To start off, what is a Street Team? This is essentially a group of people who are your go-to folks for marketing your book. They're the ones who share your posts on social media, leave book reviews, provide writing feedback, etc.
Read moreBrace Yourselves: #PItmad is Coming
That's right all you literary hopefuls, #pitmad is just around the corner! But what exactly is #pitmad, and how do you participate? I thought I'd give you a run down and suggestions while I also furiously scribble out pitches for the event.
#Pitmad is a quarterly pitch party where writers tweet a 280-character pitch for their finished manuscripts. Agents and editors will be scouring twitter and liking/favoring tweeted pitches that catch their attention. If they like your tweet, that means they want you to query your book to them. Yes, this is a real thing. People have landed agents and editors this way!
Some things to keep in mind:
Make sure your manuscript is complete. This event is for people who are ready to query their books (query letter, manuscript, synopsis and all). If you can't participate on December 6th (8am-8pm EST), don't worry! The next one is March 7th.
Don't favorite other friends' tweets, because that's how agents communicate with the authors. If you want to support your friend, retweet their post!
Include #pitmad and an age category to help the agents better find your work.
You can pitch more than one manuscript, but each manuscript only gets three pitches for the whole day, so space them out.
If an agent or editor likes your tweet, make sure to research them to ensure it's someone you want to represent you.
For more information, check the official website.
But what is a pitch, you might ask? It's basically a summary of your story in 280 characters. That's right, that huge manuscript you wrote? You need to tell us the most important things about it in a sentence or two.
And you thought writing a synopsis was hard.
Writing the perfect pitch can seem impossible, which is why you should check out Amelie Zhao's blog post How to Write a Killer Twitter Pitch. She gives excellent examples of pitches that caught an agent's attention, including her own during #dvpitch.
A few tips to keep in mind are:
Introduce a protagonist and antagonist.
Explain what's at stake.
Add in what makes your pitch/story unique.
Show your personality.
Think of comps, or books that are similar to yours to show you know what kind of audience your book will attract.
Test your pitch out on other people.
Amelie breaks this down into even more detail, but this list can help you get started. Also, don't get discouraged if you don't get chosen. Thousands of people are pitching at the same time, and agents have to sift through everyone. That's why it's so important to make your pitch unique and eye-catching (and I don't mean by using images).
If you're doing #pitmad, give a shout out below, and feel free to practice your pitch!
Good luck and happy writing!
Marketing vs Writing Time
I think the favorite motto of a writer is, "I hate marketing my book." Most times when I ask someone about their marketing techniques, they talk about how much they despise it and would rather have someone else do it. Unfortunately, whether you're traditionally published or self-published, you will have to do a fair bit of marketing if you want your book to succeed. The question is, how much time do you put into marketing vs your writing? Obviously you won't have anything to market if you don't write!
Here are a few tips and ideas I've learned about when to market vs when to write and how to divide your time.
Feeling inspired? Put the marketing aside and get those words down on paper. Don't squander time if you're feeling creative.
No Inclination to Write? Then focus on marketing. Sometimes putting together graphics or sending out tweets/building your reading and writing community can help you break out of that creative fog.
Deadlines for Books: If you have short stories due for contests, or a book due for printing, put the marketing aside and focus on getting that done. You want to make sure you meet those deadlines so you can market it later.
Deadlines for Interviews/Guest Spots: If a site or station is waiting on your interview or a guest blog, for example, then make that your priority. You might have to put your writing aside just to make sure you get that deadline done. Remember, this will give you traction and bring more people to your website.
Long Break: Do you have a few hours during the day where you can sit and focus on your book? You might consider writing. While marketing can take hours to do, it's easier to get that done in shorter spurts of time than working on your novel.
Short Break: Are you waiting at a doctor's appointment? Do you only have a few minutes to relax before a meeting? Spend that time marketing. Post a tweet. Share information about your book. Check your e-mail. It's easier to do that than to get writing done.
Split time: Maybe you want to market and write in the same day. Create meetings for yourself. From 6-8, you'll work on writing. From 8-9, you'll work on marketing. Treat those like meetings that you can't miss. That means you can get both done!
Author Events: When you have an author event coming up such as readings, signings, tours, you want to spend most of your time marketing. Share your event to the community you've built up. Focus your tweets and Instagram posts around what you'll be doing. At the same time, post pictures while you're at the events! Not only will you be preserving memories, you'll also be sharing your experiences with your readers. This is a time to focus on the marketing and getting to know the crowd, not the writing.
Burnout: At some point you're going to burn out from writing or marketing. When one fails, turn to the other. Usually if I'm too tired to write, I can still market my stuff. I might engage in a twitter thread or post a couple of pictures on Facebook and Instagram because it doesn't take a lot of energy. Sometimes, trying to share yourself with the social world can be draining. When you feel worn out, settle in, turn off social media, and just focus on your book. And, if you hit a point that you can't do either, take a break. Allow yourself to breathe and come back to it another day. If you keep pushing yourself, you won't do well with either your marketing or writing.
Scheduling: Each week, create a schedule for yourself. Decide what's most important (writing or marketing), and jot down the days you want to do one or the other, or both. Having this routine set up can make the whole process a lot easier and more friendly for yourself. Scheduling marketing posts is helpful too. You can take a day to schedule posts/blogs/interviews, and then while those launch, you can work on your writing.
Check in with yourself: Check in frequently to see how you're feeling. If you're starting to feel too overwhelmed with writing or marketing, it may be time to switch up your schedule. You are in control. You have the power to do as much or as little as you want. Make sure you're being kind to yourself and taking it all one step at a time.
Create Shortcuts: Find ways to get multiple kinds of marketing done at the same time so you have more time to write. For example, use hoot suite or another platform that allows you to schedule and set up multiple posts at once. The site posts for you while you write. Or, schedule a blog post on a Tuesday and have that be your "marketing piece" that you share that day. By 9am, you may be done with your marketing. While views are rolling in on your blog, you can go back to writing.
A lot of this really depends on where you are mentally and what needs to get done. If you're itching to write, then write. If you're craving social media, focus on that. And if you find that you're struggling in one of those areas, then make sure you set up time that you can sit down and focus on publicizing or writing your work.
It's likely authors hate marketing because either 1. they aren't sure how to do it productively, 2. they don't like stealing away from their writing time, 3. they don't like talking about themselves, 4. it's just not their forte. If any of this is true for you, you may want to look into finding someone who can market your work for you. That way you can spend more time writing.
I hope this helps!
If you have any topics you'd like me to cover, please post them down below!