Blogger: Michelle Ule
Location: Santa Rosa, Calif.
My comments about home parties from yesterday not withstanding, probably the people most interested in your book finally being published are your long- suffering family and friends. They’re the ones who have heard for years that you were writing a book; now you can show them a published copy.
That doesn’t mean they necessarily want to buy your book, but they’ll cheer you on–after they ask if you’ll give them a copy.
But not all of my relatives (read: the older ones with money) are on Facebook; so they’ll miss the release announcement made there. Not all my friends are on Facebook, either, and yet many have encouraged me. How do I let them know the book has been published without sounding like, well, Professor Harold Hill from The Music Man?
This is my plan.
People have been telling me for years how much they love and look forward to my Christmas letter. I even have had friends write about my Christmas letter in their Christmas letters (talk about pressure!).
I announced in the 2010 letter that The Dogtrot Christmas would be coming out in September. I encouraged folks to follow my writing on Facebook and my blog. I told them I’d let everyone know when the book was published. I got lots of positive feedback and rejoicing congratulations.
It’s showtime.
The best way to reach all these folks is through e-mail; so I’m going to announce the book’s release that way. But I want to be careful about my message.
It can’t be boastful. It needs to be winsome and full of other news, it can’t just be about my book. Or at least I don’t think so. Besides, why waste a good e-mail with one piece of good news if you have three exciting announcements in one summer?
Writing should be about meeting readers’ felt needs or, at the very least, entertaining them.
With changes made to protect privacy, here’s the e-mail I’m sending out this week to some 150 people:
Subject Line: A New Baby, a Family Adventure and a Shameless Sales Pitch
Dear Christmas Card friends and family:
We have a new addition to the family! J and A had a little girl, SR, on June 25. At 7 pounds, 4 ounces, she’s the smallest Ule baby I’ve ever seen . . . She has a sweet personality, and A is a lovely mother. All three of the adorable grandchildren have been blessed with wonderful mothers–and we’re very thankful. I’ll attach a recent photo of us from when N came home for a visit.
In other news, R, C and I recently returned from the jungle of Nicaragua following an eight-day eyeglass clinic mission trip. I’ve been blogging about the experience here.
A fantastic opportunity, we were honored and humbled to serve almost 1,100 people. We traveled with a 12-member team from our church, and after five days down river, we visited a lovely resort on the Pacific Ocean; so we got a vacation along with the satisfaction of seeing positive results from helping so many people.
And in final news, the novella I wrote will be published in A Log Cabin Christmas Collection on September 1. I’m in the marketing phase, now, and just have to let people know it’s out there. My story is The Dogtrot Christmas, and since this is a romance collection with Christmas themes, it can make an inexpensive gift for people who like that genre. Here’s the Amazon link, FYI. Feel no obligation to buy. 🙂
That’s it from me!
Michelle
P.S. To whet your appetite, I’ve attached the first chapter of the story.
I sent out a version of this e-mail two weeks ago to six friends and received back three enthusiastic, “You sold me with the chapter.” That’s a 50 percent return . . .
Here in Santa Rosa, I have several other groups of friends to inform about my book. Our church is in on it, and we’ll probably have a launch party there, but the business manager and I had a lengthy conversation about how to celebrate without making people feel obligated to purchase something. The last thing I want to do is turn a church into a marketing tool. I’m quite familiar with Jesus’ comments about the money changers and sellers in the temple.
To that end, we’ll have a small party with log cabin-themed games, a cake decorated with the cover, and me telling a story from the book. I’m not going to sell anything, but will tell them where they can purchase a copy if they want one.
Similarly, I’m giving away copies of the book to my local Pregnancy Counseling Center as a fund-raising donation.
I’ll post a flyer of the book cover at the gym, the library and outside my husband’s cubicle at work, with direction on where in the community to purchase copies. My colleagues all know about the book . . .
