There Are People Out There!

 I, Donis, am actually going to a conference next month! I'm signed up for Left Coast Crime in Tucson, AZ, in mid-March. This is the first time I've basically been out of the house since before the pandemic, and I certainly have not attended a large gathering like this in at least three years. I'm going this year because a) it's in Tucson, which is a 90 mile drive from where I live, and b) I'm going to have to learn to be around other people some time, and I am vaccinated to the nines so why not now?

I'm lucky to be on a panel entitled Why We Love Research on Friday, March 17,  10:15 AM - 11:00 AM, which is to be populated by fellow (mainly) historical novelists Clare Broyles, Francine Mathews, and Susan McDuffie, which should be great fun, because I actually do love research. Reality is usually a lot more fascinating and even shocking than anything one can make up.

I am torn between looking forward to LCC with great anticipation and feeling just a little bit apprehensive. The last time I attended Left Coast, I came down with the flu afterwards and that was no fun at all. 

I think attending conferences is very useful. Every time I attend a writers’ workshop or conference, I learn something and come away with good ideas, but the major thing they do for me these days is allow me to mingle with fellow writers. Other writers have been extraordinarily helpful to me. but I can't afford to go to as many conferences as I'd like. I've been doing this for many years, and I keep trying a little of this and a little of that, and attempting to judge what promotional activity works best for me. 

I wonder if I'll remember how to interact with people after all this time? I actually do force myself to make the rounds at the conferences I attend and talk to as many people as I can, but I'll never be as effective at it as someone who is naturally outgoing. However, I'm guessing I'm a much better schmoozer than J.D. Salinger, who could buy and sell me. So as effective as that technique is, it must not be the end-all and be-all of book promotion. That's what I tell myself, anyway.

Your hologram awaits

"I'm getting too old for this s**t," I muttered to the dogs recently. I'd been trying to wrestle Instagram to the ground so that I could post about an upcoming book signing. My millennial daughter had snatched the phone from my hand and flipped through my Instagram account with horror. Where are your stories? she asked. You have no hashtags. With this post you should include #barbarafradkin, #inspectorgreen ("Look, Inspector Green has his own hashtag already!"), and #Torontobooklaunch. People will find you with those hashtags.

She unearthed details from my Instagram presence that I didn't even know existed. There were likes and messages and reposts that I'd been blissfully ignorant of. Who knew what all those little icons meant? Facebook is all very well, my daughter said, but that only works for people who are already your friends. Instagram is where new readers discover you, where you build your audience. She started in on TikTok, but I drew the line. Because she'd set it up, I've had an Instagram account for a couple of years and Twitter even longer, but I could never see much point in either. There obviously is a point, but it feels like navigating a brazen new cityscape with speeding traffic, flashing lights, indecipherable signs, one-way streets, and a pace so hectic that I just feel like parking the car and walking. 

Perhaps that's when I decided I was getting too old for this s... Or it may have been a couple of weeks earlier, when I had a birthday after which my last quarter-century looms around the corner. I thought I'd been keeping up pretty well. After all, I had lots of friends on Facebook, I HAD a Twitter and Instagram account, although I had no idea what the use was. Sometimes I'd get a notification that so-and-so whom I'd never heard of was now following me, and my gut reaction was "Why? I'm not going anywhere." I had set up and successfully pulled off two virtual book launches using Eventbrite and Zoom Webinar. 

Not bad for someone who grew up with rotary phones and radio plays! I got this! 

But then Mark Zuckerberg's smiling face came on my TV last week to promote his brand new reimagining of social media. So long Facebook, say hello to the future: the Metaverse. With dizzying speed he talked us through the holograms, the virtual, holographic workplaces that you navigate wearing special googles, teleporting. The possibilities for human interaction are endless. What, real people? Oh, no need.

It did cross my mind as I watched "I wonder what plans he has for sex."

I suspect that as all these tech changes accelerate, there will be a whole generation of us left in the dust. You may find us weeping in fury over our three TV remotes, or possibly walking arm in arm down a country lane somewhere, talking about the good old days. Or something.

Promote that Book!

Last Sunday I was the Featured Author at the monthly Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles meeting. That means I read for five minutes from one of my books. I think it went fairly well. At least, I didn’t hear any snoring!

The majority of the meeting was taken up with a presentation by book publicist Liz Donatelli of Liz D Publicity. She spent part of her time explaining what a book publicist does and the rest talking about what authors can do themselves to promote their work. Here are some highlights from the talk. 

• Advertising v. Book Publicity. The two are not the same thing. I don’t remember ever hearing this explanation before, but it makes sense. Advertising is paid exposure such as taking out an ad in a magazine. Book publicity is free media exposure like social media posts, articles in local newspapers, etc. As a book publicist, Liz doesn’t deal with the advertising end. 
• Be seen, be available, build a fan base.
• No effort is too small.
• Promotional materials such as bookmarks and postcards are a must. People want them. Carry them with you at all times; you never know when you’ll meet someone who will be interested in your work.
• There are no hidden secrets to book publicity. We all wish there were, but there’s nothing you can do that will guarantee book sales. Produce a great product with as unique a hook as possible.
• A website is a must. No surprise here. The pages an author should have are: (1) a Books page that includes book covers and descriptions as well as purchase links; (2) an Author page that includes a short bio and picture; (3) an Events page where you list in-person and online events; (4) a Media page that includes links to reviews, interviews and articles. Don’t list every review and be sure to keep the site up to date.
• Social media is necessary. Facebook, GoodReads and Twitter are the main platforms for authors with the first two being the most important. An author should have a Facebook page separate from a personal one. She recommended posting 1-2 times per day. For twitter aim to tweet, retweet and reply to tweets ten times per day, 80% informative and entertaining, 20% promotional. (I shrug my shoulders when I hear how many posts and tweets I’m supposed to be doing. First of all, if I’m following someone and they tweet 10 times/day, I’ll probably unfollow them. That’s too many times for me. I realize I’m probably in the minority here. And, if I tweeted that many times plus did all of the other stuff I’m “supposed” to do, I’d end up not getting any writing done.)
• Don’t rely solely on your publisher to promote your book.
• Do joint events with other authors. It’ll bring in more people. In my opinion, it’s also more fun. And if the authors are having fun, attendees will too. 
• Do both online and in-person events.
• Work your contacts. Who do you know who will/can help you contact your readers? Be creative.
• Be patient and don’t compare yourself with other authors.

Ultimately, as authors we have to decide what kind of promotion and the amount of it that we do for each book. Balancing promotion, writing and real life can be tough. What works best for one author may not work for another.

So, Type M readers, have any of you seen a book promotion activity you found particularly interesting/creative? Is there any promotional activity that you find annoying?