On Coming Out of the Writing Closet

Here's my secret: I've been living two separate lives for the past three years.

In life #1 I am a 9 to 5 marketing professional at a consumer products company.  I go to the gym after work. I go to happy hour with my work friends. I complain about Mondays and say awkward things like "at least it's Wednesday" and "thank God it's Friday" while making small talk in the elevator.

In life #2 I am a YA writer. I write on the weekends and nights. I dream about my characters and what they might say. I have CPs and Beta readers and a blog about writing. I chat about rejections and say awkward things like "Is this paragraph too voicey?" and "I think I just saw my MC in a Dunkin Donuts."

These worlds rarely cross, because I've worked hard at keeping my writing life secret from my personal/professional life.

When I did (on rare occasion) yack to someone outside of my closest inner circle about my writing, they looked at me like I had a pickle growing out of my forehead. So I told myself that I had to keep my writing life secret because non-writers just wouldn't understand.  Along with about five hundred other excuses.

But here's the thing - they were all just excuses. The real reason I never talked about writing is because I was afraid. Afraid that my book would never see the light of day. Afraid that people would probe too deep and see that I was only an aspiring writer. Afraid that people would think I was wasting my time.

And yet I wrote a book. I sat down and wrote an entire flipping novel. How is that something to be ashamed of?

The answer is that it's not. If you have the courage to put yourself out there, to write a book, and to just plain try YOU HAVE NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED OF.  Also, YOU ARE NOT AN ASPIRING WRITER.  If you wrote or are writing a book, then you are, in fact, a writer.

I'm not sure how many of you out there are like me, but just in case you're out there I thought I'd take a second to remind you of what you've done. You have written a book. That means that you have penned over 60,000 words of awesome, and probably way more than that if you count all the edits and revisions. You have given hundreds of hours of your free time to achieving a personal goal. Instead of talking about your dream, you actually went out and made it happen.  GOOD FOR YOU!  That is AMAZING. Don't let anyone make you think otherwise.

About a month ago I officially announced my pub news on Facebook, for all of my colleagues and non-writing friends to see. It was my version of a coming out, or the FB equivalent of slapping a sonogram picture up to announce you're eating for two. The response was unbelievably positive, and it made me realize how silly I have been.

Nobody cared about agents, pub houses, or even that it was getting published. Sure, there may have been one or two pickle-on-the-forehead looks, but overwhelmingly people were congratulatory, excited for me, and even giddy.  The details didn't matter - all they cared about was the fact that I wrote a book. I WROTE A BOOK.

How silly was I to keep that to myself all this time when I could have been celebrating?

So remember, folks: if you wrote a book, you are a success. Period. And if you love this crazy craft of writing, hopefully you will write another one and another one after that. Because it's what you love to do. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters.

Congrats, and happy writing!

Why Being a Jerk is Bad For Business

I've read some disturbing posts recently about people who aren't playing nice during writing contests. Everything from agented writers entering contests designed for unagented writers, to general snarkiness when providing feedback to fellow contest entrants.

I don't want to turn this post into a rant, but clearly the don't be a jerk for the sake of not being a jerk argument doesn't always resonate, otherwise the interwebs would not be a buzzin' with stories of writers behaving badly. So I thought I'd make a different argument.

Being a jerk is bad for business.

If you've read any of my previous marketing posts, then you know that in the writing world your name is your brand.  And like any brand, if it's tarnished with negative feedback it will negatively impact sales. Said another way, regardless of how awesome you are at your craft, behaving badly can lead to negative feedback that will have an adverse affect on your brand and your future sales. Period.

Let's use the Oscars as an example.

If you lightly follow celebrity news, then you know that Anne Hathaway was slammed in the press throughout this year's award season for seeming disingenuous and annoying during interviews and acceptance speeches.  Then after she won the Oscar, word got out that she threw a hissy fit because Amanda Seyfried planned to wear a similar dress as hers to the Oscars, resulting in Hathaway swapping dresses at the last minute for the now infamous white nipple-dress.  See the nipples...er, dress, on the right.

Winning an Oscar should catapult Hathaway's brand into the celebrity stratosphere, but instead her award winning performance was overshadowed by bad press, even garnering the new nickname Anne Hathahate. Will people still go see her movies? Sure. She's a good actress. But the negative press has damaged her brand enough that there are former fans who won't be willing to see her next movie simply because they don't like her. That means less ticket sales, less revenue for production houses, and over time that can snowball into less movie deals for the Oscar-winning actress.

Here's the deal - in a world dominated by social media, your online behavior is public. As an unpublished author you might not think that matters, but if you use social media then you have a social media persona, and regardless of your publishing status, you are already beginning to build your brand.  And that pre-publishing reputation can follow you into publication.

