1. Facebook. Get on there, get 5,000 friends and
post every day. ‘What are you reading and why?’ ‘What is your protagonist’s
worst attribute?’ ‘How do you edit?’ Be sure to post photos of a little girl in a tutu. Any little girl. People
love that.
2. LinkedIn. More professional. Post every day.
‘Got a good response from my critique buddies on chapter three.’ Speaking of
that,
3. Join a critique group. Online or meet at
Starbuck’s for a seven dollar chocolate whipped coffee. Keep the receipt,
deduct it when the book sells. Where to find critique friends?
4. Join a writer’s group. Meet once a week, listen and smile while Nancy gushes that she wrote her first romance, pitched
it to one agent and has sold five thousand copies.
5. Attend a writer’s conference. Dress for success,
put together a perfect pitch, rehearse it a thousand times, then tweak it so it
doesn't sound memorized. Rub elbows with other writers. Smile at dinner while
Stephanie gushes that she pitched her novel to one agent and he’s got her lined
up with Harlequin. But don’t just attend…
6. Teach a class at a writer’s conference. Put
together the ‘Rainbow Story Arc.’ Weave the colors through the tome. Red represents anger, Blue depression, Purple epitomizes passion and yellow, pleasure. Figure
out what orange represents. How can you teach?
7. Join Toastmasters. Learn to speak in public with
conviction and ease. And who knows’? Perhaps a fellow Toastie will read and
critique your work. Then,
8. Find speaking engagements. Rotary Club, Lions
and anywhere else where people will listen to your story. Come up with something clever to
speak about.
9. Shop at Barnes and Noble. Watch people shop and
see what they pick up in your genre’. Marvel at the myriad books in your
genre.’ Speaking of what people are buying,
10. Check
out Amazon. What’s selling? What are your competitor’s reviews looking like?
Oh, speaking of that,
11. Write reviews for your critique and writer’s
group friends. Oops.
12. Read books for your critique partners. Don’t
like sci-fi? Read it anyway. It’ll broaden your horizons. Oh, and
13. Read books. Read in your genre.’ Read classics
too.
14. Put together a killer website. You’ll probably
need help on this too. Don’t go cheap. Keep it fresh. Videos are big too. So,
15. Get a YouTube account, make videos that
support your work. Speaking of that,
16. Put together a trailer for your book. You
might need help on this so,
17. Find an expert to put together a trailer for
your book. Be sure to put puppies in it, even if there aren't any in your story. Puppies sell.
18. Figure out Hootsuite. Cool! Now you can post
once and send it everywhere. Except Goodreads. Oh, that’s right,
19. Join Goodreads. Make lots of friends. Keep
them apprised of what you’re reading. Participate. If someone disses your
buddy, stand up for him. Be brave, but don’t overstep and alienate your
followers.
20. Get going on Twitter! ‘@B&N cheking out
thrillers. Lite traffic 2day. #B&Nlitetraffic.’ Tweet a lot. Follow. Follow
more. Follow a lot.
21. Find a graphics artist for your cover. Don’t
go cheap or your best seller will look cheap and won’t be a bestseller.
22. You're supposed to write what you know. Don’t know anything about
Maine and lobster for your breakout? Get out there. Be sure to wear the bib.
23. What are you thinking? You've missed so many
social sites. Join Pinterest, Google Plus+, Tumbler, Instagram and Flickr.
Don’t be a social site outcast, get in there! Be faithful, you don’t want to
lose your followers.
24. Buy and read the book by the agent you met at
the conference. ‘Being a Connected Writer.’ Be sure to post a nice review of
it.
25. What? You haven’t gotten a blog built yet?
Come on! Make it fresh, post faithfully and keep your followers interested. You
need to stand out from the 150 million other blogs. If you don’t have 5,000
followers, a publisher won’t even glance at you. Speaking of publishers,
26. Pitch that book! Knock out some query letters,
get those submissions going.
27. What? Sure you’re on Facebook, but you don’t
want to look like a rookie. Set up a professional page. Send your followers
over there. Keep it fresh and catchy.
28. Get that computer fixed up. Bring it in and
get those five thousand viruses taken care of. Speaking of that,
29. Clean up the junk in it. Old pre-edited works,
photos, abandoned blog posts and goofy ideas. Ideas?
30. Make a file of great story ideas. Need help
organizing it? Set up an Evernote account, study how to schedule, make notes
and organize contacts.
31. Keep a journal. You’re a writer, correct? You
need to document insights, thoughts and emotions. You should do it every day.
33. Get a professional head shot. You aren't going
to impress potential agents and publishers with that selfie of you with the
pink boa. Put it on all the social sites, the blog and the website. Now you’re
branding!
34. Find a good editor to clean up your work. Yes,
Aunt Jenny taught second grade English, but you've seen her Christmas letters.
Be honest, it’s not going to work.
35. Shop
for e Magazines that fit your work and offer to write articles for them. Send a
sample article. Send another. Okay that’s enough, you’re becoming a stalker.
36. Find a buddy and offer to guest write on her
blog. One hand washes another, right?
37. You haven’t posted anything on your writer’s
group’s Facebook page! Stick SOMETHING in there, or they will forget you exist.
Add some comments on others’ posts. Be clever. Someone posted on their blog?
Read it and comment. Speaking of that,
38. Check your blog for comments. Reply to them.
You don’t reply, people assume you’re dead.
39. Get to the weekly writer’s group meeting!
Listen to others read their work and struggle not to grimace. They don’t
grimace at your work.
40. Check FB posts. Connie Blair commented two
days ago, come on! Are you there? And look at that post! The one below the kitten wearing the tutu. ‘Scientists find that sniffing rosemary can increase
memory by 75%.’ Be sure to remember- somehow- to get rosemary.