Marketing and me

I am quite fascinated in the way my novel's marketing plan is coming together ... nay, impressed: I am, and have, a product. Go me!

As I quote openly (unashamedly, too) have a background in PR and journalism, you might think, "Huh? She didn't realise any of this earlier?"

Frankly, no. It is an organic process and different from publicising someone else, I assure you.

The more I travel down this path and make my dream a reality, the more real it becomes: I have a publicity schedule, a press contacts list drawn up, a press release being crafted, and meanwhile I am building this blog into an attractive sales window.

The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook talks about marketing yourself, mainly in the arena of helping your publisher market you. "Offer a peg to your publisher", it says (p 268, 2002 edition).

As someone who has helped to publicise other people, projects and organisations in the course of my career, I understand this completely.

As a rather private person myself, it makes me wince a bit, I have to be honest with you.

My main 'pegs' for myself are these, so far: I am born and bred in the location my novel is set (local knowledge, known locally); I am a former local reporter (already established as a writer of some description).

At this point I realise I need to discern how much of myself becomes public. Everyone who courts the media's attention knows they have things they want to be brought to light, and things they wish to remain in the box under the stairs.

The next peg is the book information: why will people want to read it, who will want to read it, where can they read it and for how much?

If I thought my mettle was being tested during the writing and editing process, it's being pushed past all known frontiers now. If I allow myself to doubt the worth of myself or my novel, this is where I will flounder, because the closer I come to ticking off the items on my launch schedule, the more real and exciting and terrifying this becomes.

Still, currently, the prognosis is good: I remain quite fascinated.