write « Robin Writes

I got to thinking today, and reading social media, and there are tons of ways to get your name noticed—and, by extension, your books. So I decided to list these, in no particular order. Some will work better than others, some might not work at all, but I know authors who have used them all. It’s up to you to decide what works for you, and which ones are worth your time.

Speaking of time, do keep that in mind—if you spend your entire day looking for publicity, you’ll have no time to write. And, too, some of these may only target other writers and not readers. Sure, writers read, but don’t focus all your energy on “exchanging” links and books with writers.

Social media—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and many others

Local author fairs

Book signings

Interviews

Blog tours

Your own blog

Your website

Make yourself an expert on____

Local libraries

Library associations

Writers guilds

Writers groups

Bookstores

Other retail stores

State book associations

Speaking gigs

What will keep any of these from working? You. Your lack of consistency, your lack of trying—or only trying one thing, and waiting for weeks for it to “work.”

Take advantage of every free and cheap resource—and I define “cheap” as anything under $50. Avoid expensive marketing and gimmicks and packages—the exception being hiring a publicist, a good one.

Run far away from expensive contests—do your homework and check out the company sponsoring that contest. Too often, I see authors all excited about “winning” when all they’ve won is a sticker that the legit publishing industry will laugh about.

I’m sure there are many more ideas that you’ll come up with—try them all, and keep track of what works best for you!

Sadly, I’ve not been able to get down to the farm since our work weekend, although I’m going for a short time this coming weekend. My mom’s going to be in town and wants to see the place, so we’ll drive down and back, after she takes some photos.

My husband was there this weekend, though. He got the barn cleaned up and the pit drained—oh, I didn’t mention the pit? We saw it first in the pictures, trying to imagine what it was for; someone suggested storm shelter, another claimed it would make a good wine cellar. Turns out, the guy who built the barn was planning to refurbish old school buses and was going to use the pit for draining oil, etc. Don’t think he ever did, but now it’s full of water. Or was.

He also got the sinks cleaned in the house, and the tub and shower. Yay! Had to heat water, as the water heater itself is kaput. Aside from the fact that when we first turned on the water and the thing leaked from the top—and by “leaked” I mean that it sprayed all over the lean-to which, as I also said, needed a good cleaning anyway. Still does.

So next order of business is a new water heater, and a showerhead. I’m sure those who come down to visit will appreciate both these things!

No, we still haven’t hung the new gate or built out the campsite, but we have all the materials so that’s a good start. The problem, at least during the school year, is having the time to go down in between jobs and school. ‘Cause, oh yeah, the kid got a job caddying at a local club. Which is good, but not so good for several-day adventures!

We’ve also managed to move a fair amount of “stuff.” Have to hold off on more for now, until we can do some building inside the barn, for storage. Most of our camping gear, and things that are duplicates—like tools and cookware and so forth—is already there.

However, the critical chore is breaking ground for the garden. I have seeds and seedlings that need to planted very, very soon. So, yeah, another big project. Think I’ll ask Santa for a tractor this year . . .