First Off I want to say how much fun I had doing this! Christy's from Christy's Book Addiction and Rain from Rain's Reading Room You guys are freaking AMAZING!! I would love to do Carnivals with you anytime! This has been a fun learning experience for me!! Thank You to all who have stopped by..it truly means the world to me!
Now, With the first day of this Carnival I had an Author's Interview with Alice Ayden Author of BEAUTIFUL WHISPER and I only see it fitting to end this Carnival with Alice Ayden again and feature her other book MISSING 6 Plus an add Guest Post Bonus !!!
Ready...
10 things I wished I knew before I published my book.
1) Writing was the easy part. Marketing/publicity/promoting is the tough part because it’s never done. With writing, there’s a finished product. With promoting, it’s never ending – which can be a good thing because that means there’s always a new avenue or new readers to be found.
2) Unless you want to pay for everything, you are a one stop shop doing the publicity, marketing, editing, promoting, cover design, web design etc. You can hire someone to do things, but that is out of pocket money. I’ve really enjoyed learning about the business end of things, but it’s definitely hard work.
3) There’s very little time off. Emails keep coming. Social media contacts need to be updated. Blogs have to be written. Websites have to be kept up.
4) I didn’t realize how much time it took to do social media. Since I’m definitely an introverted introvert, putting myself out there really was counter-intuitive.
5) No one has all the answers. What works for some writers (like various promotions, publicity) doesn’t work for others.
6) I was pleasantly surprised by the support writers give each other. We all share horror stories, things that work, things that don’t, and it helps keep us grounded and sane. Of course, chocolate helps too!
7) I think I sort of believed the idea that writing a book was all that had to be done. Write it and they will come so to speak. With thousands of new books every day, everyone competes for attention.
8) I think a lot of writers (me included) had this idea of writing a book and - 2 hours after it first appeared on Amazon - it would be an international bestseller. It happens, but it’s extremely rare. It can take years to build a following and learn what works and what doesn’t.
9) I didn’t know branding was something writers had to do. I’m currently in the process of redoing my twitter, facebook, website, blog because I’m taking a lot of design courses and want everything to mesh.
10) I didn’t realize that I would meet so many interesting writers/readers along the way. Writing is such an isolated activity, so I am so blessed to have found so many great new friends.
Author's Links
a Rafflecopter giveaway
(**Plus I'm giving away a SIGNED paperback of James Clyde and the Diamond of Orchestra--Find it HERE **)
Other Blogs joining the Carnival Fun..be sure to stop by!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Riddle me Dee Riddle me Tee I'm so Happy you decided to leave a comment for Me!! ( okay maybe I shouldn't try to write anything clever.) Thanks for showing us some love!