(Not book tour publicity, but at the bare minimum all of the following information. And most likely, they'll do some of the work for you.)
One of my good friends is a theatrical publicist who likes the same kind of fiction I do. Last week, when the Amanda Hocking headlines and chatter were strong, I mentioned the situation to my publicist friend. She read the article I sent her and began scoping out "this Amanda Hocking woman."
Speaking as a publicist, my friend declared two things to me: (1) Ms. Hocking might be making a good deal of money but she's not a professional and (2) Ms. Hocking absolutely needs a publicist.
(1) Ms. Hocking might be making good money but she's not a professional. This declaration comes from the notion that one must dress for success if one wants to succeed. That to be taken seriously you must put your best foot forward: you don't show up to court in fluffy slippers or chew gum in front of the Queen. When in Rome, behave in a way that makes the Romans think more of you, not try to kill you before you get back to the Tardis.
Mixed metaphors aside, what I mean is that having a web presence is not the same as having a professional web presence.
I thought about getting into a discussion of the differences between person, personal, and persona, but I think that is another post all in itself. For the sake of this post, I'll say that your web presence should not be "you" it should be your "writer-on-the-internet persona."
With that in mind, I get to things the publicist told me:
- If you're selling something (a book, a watch, your cupcakes, your skills as an actor, tiny pieces of your soul), your presence on the internet should not be just a blog. You must have a website. Should you also have a blog? That's entirely up to you. But your blog should be in your website not in place of it.
- If you're working toward publication and don't have a novel to promote, then a blog is a great platform building tool. You can chat with other writers and develop connections. And someday when you have a novel to promote, you can incorporate your blog into your website.
- There are many free and easy ways to create a website. Engage them. If you're selling something (as in making money from sales), upgrade to the low level package which doesn't run ads. The low-level upgrade on sites I've checked out like webs.com has a monthly rate that's about as much as a grande latte. Or at very least use wordpress to create a site that looks as little like a blog as you can make it. Unfortunately, as much as I love blogger, a blogger.com site will always look like a blog.
- Your website should have separate pages for your publications, bio, press kit, and news.
- Publications: where you list and link your novels. Use cover art. List and link your short stories. Use the magazine's cover art.
- Biography: write it in the third person. It's a biography, not an "about me." Look at the "About the Author" in the back of your favorite book -- it's written in the third person, not the first.*
- Press kit: pertinent facts and cover art for those who may be interested in reviewing, interviewing, or writing articles on you/your books.
- News: not what you ate for lunch. This page should list and link all the places you've guest blogged; list and link all your favorable reviews and all reviews (favorable or not) from big venues; articles written about you/your book; places your press release has appeared; places you have or will be appearing, lecturing, signing, or teaching; and future release dates.
- Don't put your direct, personal, non-professional email address on the site. "She's got her hotmail listed!" my publicist friend shrieked when she poked around Ms. Hocking's blog. "First off, it's not professional," she told me. "Second, you don't want that kind of email going into your personal account. Third, it should be going through a publicist or agent or at least your mother." Then she amended the statement further: even if you-the-author manage this account, it shouldn't be your main account and it shouldn't sound like your main account. It needs to sound professional because it's @authorname.com (not @hotmail or @gmail or @yahoo), and it should be something like contact@authorname.com or publicity@authorname.com or the like. Something that does not suggest OMG we can be bffs if you stalk me and send me a :) email after you finish each chapter of my book and an lol mssg after each of my #CharlieSheenIsAnAss tweets!
(2) Ms. Hocking absolutely needs a publicist.
Lastly, hire a real publicist. No, don't run out and do it now. But if you find yourself in the prized position of having local and national news media interviewing you and reporting on your success, or if you find yourself getting nominated for national awards, then don't try to do it all yourself.
A publicist is not like a personal assistant; she takes on many clients at once so you don't have to have oodles of work for her to do all the time. But for a media blitz, she's worth having around.
Ms. Hocking posted last week that she had spent several days doing nothing but answer emails, and it frustrated her because it was taking time away from her writing. Hopefully that made her see that she needs to hire help (at least temporarily) to deal with her sudden fame.
A real publicist would advise her on all of the above and more. A real publicist would weed through the emails. A real publicist would provide someone for the press to contact instead of contacting the author directly and having honest-to-god interview requests getting mixed in with fan/stalker/plz-tell-me-the-secret-of-your-success emails and ignored for lord knows how long. Most importantly, a real publicist would take care of publicity and let the writer have time to write.
Photo credit: madaise
*Where a bio should be written in the third person, I've been assured that a blog's "about me" should be in the first person. Your choice between the two depends on what persona you want to bring to the table, a professional writer with published novels, or a personable blogger writing about her journey.
