Yeah, I Should Leave My House More Often

One of the things that I think I forget as a writer is how much fun it is to be, um, you know, not sitting in my office by myself all day long. I swear, in high school and college, I was super-social, but slowly, with every passing year, I've become hermetic, and honestly, if you locked me in my house with a computer and some supplies, I could probably live out my days happily. :)

So the good news is that I got off my ass last night, put on some killer heels (which subsequently twisted my ankle, proving that I am definitely more of a Converse gal than Louboutin gal) and trekked down to Prince Street to read with Laura Dave at McNally Jackson. And oh what a night we had!

The store was packed - standing room only, and it was chock full of friends, industry-folks and writers, including Anna David, Joanne Rendell, Alison Pace and Jasmin Rosemberg, and it was so, so, so awesome to have their support (and meet a few of them for the first time after years-long internet friendship). Laura and I each read sections from our books and then we took questions, which we answered in tandem. It's always interesting to hear how different authors approach different things - from the writing process to the research process to what we enjoy most (and least) about this whole shebang, so I actually thought it was a pretty informative gig (personally speaking, since I loved hearing Laura talk...I have no idea if I came off as a blithering idiot or an acute smarty).

Anyway, more importantly, I got out and met some readers who loved the book and talked to friends whom I haven't seen in a while and grabbed a slice of pizza with my agent (yes, very glamorous, we were both so exhausted that we begged off of the chichi drinks with Laura and her editor and some others), and came home both exhilarated and totally pooped. But it was a wonderful reminder that part of being a writer is getting out there in the world and soaking it all in...and now I have all the more material to seal myself in my office for at least another year. :)

Blurbs or Bust

Question of the day: how much of a difference do you think blurbs actually make?

This is a much-debated question here at Ask Allison, as we've raised this discussion a few times before. Now, with some perspective after a few books, I can tell you that I don't think they have as huge of an impact as some authors think they do. But I'm open to being convinced otherwise. Maybe I'm just old and jaded. :)

When I was a debut author, I stressed, stressed, stressed about blurbs. OMG, was I frantic about them. Partially because yeah, I thought it would help book sales, but in hindsight, I suppose I also wanted some validation from my peers. Fortunately, I got it: I got six glowing blurbs from well-known authors, all of whom I am still grateful to today. Really. I still buy all of their new books as my way of a thank you. Did their blurbs help sell actual books? Who knows. They did certainly help excite my editor and publicist and likely gave me some legitimacy when it came to wooing magazine placements, but in terms of sales, I have no idea. Which isn't to say, of course, that they didn't help: a good blurb is always better than nothing, and in this industry, you can use every leg up you get, but did they make or break my book's success? No. No, no, no, no, no.

Interestingly enough, I solicited fewer blurbs when it came to Time of My Life. I wasn't as frantic, though sure, I wanted some choice quotes for the back of the jacket cover. And rather than six, I had three. And you know what? That book sold the hell out of itself. Was it the blurbs? Well again, I'm sure that having these wonderful, wonderful authors endorse my work didn't turn people off, but at the end of the day, The Today Show and People Magazine and strong word of mouth is what generated sales.

So my conclusion? Yeah, get those blurbs if you can but have some perspective: they're a small part of the package. A nice one to have, but so many other things go into the success of a book, that a few more (or a few fewer) likely won't tip the scales.

But I'm open to changing my mind. What say you?

Blurb Bartering

Question of the day: Can you talk about the best way to go about asking authors for blurbs? How do you approach them? When is the best time in the process to do so?

This is a timely question for me, as I'm sitting here typing this with a stack of ten or so to-be-read-for-potential-blurb manuscripts and galleys on my desk. Sigh. I feel soooo badly that I haven't had time to read them all, but given where I am with my manuscript, it hasn't been possible. BUT, now that I've been on both the asking and the being-asked end of this question, I do think I have some insights.

First, I can't and won't blurb a book that hasn't been sold. A lot of authors feel this way, and there are several reasons for it. To begin with, as noted above, I have a long pile of books that HAVE been sold, and truth told, I just don't have the time to read a manuscript that might not see the light of day. That sounds terrible, I know, but it's honest. And I think understandable. Second of all, agents and editors advise authors not to blurb anything that hasn't yet sold for legal reasons: if the manuscript never sells and the author THINKS he sees something similar in your next book, who's to say that said author won't raise a stink about plagiarism, stolen ideas, etc? Again, I know, very unlikely, but people can do very weird things when they don't fulfill their dream and see someone else doing it, and it's not a chance worth taking.

