Letting the brakes off in self-promotion race
Whether you like it or not, promoting your own book is part of the job.
Every writer does it at some level. Most writers work very hard at it. There may be different tones, different tactics and different levels of comfort, but nobody gets a free pass. If a book is to find readers, the writer has to help it along.
In the build-up to the launch of my debut novel On The Way Out, I had to put my own reticence to one side. I’m not publicity-shy, but I’ve always known that my appetite for self-promotion has a clear limit, and I reach it sooner than people might expect.
I remember cycling in New England years ago with American friends Buzz, Jim (RIP, sadly missed) and Melinda. We were climbing a long hill near a ski resort. On the way down, I noticed breaks in the fencing along the roadside, leading to gravel tracks that ran steeply uphill, away from the road. I asked Buzz what they were.
Runaway truck lanes, he said. They’re there for vehicles, including massive logging lorries, if the brakes fail. The gravel and incline bleed off speed, stopping disaster further down the road.
It stuck with me. I came to see it as a fairly accurate metaphor for myself. I’ll head downhill with momentum, even enthusiasm, but at a certain point I’ll veer off. Take the speed out. Avoid later calamity. Or embarrassment. Or whatever it is I imagine might happen if I keep going.
With On The Way Out, I had to learn to go further with the brakes off.
You may have noticed, particularly if you follow me on social media.
Buy On The Way Out in your local bookstore or from our online store
There’s no avoiding it. And if you believe in your book, you owe it to yourself to give it a proper chance. (Note how I’ve started to rationalise this.) The publishers – in my case, Savoy Editions, an imprint of Limerick Writers’ Centre – did a lot from their end (writing and circulating press releases, online promotion, notifying their existing database, assisting with the launch etc.) but I had to bring a great deal to the table too.
What has worked? The launch in Ballinrobe Library on Saturday, 22 November, was a major success. It created a focal point and thanks to the outstanding team of people who worked with me on it, it was a great night.
I’ve done one signing (Dailys, Claremorris) and one reading night in The Novel Bean in Swinford, and both brought direct, visible results.
Beyond that, it’s harder to know. Awareness is slippery. It comes from everywhere and nowhere. Social media. Traditional print. Local and community radio. WhatsApp messages. Word of mouth. Instagram (which I had to learn and am still learning).
Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn, which has surprised me most: there’s more crossover between work contacts and potential or existing readers than I’d realised.
Point-of-sale material has been a mixed bag. Some shops used it enthusiastically; others didn’t at all. Many bookshops now do excellent social media themselves, which helps hugely.
Buy On The Way Out in your local bookstore or from our online store
It’s a noisy world. It would be lovely not to have to be out there shouting. But needs must.
What I try to do, at least, is bring some value with it – by writing about the writing process, or, in this case, the marketing process. People are interested. Not just other writers either. Readers are curious about how books find their way into the world, and what it costs in effort and nerve to give them that chance.
My runaway lanes are a good bit further down the hill now. They’re still there, but it’s been good to grit the teeth and go further, faster, than heretofore.