This book is my newest baby, though it weighs considerably less than 7 pounds 4 ounces. The writing has been a total family adventure. I just don’t want to be shameless in the sharing of a story I really love.
What are your thoughts on marketing to friends, family, and acquaintances? How has your church handled events like this in a respectful manner? Do you see any problems with what I’ve done? (I’m not sending that e-mail until tomorrow . . . ) Any other ideas about how to tastefully let people know you’ve published a book?
Your ideas are all fabulous, Michelle, and I’m taking notes! 🙂 And I love your idea about celebrating your book launch within the church setting. You’re right–the church shouldn’t be used as a marketing tool. At the same time, your church family is interested in what you’re doing, and they’re excited to see the Lord using you in a way that glorifies His kingdom. Kudos to you for your creativity!
“the people most interested in your book finally being published are your long- suffering family”
You’ve got to be kidding. Or maybe I just have a horrible family. Not one person in my family has shown any interest in my writing. Not my wife, my children, my siblings, my cousins. My wife is finally right now reading something I wrote, so maybe after 10 years she’s coming around. My son helped me with my web site, but as far as reading any of my writing, forget it. My daughter will “like” my writing status on Facebook, but beyond that, nothing.
Finally, last Christmas, some in-laws of my wife’s cousins asked to had a copy of my novel to read. Somewhat remote, but I’ll take it.
Do some people really have families that support their writing efforts?
David–I hear your pain. My husband reads most of what I write because he assumes he is the hero, and he figures he’ll gain insight into me if he reads what the heroes do. This has been maddening in some ways, because I don’t need him to kiss my hand and do other things as silly as that, but . . . it makes me laugh all the same.
One of my aunts read a manuscript I wrote about traveling with my mother–it even included a photo of her in it–and asked, “Do you think you could write a mystery? I prefer mysteries.”
It also can backfire. My daughter-in-law read my manuscript based on my adventures as a Navy submariner’s wife and told my son he could not join the Navy, ever–which was a shame. 🙁
It helps if they’re in the manuscript. Several of my children read my spiritual memoir after their relatives (who are not related to me) raved about it. “Now some of the things that happen to us make sense,” my son said.
I also spent years fighting with my children for computer time and also had them, inexplicably, time and again delete my writing to add a new game. I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating that was. 🙁
My husband has patiently listened to me wax frustrated as well as lyrical about this writing vocation for way too many years. Had he not been as supportive–“if God made you to write, you should write”–and been willing to fix the vexing computer, I never would have stayed with it.
I don’t know how many times I swore it off to do something easier like get a Ph.D. in history . . .
Find some writers and/or join a critique group, who understand. You’ll get better feedback, anyway.
Love your innovative ideas, Michelle, and coming up on a launch date of my own in October, I am really looking forward to trying them. I, too, have struggled with the “blowing your own horn” thing, and — after much soul-searching — have finally come to these conclusions…
Unless I have written the new definitive history on something (which I haven’t), most books still cost less than going out to dinner. Something almost everyone does, now and then, even those of us on a budget. So, I have decided to recondition MYSELF into not thinking that I am putting people off by telling them about my book and where to buy it. However, if I were to send weekly (or even monthly) e-mail campaigns or contests, etc. about it, then I think that would be blatant, and definitely put friends and family off.
I have also decided not to go only halfway on things. Enthusiasm is catching. But not being a very demonstrative person by nature, it is really difficult to “show” much enthusiasm for anything, even if I am wild about it. So, I did a lot of research to find out what most other authors are doing for marketing, and have decided to give those things a go, even if they mortify me. And if I do crash and burn, there’s always the option of re-creating myself in another persona, which I think is still legal in our profession.
But my best plan is to pray, so that the Lord has free-reign to straighten out whatever I do manage to come up with. Which I can tell you have already done heaps of, because of the “sparkle” on everything you’re doing right now. So, continued blessings on THE DOGTROT CHRISTMAS, and may it be your first success of many!
