I’ve learned approximately 11.6 billion things since my first novel was published. Here instead are the biggies apprentice authors should know.
- Adore booksellers.
Most aspiring novelists don’t grasp how instrumental hand-selling at brick and mortar bookstores is to their career. Booksellers, if they like your book, will push it at checkout. (It’s called “hand selling” and I’ve seen it in action. These folks are uh-mazing.) They are asked their opinions all day by people coming to the store for one purpose: to buy books. Treat booksellers—from district managers to cashiers—like emissaries of the One True God, because as far as your career goes, they just might be. Don’t kiss up or be a boor (or bore); be yourself, but be your best self.
Also–buy from their stores and urge others to do so.
This advice applies to trad and indie authors alike. You want bookstores on your side.
- Make appearances. Free. At first.
Hand in hand with publishing YA and MG novels in particular are school and library appearances. Accept every opportunity to present your book or teach a class.
For free. Other authors disagree with me on this, and they are right to an extent.
The argument goes like this: Every hour you spend not writing is potentially lost income. Make an English teacher happy, however, and you’ve earned a lifetime fan, with potential “little” fans coming in each year. Word of mouth may be more valuable than an appearance honorarium. My novels have ended up in classroom curricula after school visits, and you know what that means? Book sales.
Getting paid for school visits is comes toward the middle part of a career. For a first novel, it’s free advertising and PR. Books two, three, or four may be another story.
Local bookstores often can arrange school visits, and have a set amount of books the school must purchase; say, 10 to 25 copies. You may not walk away with cash in hand, but you just sold ten or more copies, and many potential fans—who blog and tweet about books and authors—just met you face to face. You can’t top that.
- Calm down.
Nothing moves more slowly than waiting to hear from an agent or editor. I lost many hours my first year in being overwrought, overdramatic, and overwhelmed by the fact that I controlled next to nothing. My advice: Suck it up. Move on to the next project. Sooner or later your agent/editor will get back to you.
There is nothing wrong, however, with a polite email to ask how things are going. Underscore polite.
If they are straight-up not getting back to you…that’s a topic for another post…
- Push your novel.
Wanna sell a million copies of your novel?! Here’s the secret:
Tell people it exists.
Selling your book comes down to letting people know it’s available. Be your own best cheerleader. Have postcards and business cards on your person at all times. Be ready with an “elevator pitch” to give at a moment’s notice. Answer the question, “What is your book about?” in thirty seconds or less in a compelling way. Go back to your query letter and condense it yet again into a logline: “All X wanted was Y, but Z wouldn’t let her.” That’s a good framework to start with.
- Network.
Publishing is not a game of “who you know.”
But it is not bad to Know People.
I’ve never gotten a writing or speaking job because I happened to know the CEO of AAA Publishing Company or what-have-you. I have had doors open up because someone who knew me heard about a possible thing and let me know, or made an introduction, or gave someone a recommendation. That’s not that same thing as “My daddy owns Random House!”
Get to know your fellow authors, inside and outside of your genre. Go to conferences and conventions and introduce yourself around with an eye toward how you can help others. It pays off.
- Write more books. No, more.
Imagine submitting your opus to Dream Agent, who writes back, “Loved your voice, but this story isn’t for me. Do you have anything else?” This is your shot! Except . . . uh-oh, you don’t have another book to send her? Bummer. (And I don’t mean book two in that series you just sent her.)
So on that note: don’t put all your creative eggs in one vampire-urban-fantasy-romance-YA-with-series-potential basket. You are a writer; write. Write novels in other genres. Maybe your first won’t land you an agent, but your second—or fifth—might.
- Have something to say.
We all (hopefully) have something we are passionate about. Have something to say, and be able to say it well in public, like your book signing. Passion is more infectious than a stale reading from your novel, which is like reverse Shakespeare: it was meant to be read silently, not performed aloud.
Consider skipping a reading in favor of talking about something that makes your whole face light up, and tie it to the plot or theme of your novel. More people will pay attention, and the applause may move from polite to thunderous.
Want to learn more? Climb this tree.