Post-Pandemic Outreach

Frankie, here.

Today's post is more to invite discussion than to offer any conclusions I've reach. I'd like to hear any thoughts  you have. I've been thinking -- as my title says --  about what form(s) of outreach I should be engaged in now that a pandemic has upended our lives. In a world in which artificial intelligence was recently  a plot element on a day time drama ("soap opera") with a child's toy used to substitute one voice for another -- or in real life where a robot might roll up to your table and take your order at a restaurant -- the future is here. And much of it is both scary and really cool.

But getting back to my dilemma -- with limited time and budget, I'm trying to reach as large an audience as possible. This time I don't want to wait until the thriller I'm excited about and hope my agent will be able to find a home is ready for release. I want to be proactive. I want to engage with potential readers and build "excitement" so that they are eagerly waiting for the book. Some authors are excellent at doing this. They remain in contact with readers in between books. This time, I want to approach my next book and first standalone with the same professionalism.

I had began to feel comfortable on /Twitter. Then, with the pandemic, I was too depressed by what was happening to go on daily or even weekly and share news or thoughts. Now that I'm ready to go back to Twitter, it is not the same as it once was because of the controversy around the change in ownership. 

I could use TikTok, but I have nothing to do in that space.  I think I would be more comfortable on YouTube, but having a channel is a commitment to having regular content to offer an audience. I would have to have a theme that would make the effort required -- and the technical knowledge I would have to acquire -- worthwhile. 

Or, I could go "old school" and go out in the summer and do some shorter trips to bookstores and libraries. Except gas is expensive -- and by now many readers are accustomed to interacting from the comfort of their home. And it is easier for authors to do a virtual book tour from our own armchairs. All we need to do is book some stone stops on other people's websites. We can hire a comfort to set it all up. I've done that. It was easy. But would  it work as well now with so many people doing tours,

Perhaps the best way to reach out to readers and reach as large as audience as possible for a new book is simply to up my game. To continue to post here and use Twitter to draw an audience to the site for my posts and those of my colleagues. To book a virtual tour on other people's websites when the next book is forthcomiing. I could also start to blog about my research on my website. I could even start putting out a newsletter. I've been planning to do that for years. But I want it to be something that readers will enjoy receiving. I could book more virtual events to supplement the in-person events I might be invited to do or able to book. And continue to attend crime fiction conventions and request panel assignments.

Of course, as always writing the best book possible seems to be the starting place. Now, as even before the pandemic, we all have the option of taking our publication fate into our own hands. We can become independent publishers without the past stigma. Many writers have done exaactly that. So, should I also get my first two manuscripts out of my desk drawer and see if my agent thinks we can sell the revised versions to an editor. Even though I'm a better writer now, would the investment in time be worth the effort if I am not sure my agent could place them. But I could hire an editor and go independent, becoming a "hybrid writer" at least for those two books. I wouldn't even have to update them. They might work even better now because they are almost historicals written at a time when the characters would not have been expected to take out their phones to text or the GPS to get to where they were going. 

I know this matter of outreach  has been a subject discussed across social media. Has anyone reached any conclusions? Thrown up your hands in despair? Hired someone else to do it all or supplement what your publisher done? Found software that allows you to do it all virtually without breaking a sweat? If so, please share.