The thing every writer needs to remember is that writers are readers too.  In fact, they're probably some of the most engaged readers because they're actively involved with social media, and likely read a lot of books and review a lot of the books they read. That means that the person you just p*ssed off during a writing contest is your future target market. Do you really want to p*ss off your future target market? I really hope the answer to that question is no.

And like it or not, some day you might need your fellow writers to help you promote your book - whether it's through blog tours, positive reviews or positive word-of-mouth. People like to help people they like, and if your fellow writers remember your bad behavior, the simple fact is they aren't going to want to help you. And they probably aren't going to want to buy your book either.

Don't be a jerk. It's bad for business. Instead, be like Jennifer Lawrence at the Oscars. Be humble. Smile after you trip on the stairs. Say please and thank you. And always, always remember that social media platforms - blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, tumblr - are public forums, and what you do and say on those forums will directly impact your brand.

*steps off soap box*

Writer's Resource: Savvy Authors Pitch Contests

There have been tons of blog-hosted writing contests over the last few months (Cupid's Literary Connection, Miss Snark's First Victim, and Operation Awesome, to name a few.)  I've been in revisions mode for the last few months, and while it's been soooooo tempting to enter some of them, I've held off.  I learned the hard way that if you enter a contest there's a very real chance you might win, and if you win a page critique or manuscript request from an agent before your manuscript is ready, well...that's one agent you can scratch off your list come query time.

A few weeks ago I finally finished my revisions, and now it's time to bring on the contests!

*runs off to dance jig to secret favorite song Call Me Maybe*

During my contest research, I stumbled upon a great site called Savvy Authors.  Admittedly I'm still checking this resource out, but one section was so exciting that I just had to share - they have an entire section of the site dedicated to regular pitch contests, and they pull in some stellar agents.

It's free to sign up for the basic site package, which is the only requirement to enter the contests (that I've seen so far.)  Below is a list of the upcoming pitch opportunities:

July 13 - Share your one line pitch with Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency
July 16 - Share your one line pitch with Laurie McLean of Larsen Pomada
July 23 - Share your one line pitch with Peter Knapp of Park Literary Group
July 27 - Share your FIRST PAGE with Nicole Resciniti of The Seymour Agency 

And that's just July!

Check out the pitch section of the site for more details.  As always, make sure you check the agent's list of wants and repped genres before submitting.

Now that I'm in contest/submission mode, I'll plan to share contests as I find them.  If you have any good ones you'd like to recommend, please post them into the comments section.

Happy Writing (and contest entering, and submitting, and jig dancing...)

Stacy

Writers Resource: Business Cards for Conferences

This August I will attend my first ever in-person writing conference at the Los Angles based SCBWI.  (I say "in-person", because my first real conference was last summer at the virtual WriteOnCon.)

As I've been doing my research on what to expect and how best to prep, I stumbled upon one reoccurring theme:  business cards.  It seems like anyone and everyone who has attended a conference recommends having a business card.

Why have a business card?  There are two main purposes:

1) Networking with other writers
2) Networking with agents (and perhaps publishers, depending on where you are in the process)

There will be hundreds of other children's book writers attending the conference, which means hundreds of names, faces, blogs and work-in-progress titles to remember. A business card is a simple and hassle-free way to exchange info and hopefully keep in touch with other like-minded individuals after the conference ends.

To this end, a business card should include the basic  information you want to share with other writers: your name, email address, blog/website/twitter handle, and a short blurb about the genre you are focused on. You can also include a telephone number, but there's no need to add your address unless you're feeling really friendly.  :-P

Okay, seems easy enough.  But what about agents?  Do they really want a business card from me? And if I do happen to have the opportunity to give them my card, what information do they care about?

These were exactly the questions I posted to my fellow aspiring writers on AgentQuery Connect (check out my two posts about this resource if you have not already.)  They gave me some fabulous advice, but perhaps the best suggestion came in the form of a blog post from agent Lauren Ruth.

I considered posting a number of different resources about writers' business cards, but in all truth Lauren Ruth's was the best.  In addition to reading it in its entirety, I highly recommend reading through the comments - there are some great thoughts and ideas that built on Ms. Ruth's suggestions. It's a must-read post for anyone trying to figure out what to include on your business cards.

Regarding where to go to make your business cards, there are a number of online resources that are easy to use, reputable, and cheap.  Below are a few links.

Vista Print - they offer 250 free cards - who doesn't love free? I can also vouch for this company from personal experience.

Zazzle - if you're not into the photo idea Lauren Ruth suggests, this site offers some fun writing-themed graphics

Uprint - In addition to the traditional card, they offer unique die-cut designs, and have a section focusing on business cards for writers

Happy writing!  And if you're planning to attend the LA SCBWI conference please let me know - I'll have a business card waiting for you.