I don’t have time to write.
This is probably the most common reason I hear from people why they don’t write, in spite of their professed desire to be a writer and/or to get published.
“I am going to write a book one day,” they’ll say. “But I just don’t have the time right now.”
Tosh! If you are reading this blog post, you have the time to write. In the couple of minutes it has taken you to click on a link, open this post and read it, you could have written a paragraph. In the ten minutes you took on Facebook/Twitter/whatever other social networking site last hour, you could have written two paragraphs. In the hour you sat in front of the tv last night, two pages. And so on.
Now before you throw rotten tomatoes at me, I am not for one moment suggesting any one of those things is a waste of time (I surf blogs, facebook, twitter and watch TV every day). What I am saying is that if you really want to write, you will find some time to devote to it.
It might not be the uninterrupted days of writing you dream of – but even five minutes snatched here and there can add up.
I don’t know a single writer who has as much time to write as they would like. Many published authors (including myself) still need to work day jobs to survive financially, or have family responsibilities. Even those who do not have other commitments generally have writing related commitments which take them away from their writing – speaking engagements, promotions and so on. But they make time to write.
So, what are you waiting for? You want to be a writer? Write.
Writing Quote of the Week
“Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don’t start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.”
(William Safire, ‘Great Rules of Writing’)
This one makes me smile, as it’s meant to, though it has plenty of truth as well.
My first ever trade title, Doggy Duo, had a difficult life. After the excitement of acceptance, editing and finally seeing it released, and launched, came the reality that the small publisher who had produced it had some distribution problems. Six months later, the publisher went into receivership. Eventually, after another owner took over and eventually also went into receivership, I was offered the chance to buy the remaindered stock, which was the majority of the print run.
I could only afford to buy a small portion of that stock, which I did. It’s good to be able to have copies of an older title to sell at school visits and so on. However, now that I have several newer trade titles I’ve decided it’s time to sell those copies of Doggy Duo.
So, last night I bit the bullet and listed some signed copies for sale on ebay at the discount price of $5 each (you can see the listing here). I don’t know if it’s an effective way of clearing old stock, but it didn’t take long to get a listing happening, and I do know that lots of kids love having books that are signed by the author. And it would be nice to think that my book baby is being read rather than gathering dust in my wardrobe.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
I’m excited to welcome Catriona Hoy to my blog today. Cat is here as part of her first ever blog tour, to celebrate the release of her new picture book Puggle.
Welcome Catriona. It’s great to have you here on your very first blog tour. Because I have reviewed several of your books, including Puggle, I thought it might be interesting to chat with you about the review process from the author’s perspective. So, here goes.
1. Can you share with readers how your books get reviewed ?
When my first book came out, I sat down with the publicity person and was given a list of do’s and don’ts. I’ve broken most of them now! I was also given a list of people/agencies that copies of books were regularly sent out to. I guess every publicist has their own list. Often it’s a surprise when a book gets reviewed but I do a have a google alert on my name which tells me if something new has cropped up…or if people have reserved my books in libraries!
Friends will often tell me if they have read a review. That networking is all important. Also the publisher will send out copies of reviews in mainstream media or links to reviews.
Thankyou by the way for your review of Puggle! To illustrate the point, I found out through self googling! But the next day it came up on my email google alert anyway.
2. Why are reviews important to you, and to your books?
There are so many books out there that book shops can be confusing places. A review will put the idea is someone’s mind and hopefully stay with them. It’s also nice to have your work acknowledged and feel that the job has been done well.
Reviews mean that people are actually out there reading your books. And it would be a sad thing to have put in all that time and effort into them for them to languish in some dark storage warehouse.
3. What is your best review experience?
The good thing about being reviewed is that it gives me the opportunity to stand back from my work and see it evaluated through other eyes. We get so close to things that we have written sometimes that it’s hard to see the wood for the trees.
I often learn things about my writing that I didn’t know or hadn’t conceptualised. Sometimes it’s a pleasant surprise, other times it can be something that I can learn and grow from.