I’m loving these posts 🙂 Writing a “good news” email is a great idea since I’ve also been known for my Christmas cards in the past.
My family hasn’t been supportive of my writing in the past, and so I’ve stopped talking about it to them (which can be difficult because that’s actually how I pay my bills). I’m hoping that, should I get a novel published in the future, they’ll come around and be excited for me.
Even if they’re not, I’m very blessed to have a husband and good friends who do support me and will be my biggest cheerleaders.
Since we have a critique group at our church when one of the members gets a book published they can do a signing and sell copies at the Sunday coffee/fellowship time. But if it weren’t a function of a church group I’ve heard selling books there might cause legal problems since the church is only supposed to let people with non-profit status use the building. I seriously doubt that anyone would complain, but we want to obey the law.
My wife only reads my articles if she thinks (or worries) that she is mentioned in them. Of course, if it is about her, she’s definitely into it.
My kids would certainly be open to “like it” on Facebook, assuming that we are still “friends” at that time.
But I can count on my mom to read anything that I write. That’s what mom’s do — thanks mom!
If you’ve written something that will bless others, if you believe your writing honors God, then telling others about it is not an option. Many of us pray that God will use the writing skills with which He has blessed us to touch the lives of others. When He grants our request and equips us to write well and be published, then it seems reasonable that He’d expect us to share what he has gifted us to do. Not to share the information would be the “light under the bushel” wouldn’t it?
PS My husband is not interested in the genre I choose to write, so he doesn’t read my work, BUT he makes sure I get to critique group every week, encourages me to attend conferences regardless of the expense, and tells everyone that his wife is a writer.
Thanks for the ideas, Michelle! That’s why I’m networking and using social media *now* and not waiting until I have something to promote. I have friends who’ve joined our local Sisters in Crime chapter, ACFW, etc. when their book came out, only to drop out after a couple of months complaining that no one wanted to promote them. I just shake my head and try to explain that you have to invest in a group *before* you expect them to invest in you in return.
It makes me sad to hear that some of you don’t have family support. That’s so tough. I’m thankful to have a very supportive family.
With regards to selling to family and friends: I want to rejoice with friends who get a book published. It’s a big deal and I love to celebrate. I doubt if most people understand what a big deal it is, but even so, I think it is appropriate for authors to tell people they have a book published. You’d want your friends to tell you if they got a big promotion at work. You’d want to celebrate their good fortune with them.
I think if you’re excited about the book, that will signal to them that they should praise God with you.
If you love stories written by any of the other authors, you might even say something about how honored you are to be included in a book with such great writers. That could take some of the pressure off marketing. If you think this book would make a great stocking-stuffer for the book-lovers on their Christmas lists, then you can tell them that without tooting your own horn if you toot a couple of the other authors’ horns. You wouldn’t even have to mention marketing, maybe, because they don’t hang with writers and they aren’t sick to death of self-marketers. If you are thrilled with this book, and with the other novellas in the book, they will probably be thrilled with the book, too, and glad you brought it to their attention.
Thanks for these posts. It’s fun to walk through it with you.
I liked the way you’re doing your book launch at your church. Many people have done that, but they sell their books at the same time.
It should be a celebration, and everyone should feel comfortable coming. I’ll jot that note down! Very classy.
The letter was lovely. Congrats on the new baby. 🙂
Another thing you might try is getting people to sign up for an e-mail newsletter.
Love these ideas, Michelle. I announced Little Shepherd in my Christmas letter, but before that, my in-laws helped to spread the word and people actually bought copies at my father-in-law’s 80th birthday party. They told me to bring books, so I did. 🙂
I think what bugged me the most when the book came out is that so many people I knew expected a free copy. I’m generous, but let’s face it, I wanted to sell some books too.
Our church has an annual bazaar the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I sold copies there last year. Not many, but some.
Looking forward to more of your posts this week.