Looking Back…Looking Forward

I started to write this post about my first Colorado Gold Conference, and I was struck by how much writing and publishing have changed since the early days of my career.

Some things have definitely gotten easier. I printed out the manuscript of my first book on a word processor where you had to feed in each piece of paper individually and press “print.” But that was a huge improvement over the electric typewriter I started typing it on, because the word processor had a memory and could save my changes. And of course, I mailed the manuscript out to editors, a big expense and a lot of work. (A 400-page manuscript was no easy thing to box up and lug to the post office.) When I sold the book, I got a letter offering me a contract. Of course, I followed up with a phone call to the editor. Because that’s how you had to communicate with your editor back then. With no email, it could take a couple weeks of phone tag (since I worked during the day) to get in touch with her.

I researched my first books in libraries, scouring the stacks for potentially relevant books after looking up the call number in a card catalog with actual cards. I checked out my pile of books (unless they were reference and I had to use them there), went home, and spent hours reading or at least skimming them, looking for the information I needed. Now you can go online, and if you type in the right keywords, in seconds you find just what you need…and more. (The research rabbit hole has gotten even deeper.)

After I sold my first book, I had to wait 18 months until it was published, a fairly typical lead time. While waiting, there wasn’t much I could do except write the next book. There was little promotion or marketing that was in the hands of the author. I could (eventually) set up book signings and do flyers or postcards for local marketing. But most promotion had to be done by your publisher. They sent out copies for reviews, although that meant only a handful of places. The big journals didn’t review mass market paperbacks at the time.

But there were more visceral thrills back then. I’ll never forget getting the color photocopy of my cover art in the mail. Or the even greater excitement of getting the box of author copies and actually holding my book in my hands. And there was my first book signing, with a cake with my book cover on it, put on by my coworkers and attended by over 60 friends and family members. Not to mention fan letters–actual handwritten letters from people who had read my books and cared enough to put pen to paper, buy a stamp, and mail me their thoughts and feelings.

Although the actual writing and book production has been made easier and faster, marketing has become more difficult and intensive. It’s easy to produce a book now. It can be done in weeks, rather than months. But getting the books to readers is another matter. A lot of it is the author’s responsibility. Even if you’re a fairly well-known author, your publisher is going to expect you to have an online presence and to interact through social media. And every time I turn around, it seems another promising promotional tool has gone away or become less effective. Blog tours aren’t the same when hundreds of blogs compete for readers’ attention. Facebook and Twitter have changed their rules, making it harder to promote (unless you want to spend money, of course). And now the GDPR, Europe’s new privacy laws, make website and newsletter marketing much more challenging.

But there’s nothing you can do but adapt and keep trying. The only alternative is to give up. Quit writing, at least with the goal of getting your story out to readers. And creative authors will always find some new, clever way to market their books. There are still authors developing audiences, finding fans, and selling books. I’m not sure quite how they do it, but they give me hope. Keep me searching and striving, trying to stumble onto a means of sharing my stories with the world.