Of course I like all your reviews Sally!
4. What is your worst review experience?
There are probably two that stick in mind. ‘My Grandad Marches on Anzac Day’ has been very popular and even now, I still get some touching emails from people who have read it. To me it was very real, in fact I used my husband’s own words in the book when the Dad says ‘well done boys’ as they march past. I was a little flabbergasted when one reviewer called this ‘patronising’. My husband certainly didn’t mean to be patronising when he was watching his father march in the parade!
The other was more recent when someone pointed out a flaw in one of my books and implied that it would have been better if she had edited it. Which I found a little inappropriate.
5. What do you do with the reviews of your books?
If the links are on line, I will often post the links on my website, so that people can read these. Increasingly I’m finding reviews posted on people’s blogs which is nice to find. I usually post a thankyou on their blog to let them know I’ve read it and appreciate the thoughts.
For other reviews, I have a big cardboard box under my desk, where lots of clippings go. Maybe I’ll put them in a scrapbook one day when I stop working. I’m curious, what do you do with yours?
Sally says: Like you, I link to the online ones, and print them too. I keep hard copies of reviews along with any other press in two lever arch files. Each cutting is in a separate plastic sleeve.
6. What advice would you give to someone who is about to be reviewed for the first time?
Don’t take it personally! Celebrate with your friends if it’s good; share it with the world. If it’s not quite what you had hoped, let off steam in a trusted environment if you must. Be very careful what you say however, as the writing world is a very small place. Accept that not everyone will like your book.
7. Can you share any links to reviews of Puggle, or your other books, online?
Well Sally, you have reviewed all my books so far! So I’d encourage everyone to go to your aussiereviews website. I honestly don’t know how you find the time to review, write, teach , be a mother! You are amazing! other online reviews include:
Mummies Are Amazing
Daddies
I like this review of My Grandad Marches on Anzac Day because it was written by someone young.
Here is an example of a blog review for Puggle. I liked this one because it highlighted the educational aspect of the book.
Thanks for dropping in Catriona. You can follow the rest of Catriona’s tour at the following blogs:
April 12 http://scribblygum.wordpress.com/
April 13 http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com/
April 14 http://sallymurphy.blogspot.com/
April 15 http://www.letshavewords.blogspot.com/
April 16 http://orangedale.livejournal.com/
April 17 http://sherylgwyther.wordpress.com/
April 18 http://sandyfussell.blogspot.com/
April 19 http://katswhiskers.wordpress.com/
April 20 http://belka37.blogspot.com/
April 21 http://angelasunde.blogspot.com/
April 22 http://trudietrewin.com/blog-ramblings/
and you can buy Puggle online from Fishpond, or in any good book store.
Why Go on a Blog Tour, Part 3
Over the past two days I’ve been talking about the benefits of blog touring to promote your books. If you’ve been following along, you may be starting to feel inspired to organise a tour of your own, so today I’m going to give some pointers as to how to organise a tour.
So, you’ve got a book to promote – that’s great! The first thing to do when you’re planning a tour is to plane when you’d like to have it. If you want to get a new book off to a flying start, you might decide to do it in the first few weeks after it is released, but if you have a lot of other promotion happening then, you might decide to wait until you have more time. or, if your book is seasonal or topical you might tour it at a time when people are thinking about that season (a Christmas book touring in December, or an ANZAC Day book touring in April, for example).
Once you’ve decided on some dates, you need to find some bloggers to host you. You can either approach bloggers you already know, or contact bloggers who cover appropriate topics. Lots of Kidlit blogs, for example, are keen to host children’s authors. Have a look at the blogs and see if they run author interviews before you make contact.
Once you’ve identified some potential blog hosts, contact the bloggers to see if they are interested. Be clear in what you want to do – and what you are hoping they will do. Remember they are doing you a huge favour, in helping you promote your book, but there are benefits to them including you sending them new traffic (by promoting the tour) and of course you providing them fresh content for their blog. A polite email explain when you are going on tour, a bit about your book, and asking if they would be interested in hosting you is the best approach.