So, let's say your manuscript sells. Hurrah! Congrats to you! What now? Well, once you have a finished ms, you can certainly start sending out notes to your favorite authors. If you're not in the galley stage, however, this means one of two things: that the author, if she agrees to read, will receive a bound copy of the ms (sort of like a bound term-paper/thesis that you might have made at Kinko's in high school or college) or the author will receive a 300-page print out of your book, akin to a loose ream of paper. You can guess which ones get relegated to the bottom of the pile. I do my reading at night or on the subway or in hit or miss places where I might find a few spare minutes. I simply cannot carry around loose pieces of paper, not to mention that it feels much more like homework than pleasure reading when you're reading a literal print-out.

BUT, sometimes, you can't avoid that, and it is what it is. If you really want an author, it might be worth asking, even if she receives a 10-pound lug in the mail. Most often, however, I'd simply advise that you wait until the galley stage. Yes, it's soooo wonderful and joyous and perfect to have blurbs on your galley, but unless you personally know an author, I really wouldn't have an expectation that she'll read those 300 loose pages.

How do you ask? You send a very, very polite email to said author, explaining why you'd like HER to blurb, why you think the book might resonate, and of course, being very, very understanding if she can't. I'd also make note of the fact that blurbs aren't obligatory, and when I was asking for blurbs, I never, ever assumed that someone would like my book OR would have the time to read it. If one did, bingo! And if she didn't, there were no. hard. feelings. You should also leverage your agent and editor contacts: they might rep or work with authors who are good fits and with whom they have an in. Authors always feel more obligated to read a ms if there's a connection.

Finally, don't take it personally if you don't receive a coveted blurb from a particular author. I can honestly say, now that I'm on the other side, that I am so, so busy, and I am trying to bust my way through all of these, but a realistic voice in my head also knows that's not going to be possible. I used to think: how hard is it to read one lousy book? But it's never one lousy book; it's a lot of them, along with juggling my own work, my own life, and ideally, my own reading for pleasure.

I'm also trying to be judicious: there are authors who blurb just about anything, and I don't think that's fair to readers. I'd like to think that I'll be someone who readers can count on to be honest in my endorsements, so if I don't fall in love with something, I just don't feel right tacking my name on. It's not personal. Hell, plenty of people didn't blurb me. And I get that. It made the ones that we DID get all the more sweet. And that's not to say I wouldn't go back to these authors and ask again next time. But when and if I did, I'd keep in mind their own looming tower of to-be-read manuscripts, and I'd recognize that one blurb won't make or break my book. Really. You won't believe it now, but looking back on it, I promise you that it's true.

To Tweet or Not to Tweet?

That is the question I'm talking about over on Writer Unboxed today. I've jumped in full hog to Twitter and am chatting about how useful (or not) I've found it to be.

Check it out here!

ATwitter for Twitter

Okay, so I've been really bad about Twittering because, to be honest, I just don't really get the appeal, but my lovely friend, Christina Katz, aka, The Writer Mama, suggested that I install Tweetdeck...and thus, I have done so and hope to be more diligent about it. We'll see. I remain skeptical.

But if you're on Twitter, come find me at @aswinn!

Time Out for Blogging

Question of the day: Could you do a post about time-management and everyone could talk about how/when they fit in writing time? For example, do people who blog and write books have a schedule -- blogging first thing in the morning and writing at night, for example?

Absolutely! This is something I'm definitely struggling with right now because even though I don't spend every waking second working on my ms, when I'm NOT working on it or doing a freelance piece, which lately for some reason, I've been really busy with, I tend to like to let my brain drain, sort of like a battery that needs to deplete itself before it can be recharged. So often times, the last thing I want to do - and this means no offense to y'all, it's just about my energy levels - is write a blog post. For a while, I was really burnt out on blogging but kept at it because well, I didn't just want to stop abruptly after all of the work I'd - and you'd - put into making this such a warm, writer-friendly place for all sort of levels of writers in the industry.

So my solution has been to try to bang out a few posts over the weekend. I can usually grab some quiet computer time on Sunday night after my kids have gone to sleep, and if I can get two posts done for the week, I actually look forward to doing another one a few days later. But when I have to do them drip by drip - one each day and sort of cram it into my day when there are a million other things I'd prefer to be doing - I really lose my enthusiasm. Overall, this has definitely worked really well for me. Not only does it free up some of my time during the week, but it's also made me enjoy this blogging endeavor a lot more.

