Och aye the noo! Guess where I am?!
It’s a question I’ve been asking myself recently though, because although I am ‘traditionally published’ (ie: not self-published) and therefore one would assume my publisher would do all the promotion and advertising of my books, that’s, sadly (*sighs*) not the way it works.
At least, not for most of us. (It’s different if you’re a big name or a Sunday Times bestseller and you get a big marketing budget and an allocated publicist and all that. No, I’m not bitter!).
Some authors have book launches and book tours, meetings with their publicist/editor/agent and marketing team, maybe even over lunch! In London town!
And then… there’s the rest of us.
Of course, my publisher does *some* stuff – naturally they want the book to sell because that’s how they make their money – but I still feel a certain obligation to reach readers, build an audience, do ‘events’, tout my wares at local bookshops – in a nutshell, SELL my books – and with that comes guilt because I don’t have the time or, let’s face it, the expertise.
So, I have been researching what I’m supposed to be doing and here’s the first thing – which I thought I’d pass on because you might find it useful if you’re in a similar situation – and perhaps this will become a series of posts (but let’s see how it goes!).
The first thing – and this is so obvious that you’ll probably laugh but I honestly had not done this up to now – is to try to define your reader.
Because not everyone will like what you write and that’s fair enough. It helps to pinpoint what readers like about your book(s) (or, if you haven’t yet had a book published, what they like about books that are similar to the one you’ve written or are in the process of writing).
How do you do that? Simples!
Read your good reviews on Goodreads and Amazon (other review sites are available). DON’T, I beg, you, read the rubbish ones. They will bring you down and in any case, those people are not your readers. If they read one of your books and hated it, they won’t be back for more so forget them!
So, read the good reviews and jot down what the readers say they especially enjoy.
I did this for my WW2 books and this is what I found. I make no apologies for the boasty-boasty nature of this but there’s no time for false modesty when you do this exercise!
There were 2 main themes:
1. My readers think I conjure up the 1940s era very well and with a light touch. They love the historical detail and some feel as though they are there, in WW2 as they read (thank God because I do a lot of research, most of which doesn’t make it into the books, of course).
2. They love my characters (good because that’s probably the part of writing a book that I enjoy the most), they’re rooting for them, feel like they’re ‘old friends’ (when they pop up later in the series) – Seffy in particular, goes from irritating to heroine and they enjoy seeing her grow and change.
Other words that cropped up often in the good reviews – ‘heartwarming’, ‘exciting’ ‘touches of humour’ ‘I couldn’t put it down’.
Interestingly, although there is an element of romance in all my books, that’s NOT the aspect that most readers pick up on. They like the female friendships and camaraderie as much – if not more – than the romance and although they want the characters to have a happy ending, it doesn’t all hinge on the love interest. Which was interesting! Because I wouldn’t describe my books as ‘romances’ either. So there, I’ve learned something from that exercise!
And once you know what aspect of your books your readers enjoy, it a) helps you to give them more of what they want (don’t miss out those elements in future books!) – and b) when you’re promoting your books, whether that’s on social media or when you’re talking to an audience or potential reader, those are the areas to concentrate on.
Right, end of lecture! There are more steps to be taken and I may well blog about them next time.
Edinburgh Castle (view from our hotel window, to be precise!) Looking dark and moody.
In other news, I have been to fabulous Edinburgh since I last wrote, as you may have guessed from the photos.
As well as visiting the usual tourist spots while I was there (Holyrood Palace, the Castle, the Royal Yacht Britannia), I did two writerly things:
1. I visited the ‘Writers’ Museum’ (thanks to Jane Bettany for the recommendation) which is free and open seven days a week and which focuses on 3 famous Scottish writers: Rabbie Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson and is well worth a visit! (nice gift shop in there too!).
2. I popped into ‘The Elephant House’ café, where single-parent and down-at-heel would-be author J K Rowling famous wrote the first in the Harry Potter series (little guessing, I suppose, that one day she’d be a billionaire!)
There is a LOT of Harry Potter stuff in Edinburgh, by the way. Shops full of merchandise! Great if, like me, you’re a fan!
Oh and not at all writing-related but we also went to the Leith distillery (and specifically to the whisky bar at the top of the tower, recommended by someone in the comments of my last post (thank you!) which was much enjoyed by the OH in particular. It’s a short walk from the Royal Yacht Britannia,by the way (which was the best thing we saw in Edinburgh. I loved it!).
Cheers from the Royal Yacht Britannia
Maggie O’Farrell
Tomorrow I am going to see author Maggie O’Farrell in Stratford-on-Avon! Yes, she of ‘Hamnet’ fame (and other novels, of course. I think she’ll be mostly talking about her new novel ‘Land‘).
Exciting! The tickets were all sold out but a friend got on the waiting list and managed to snaffle us a couple, just yesterday. I’m looking forward to that! Will report back! (Can you tell my edits haven’t come back yet? Once they do, this gadding about will have to stop!)
Victoria Street, Old Town, Edinburgh.
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Helen Yendall's Blog About Writing 