Once people have agreed to host you, discuss with them what form your visit might take – an interview, a guest blog, a review or something different. Then make sure the host has all the information they’ll need – a summary of the book (or a copy, where possible), a jpeg of the cover image, a photo of you, and links to your website and/or blog and to online bookstores which stock your book. It is also a great idea to give every host a full list of the dates and stops of your tour, so they can include this in their post.
When the blogger sets a topic, or sends you a list of questions, try to answer them promptly, so they can get the blog post ready and scheduled to go live on the correct day. If you haven’t received their questions in the week leading up to the tour, a polite reminder might be needed (again, remember they are doing you the favour).
Once you’ve ensured all of your hosts have all the content they need, the last (but perhaps most important) thing to do is to promote the tour. Social networking is a great way to get the word out. Each day of the tour, post a link to your blog host on twitter, Facebook and any other sites you use, as well as on your own blog and any email lists (remembering to follow list protocol). And, of course, be sure to visit the blogs that host you and read and respond to any comments left.
Oh, and the very last thing to do is to be sure to thank your blog hosts for having you.
Hopefully this three part series has inspired you to organise your own blog tour. If you are a children’s book author looking for a blog to visit, you might like to contact me when you’re organising your tour – I love having visitors. And, if you are an Australian author looking to get involved both in hosting tours and in touring yourself you might be interested in the yahoo group Aussieblogtours.
Why Go on a Blog Tour, Part 2
So, yesterday I explained what a blog tour was, and gave an example of one of my own. Today I thought I’d talk a bit about WHY I go on these virtual book tours whenever I have a new book out.
Firstly, I am an isolated writer. I live in a country town in wheat belt Western Australia. My nearest city is about 3 hours drive away and Perth itself is fairly isolated – it takes more than 3 hours to fly to the nearest other state capital. So, any ‘real’ book tour would involve a lot of training. By touring virtually, I save a lot of travelling.
Secondly, and related to this, book tours cost a lot of money. Contrary to popular belief, authors do not make huge incomes, and the promotion budgets for new books is tiny (very tiny). Any tours of my books would be at my expense, and cost more than the subsequent royalties I would earn from book sales. A virtual tour is free – except for the cost of the time taken to organise the tour and write answers to any questions. My publishers have been happy to contribute by providing review copies to those bloggers who have reviewed the books.
Thirdly, a virtual tour is promotion. By touring a variety of blogs you are telling the world about your book. Hopefully the blogs that you visit have varied readerships, so on each day of the tour your book is showcased to different potential readers.
Fourthly, going on a tour is fun. You get to talk to other bloggers (via email), and often get feedback from readers of your blog posts who stop and leave comments.
Does it work? It is difficult to quantify the value of a virtual tour. Whereas on a traditional tour there will be occasions where book sales figures will tell you the success (or otherwise) of your tour, this is more difficult for a virtual tour. What I can say is that throughout each of my blog tours, the number of hits to my own blog has increased markedly 9even though I was visiting other blogs, I always included a link to my own). I also had links to places to purchase my books online, and could see through my stat tracker that these links were being clicked on.
Another benefit is that I made friends with bloggers who I perhaps didn’t know previously. Through exchanging emails in preparation for the blog tour, we also found that we had other things in common.
Lastly, organising a virtual tour off my own bat showed my publisher that i was prepared to actively promote my books. Knowing that an author is doing this shows the publisher that you are prepared to work to ensure your book’s success. And sales figures for the three books I have toured in this way have all been good. Sure, blog tours are only one reason or this, but it adds another element to the total promotion package.
So yes, blog tours work to promote your book, Isn’t it time you thought about organising one?
Tomorrow, in the third instalment in this series, I’ll talk about how to set up a tour of your own.
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