I’m into book publicity because it’s something that I weirdly enjoy. I don’t hate or dread it. I find it fun to come up with ways to reach readers. I’m an outlier.

My Adventures in Book Publicity Part 1 | Goals

Each edition of series My Adventures in Book Publicity will feature a campaign or organization close to my heart!

My Adventures in Book Publicity

Goals

Promoting Your Book

Now that it’s a little over a year and a half since my debut story collection came out, I want reflect on what went well and what I would do differently in hopes that it will help others especially small press traditionally published authors.

I also want to help myself remember for my next book! How quickly we forget these things once we stop doing them.

Publicity can be a touchy subject for authors. Some don’t think it is their job—although their publishing contract would likely disagree. Most of us have signed contracts that indicate that we do have be involved in some form of promotion and be available for interviews, podcasts, festivals, etc.

But how do you get those publicity opportunities without some self-promotion—especially if

• you don’t have an agent,

• aren’t with a big five press,

• aren’t a famous author, and

• don’t have unlimited time, money, and resources?

I’m not here to convert anyone on the virtues of self-promotion. I’m just going to outline what I did and what I would do differently.

I’m into publicity because it’s something that I weirdly enjoy. I don’t hate or dread it. I find it fun to come up with ways to reach readers.

I’m an outlier. I know.

I probably like publicity because I’ve run literary journals and for a short time ran private writing workshops and studied marketing. Once I learned how to promote other writers and my courses, I applied that knowledge to myself. I also l have a community-focused approach to my literary life which makes self-promotion more enjoyable.

I’m in the small/independent press traditionally published literary world although much of my advice can apply to writers involved in any type of publishing. [Incidentally Jane Friedman has a very handy template about the different publishing paths that you should check out if you are not sure what world you are in or want to be in.]

While Anecdotes was my debut short fiction collection, I am the author of five other poetry collections (3 full length and one co-authored chapbook which were traditionally published and one self-published collection) and I’m also a screenwriter and experimental filmmaker.

Naively I thought I had a handle on my own self-promotion. And while I did to some extent (I’ve run online journals since 2011 and this newsletter since 2021) in the end

• I took on more than I could handle,

• was not able to execute all of my plans, and

• I burned out.

So there are a couple of things that I would do differently the next time around.