Normally I don’t recommend blogs that pertain specifically to writers, because not everyone who reads my blog is a writer. However, many of you are, so a good one is worth mentioning now and then.
Recently I enrolled in Joel Friedlander’s Self-Publishing Roadmap, and as part of the package he included several bonuses, one of which was Joanna Penn speaking about marketing novels. I’ve been following Penn on Twitter for a while, but it wasn’t until I heard her webinar that I became a true-blue fan. In less than 90 minutes she boggled my mind with her generosity and spirit. Through a combination of free and paid information, she provides expertise on navigating through new media. In addition, she writes novels, so she knows the challenges of marketing fiction successfully. Many of the experts I’ve run across online are great at nonfiction but provide little help for me, so Joanna is a great find.
Not only is her advice useful and specific, but she is also one of these chirpy, cheerful sorts that lets me know that I can fix my mistakes. I made some rookie errors with the production of The Foreign Language of Friends, even though it’s the third book I’ve produced. It was the first one, however, in this brave new world of e-publishing, and there are things I would do differently.
Is it too late to relaunch a book, I wondered? Never, Penn says. Unlike traditional published books, self-publishers can relaunch a book at any time, even years down the road. I busily scribbled notes and now have a plan for going forward — and a plan for setting up new work for the future.
Penn also has a regular podcast that I’ve found helpful, too. I just have one question: when does she sleep?
For those who aren’t interested in writing/publishing tips but want to go straight to fiction, Penn keeps a separate blog for fiction with the tagline “ancient mystery, modern thrill.” I’m looking forward to reading her books. In the meantime, she’s going to save me a lot of time, money, and heartache on my authoring, and she can do the same for you, too!