Kelly McClymer's Blog

When I first began to think about actually being published, umpteen years ago, I had been seriously writing for several years already (I’d written articles for my school newspaper, and had already taken two fiction writing classes in college). However, I didn’t know squat about getting published (this is not something college courses will teach you, much to the surprise of many of my classmates over the years).

Because I was writing short science fiction, and reading it avidly, I read the submission guidelines in the magazines I read. I found out the library carried recent copies of Writer’s Digest and The Writer. I sent in a story, as directed, and got a kind rejection from the editor. I then went to a science fiction conference and entered a story in a science fiction workshop that offered a critique by a panel of actual, honest-to-goodness writers. Through that, I got invited to join a critique group that met in the Philadelphia area — and that’s when I began to learn about the business end of writing. The part where you have to worry about setting up book signings, readings, conference appearances, etc. But that was then. When the publisher did the lion’s share of the marketing and the writer mostly wrote the books, went to a few booksignings, and maybe gave a local workshop for aspiring writers. Back before the internet took off.

Now everything has changed. Writers are expected to have websites. And to update them. Writers blog — singly and in groups. The sedate book signing in the local mall has morphed into a book launch party, with theme drinks and goody bags. For those who like to remain private and a little set back from the books, this can seem like a Me! Me! Me! party that never ends. I can talk for hours about a book I read that I loved (Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman…I could go on for days). But it feels wrong to talk about my own books in general conversation. And when a reader gushes about how much they love a particular character, or scene, or — well, let’s just say I have to clamp my smile on my face and nod my thanks in order to prevent myself from pointing out the logic flaw, or the typo, or the…never mind.

I’ve struggled with self promotion from the moment I made my first sale in the spring of 1999. Back then it was bookmarks (from a professional printer nonetheless) and book signings. It quickly became websites — some of them garishly amateurish because they were done on free sites that ran ads and offered few options. And then it became important to have a well designed website. Now you can get book trailers made that can run on YouTube and your website, and that you can pay to have run on other high-traffic sites. I’ve debated sending press releases to the local media. I think I sent some. Once.

The truth was, I just didn’t know how to push my books without seeming…pushy.

Thanks to a conference presentation I heard at the beginning of the month, I may be seeing a way to promote myself and my books in a whole new — and potentially more comfortable — way. The presenter, Marianne Mancusi, is an author herself, and a TV reporter in New York City. She talked about what reporters are looking for in a way that put self-promotion in a whole new light for me: it isn’t about what the reporter/venue can do for my book; it’s about what I can do for the reporter/venue’s audience. Lightbulb.

I’ve been studying blogs for a few years, collecting new ones, dropping ones that don’t appeal to me, reading like a reader. When I think about the ones I can’t wait to read, it is because they offer me insight, or a laugh, or a complete shift to the right or left of how I think (I’m a total sucker for anything or anyone who can make me see something from a new perspective). In short, the blogs I like to read are (quel surprise!) interesting to me.

So, now all I have to do is figure out what interesting things I have to offer. And then figure out what audience may be interested in them.

I haven’t quite hit it on this blog yet. There are more interesting writers out there discussing their writer’s journey. I don’t think that’s my hook. But now I’m on the search for what my hook is, so you can expect me to throw a little bit of everything I have to offer out, and together we’ll see what my hook is, as a human being and as an author. I can tell you it isn’t gardening. Or housekeeping. Or organization. I’m definitely not the world’s greatest daughter, wife, sister or mother. And my cat would starve if dh and the sons didn’t fill her dish and throw treats her way every few hours.

Oh well, I have to have a hook, everyone has a hook. Once I find mine, I’ll see if the local news media nibbles. Because Marianne made me see there was a way to get publicity without making it all about Me! Me! Me! Thanks Marianne!!

Kelly