Wednesday, March 13, 2013

After the Book Deal- Months 9-6

A while back I decided to do a blog series called After the Book Deal. These posts are meant to help writers navigate through the process of what to do after you get the book offer. If you're like me, you've been focusing on your craft of writing, but now it's so much more.

Here's the first post: After the Book Deal- The First Three Months

So what's next?

Brand Yourself
I know we are all creative people, but you need to think about these questions before you go any further:

1. Who do you want the world to see you as?
2. What is important to you?
3. What are you hoping to accomplish through your writing?
4. How do you want to reach your fans and to what extent?

Once you've made those decisions, you're ready for the next step.

SWAG

Having swag can help promote your book in advance and provide ways to 'thank' those who supported your book by tweeting or blogging about your book.
  • Marissa Meyer has great ideas here.
  • For tattoos, I used this site.
  • For bookmarks and bookplates, I used this site.
  • For magnets and business cards, check out Vista Print because if you pay attention you can get great things for free from them.

Create an Author Facebook Page


Check out Nathan Bransford's post here. He has a blow by blow instructions on how to do it.

You'll need to decide if you should make up a page based on your book's title or on your author's name.

Check out my author Facebook page for ideas here.

Set Up a Website
There are a host of great web designers out there. I choose Biondo Studies because she's professional, her work is clean with excellent quality and she worked with me through the entire process. Here's my website.

Some things to consider when setting up your site:

1. This site should represent you and who you are.
2. Make sure it's easy to navigate and readers are able to find out where to order your book easily.
3. Create reasons why readers will want to go to your site. Do you offer something that is unique? Is your blog connected to your site.
4. Your site shouldn't be stagnant. It should constantly be changing and improving, always drawing readers to come to it.

Social Media


Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter. Make sure you have a reason for whatever social media you are using. If you don't have a reason, don't use that media source.

How about you, are there any other recommendations you have?

Christina Farley's debut YA, GILDED, releases spring 2014 by Skyscape Amazon Children's Publishing. She is represented by Jeff Ourvan of the Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency, LLC. She blogs and vlogs about writing and traveling, and is often found procrastinating on Twitter.

9 comments:

  1. Wow! This is such great advice. I'm bookmarking it for future use. Thanks so much.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so glad you could find it useful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fabulous article. This series of posts is something I think a lot of author-in-progress types don't think about until it actually happens and then its panic to plan everything. Wonderful advice. And your website is lovely. I usually hate flash openings but yours is just enough to feel magical without shoving the magic wand down our throats. Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Heathermuir- Thank you so much! Your comments meant so much to me. And I'm so glad you found this post helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm so happy for you, Christina, as you navigate this exciting phase.
    I found that having book marks for each individual book is an inexpensive and helpful thing, as they become the book's "calling card." Some writers think of those as giveaways for kids who can't buy the book, but I found that handing them one at a time when I mention the book, (not dumping a bunch at bookstores, who have too many) has been very helpful.
    As soon as you have a cover, you can have these made. That’s long before the book is out.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow! This is such a great suggestion. I'm save it for future use. Thanks so much.

    The Equation book


    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks, Christina. Just the sort of information I've been thinking about the need to collect. I even started a bookmark folder this week to file these sorts of posts. ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  8. Henry and Angelina- So glad you found this helpful. It's nice to have something to kick-start you off on.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.