Title: Publicity 101
Panelists: Cherie Priest, Patrick Rothfuss, Daniel J. Hogan, Brian Briggs
Date and Time: Saturday, May 1, 2010; 5:00 PM
This was the only panel I went to that Cherie Priest was on, which made me a little sad, I had hoped to see more of her (she is seriously awesome). I went because I wanted to learn some about selling myself - since I ... had no idea how to do it.
The panel started with things that we shouldn't do to try to sell our works. First was that we really shouldn't be "that guy" - the guy who writes his own reviews, pumping himself up on Amazon, or the guy who sics his friends and family after bad reviewers. In fact, the panelists agreed that we should avoid fighting on the internet and just roll with the punches - everyone gets bad reviews, after all.
We were also told that we shouldn't overextend ourselves financially - publishers don't pay for conventions or marketing, and conventions don't really end up being worth the cost.
The last Don't Do This was that while blogs, podcasts, Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace are good for staying connected to your fan base, they're not so great for marketing purposes. Which makes sense - you don't get new people just by tweeting all the time. Also that anything that requires a psuedonym is probably a bad idea: specifically things like posing as your characters on Facebook or Twitter. All of the panelists agreed that doing that was fun at first, but quickly becomes annoying.
Then the panelists moved on to good things to do to promote your work. Branding yourself is a good thing to do, although they never really talked about how to do that (or they may have, but it's not in my notes, and I don't recall it).
We were told to be confident, modest, and earnest - because all of those are endearing qualities. Basically, to be honest - especially with the important people (publicist, editor, etc). They need to be kept in the loop, because otherwise they can't help you need it.
Getting into a habit of making frequent posts to blogs and other social networks was also suggested, because you can learn from your mistakes - and your wins - before you're more popular. It will also help to put you out there - especially if you don't make many "horrific asshole mistakes". We were told that we should tread carefully putting ourselves out there like that. The panelists suggested we avoid talking about sex, politics, and religion on blogs - since those topics are likely to really upset or even offend some people (which is part of why I've yet to merge Criss Cross Asterisk with the rest of the blogs on here).
Spending time on marketing was encouraged - but that it should be secondary to creating. "The best possible promotion is quality work," the panelists said, and, "If it's good nothing can stop you, if it's bad nothing can help you." We were told that we should make the novel the absolute best that it can be.
The last part of the panel was about getting readers - we were told to become part of a network like the SFWA or the Author's Guild (although the panelists admitted that none of them were in such networks). Having friends boost your work up on Amazon was also good - but only when we're getting started. We were told to make friends with local, private booksellers and libraries - and to be nice to them - because such a relationship would definitely be beneficial. Also, and this one I liked the idea of, When we get our initial run of books printed we shouldn't necessarily give them to friends and family (who would boost us up and support us regardless), but to send them to people we think are cool - even if they're unknowns. The worst that happens is the never read it - the best that happens is you get a review from someone you find awesome! There are also book review websites available that will, well, review books. Business cards were also suggested, but not in much depth.
And my favorite quote from this panel came from Cherie Priest: "Everything you finish levels you up." I'm now going to play Writing: The RPG.
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[[Publicity 101]]
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