches. What is the statistical probability that I will be:

A. Riding an elevator with an agent to begin with

B.  Able to determine in the 47 seconds it takes to get from the lobby to the 8^th floor that said person is a literary agent representing the exact type of fiction I am writing

C. Able to work up the nerve to discuss my book with this unicorn of a mystical being.

Well, okay, if you attend the odd writer’s conference, it's not entirely improbable; however, it also isn’t exactly likely.  But that doesn’t matter. Because nine times out of ten you won’t need your elevator pitch to land your agent.  You can have the three whole paragraphs for that.  It’s the part that comes next that requires the logline.

You will now need to be able to discuss your book in one sentence each time you talk to: every one of the people you brag to about landing an agent to (who will then follow up with “Cool. So what’s your book about?”), every fellow writer you encounter at a conference, every book store owner you approach about hosting your book signings, every teacher you contact about an author visit, every blogger you want to host you on a blog tour, and EVERY SINGLE possible potential reader that you encounter in the world from the time you sign a book contract to the time your book has been on shelves for years.  

So what is an elevator pitch?

Let’s consider some movies for easy examples (just envision an eager screenwriter facing executives and saying “Okay, picture this!”, probably with lots of enthusiastic hand gestures included):

“Eight-year-old boy is accidentally left behind when his family goes on vacation and must defend his house from a pair of dim-witted thieves.”

“The high school jock, the princess, the goth, the nerd, and the bad boy are locked in all-day detention together.”

“A high-society girl and a penniless dreamer fall desperately into forbidden love aboard the about-to-sink Titanic.”

Any one of those lines conjures an instant image of the tone and possibilities. Note that I don’t have to tell you what actually happens in any of these stories- I really just have to give you the set-up and your imagination is off and running.  That’s an elevator pitch. That’s what will get readers to the bookstore (versus you rambling on and on about how it’s “sort of like The Little Mermaid but without the prince and, oh yeah, it doesn’t take place in the water, and the main character is a selkie, not a mermaid but..”)

When should you write your logline? Right now. If you can’t come up with one for your novel, you may not yet know what the heart of your story is and it would be a good exercise at this point in the writing to stop and boil it down. It can also help to inform your revisions if you know what the essence of your book is before you go all Edward Scissorhands on it. Write your line down, tweak it, memorize it, and then practice it on every person who asks what you are working on. If they start smiling and nodding along, you've got it!  

Until that point, consider the stairs…

Feel free to use the comment box as your practice space- share your logline below!

Temper Impatience with Writing Contests

Writing a good book is an incredible thing, but it takes a long time – and then there’s revision. It’s easy to lose focus, to fall victim to the “I just want to be published already” feeling.

When I start getting this itch, one thing that really helps me is writing contents/challenges. I’m not talking about the big ones like the ABNA or Writer’s Digest, but the smaller ones run on blogs and writing websites that have a quick deadline and near-instant gratification through peer cheerleading and fast resolutions. They may not have great prizes – or prizes at all – but they’re fantastic for breaking up the monotony of writing thousands of words in seclusion.

My favorites are the flash fiction ones, because they don’t allow you to obsess over perfection for days, weeks, months. Spending a day or a week on a shorter piece may be just the thing you need to rejuvenate your enthusiasm for your novel. BONUS: Most of the writers who participate in these things are really supportive of each other, so you may end up making new writer friends, too!

Here’s a list of some of the ones I’ve found:

• Figment contests 
• Janet Reid (frequent, randomly-timed flash contests) 
• Wakefield Mahon’s Motivation Monday 
• Stevie McCoy’s Tuesday Tales 
• 3 for Thursday 
• Siobhan Muir’s #ThursThreads 
• The Friday Picture Show 
• Friday Fictioneers 
• 55 Word Challenge
• 5 Minute Fiction

(Note: I haven’t participated in many of these so don’t take this as an endorsement, just a link!)

ALSO, this Friday (tomorrow), Jessa Russo will be hosting a 24-hour Flash Fiction contest with yours truly as your judge. In Jessa’s competition, the winner from the previous week judges the competition. So hop on over to her blog, read my story from last week, find out a little more about the contest, and get ready to write some flash fiction!

And if you know of any other sites that do frequent short fiction challenges, please leave a link in the comments!

Attention Harry Potter Fans and YA/MG Writers!

Just a quick post to let y'all know about Ascendio 2012, a Harry Potter Conference this July with an impressive "Quill Track" that's like a mini writer's conference.

You can read the full post from the Quill Track organizer here, but here are the basics:

• The conference is July 12th-15th, with the Quill track taking place on the 13th and 14th, in Orlando, Florida.
• Rockstar authors, dream agents, and incredible editors will be there! Including: Veronica Roth! Joanna Volpe! Beth Revis!
• Pitch sessions!
• Free to the public book fair on Thursday with readings, signings & Q&As.
• Oh yeah, and lots of Harry Potter stuff. :-D

 For the next three days, you can get day passes for up to half off through this Google Offer!

If you live in Florida - or feel like taking a trip here - this is a great opportunity to get some great information and facetime with some awesome industry people. Let me know if you plan on going! I'd love to meet some of our blog readers!

Twitter: Please stop this

Ok, guys, I know I talk about Twitter a lot. I can’t help it, it’s done so many good things for me and I want it to be as helpful for you as it was for me. Usually I keep this conversation positive: How-to, tips & tricks, etc. But today, I want to talk about things people do on Twitter that piss me off.

This picture is only tangentially relevant

No seriously, if you do these things, you need to stop. You’re probably losing more followers than you will ever gain.

1) #ff (Follow Friday) everyone you follow (or lots of people). Your followers really don’t need to see you tweet everyone you follow. They could go to your following list if they want that. 

Also, it’s annoying. And insincere. 

 

2) Start a self-promotional tweet with “Worth the RT?” Worse: Start every self-promotional tweet this way. For me, this is an automatic unfollow and you should feel lucky that we’re not in the same room because I really want to slap you. 

If it is worth a RT, people will RT it without you asking.

Note: This is not for those tweets where you really need a lot of people to see it for less-than-selfish reasons. Like if you’re looking for a person who does a specific thing and/or is in a specific area. (Like my tweet that said “I’m looking for book bloggers, writers, etc who live near Orlando, please RT.”)

3) You have your own Twitter account and you manage another (for a business, your book, etc). Stop tweeting the same thing from both accounts at the exact same time. I know TweetDeck makes it ridiculously easy. You know what else is ridiculously easy? Eating pizza every day for every meal. That doesn’t mean I should do it.

I follow two accounts. I want two separate streams of posts. For an example of how to do it well, check out @bookgirl96 and her company @kmspr 

4) Vague passive-aggressive tweets that are obviously about someone specific. This doesn’t piss me off so much as make me worry it’s about me. Please stop.  

5) Tweet the same tweets over and over again. Don’t think we notice? We do. (Especially if they are self-promoting or you think they’re super clever.)

One self-pubbed author, whose twitter I enjoyed otherwise, would post the same exact one-line pitch for her book every day with a link. For months. It was like Chinese water torture. I recently unfollowed her. I will never see anything she has to say about her next book.

6) Post only self-promotional tweets. I will keep saying this until everyone gets it: Twitter is a conversation. Would you walk up to a crowd of people trading publishing jokes and pictures of Ryan Gosling and say “buy my book” every three minutes? No? Crazy, right?

I know our readers have some Twitter Pet Peeves. Go ahead, let it all out in the comments below!

(Yeah, I also have a problem with softening my angry posts with lolcats.)