What about you guys? How do you find time to fit it in? Anyone ever get burned out like I sometimes do?

When is New Media Too Much New Media?

I've been contemplating this question for a while...I feel like I could spend my entire day on things like Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, MySpace (which, actually I never really deal with anymore), but there are so many new sites/tools out there to connect with other writers and/or readers that it's almost become a job in and of itself.

As I mentioned a week or so ago, I decided to join Twitter....and to be honest, I'm not sure if it's for me. I suppose that you get out of things what you put into them, but between writing my book, working on my celeb interviews, doing TOML stuff (still doing that months after its release) and the 1000 other things I have to deal with in the time when my sitter arrives and when she leaves (including but not limited to: walking the dog, squeezing in a workout, planning dinner, running errands, going to meetings, going to dr's appts, going to a million different things, oh...and working), and I'm not sure that I have it in me to keep up with this tweeting thing. But, on the other hand, as someone who recognizes the value of these online marketing opportunities, I'm hesitant to discard it altogether, even though I fully recognize that it probably isn't my bag.

It's interesting what the internet has done to book promotion and author accessibility. Gone are the days when book tours were a must. Now these days, what is a must? Tweeting? Facebooking? Blogging? Websiting? I don't know - where does it end? It feels like every year, something new will crop up, and I'll be honest, I was iffy on FB originally and now I can't live without it, though I try to use it strictly for personal, not professional, reasons. (I.e, I don't use it for networking and don't friend people I don't know - and vice versa, but regardless, it's been invaluable in terms of promoting within my pool of friends and people with whom I'm back in touch.) So it's not as if these places don't have a lot of value; I recognize that they do...it's just...where does it end? An author could spend all of her time networking and blogging and tweeting and whatnot and never actually devote herself to the important things.

I dunno. It's just food for thought right now. For me, this blog has been the best marketing tool I've opted for, but when people ask me if they should start their own blogs, it's hard for me to say affirmatively yes because, after all, who knows how well they'll use them? Maybe Twitter is a better choice or maybe nothing at all. Maybe they should just spend their time writing. I don't know. The possibilities are endless. Maybe it's just up for each person to decide. For now, I'm hanging onto my Twitter page, even if I don't make much of a tweet.

Get Known Before the Book Deal

So today, I am super-duper excited because I have a guest here whom I think will be very, very helpful for many of you out there. We've discussed platform on the blog before - namely, how critical developing a platform is BEFORE you try to land your book deal, and while I've tried to offer examples and ways that you can build this platform, I'm certainly not the world's top authority. But I might just have the world's top authority here today to answer a few questions! Yay!

Christina Katz is an author pal of mine (one of those incredibly supportive, collaborative types whom I adore!), and her new book is called, Get Known Before the Book Deal: Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform. I thought that she sounded like the *perfect* expert for Ask Allison readers, so below, here are some questions that I posed and that she took the time to answer.

1) How crucial is platform these days? If you don't have a platform, are you much less likely to land a book deal?
I’d say a platform is more crucial than ever before. A platform is a promise, which says you will not only create something to sell (a book), but also promote it to the specific readers who will want to purchase it. Not very long ago, publishers were overproducing books without sufficient publicity for the majority of them, so landing a book deal hinged more on a strong book concept at the “right” time by the “right” writer. To a certain extent, acquiring editors were pressured to acquire enough books to be a player in the over-production game and “A list” authors got the lion’s share of the publicity dollars. Today, things are different. Yes, editors are still acquiring books. But we are all more aware that precious resources —trees, gas, money, etc. — are used to produce them. The books currently making the cut are going to get acquired by houses operating with smaller staffs and reduced budgets, thanks to the economy. Publishers are going to necessarily produce fewer books, which means more competition for author status among writers. What it all boils down to is that a writer can have a great book idea at the perfect time and be the absolute best person to write that book…and still not land the deal if he or she does not have the platform that is going to fulfill the promise to sell the book. A platform-strong writer is a writer with influence. Agents and editors have known this for years and have been looking for platform-strong writers and getting them book deals. If you want to land the book deal, today, then you need to be a platform-strong writer.

2) Are there any types of writers who don’t need a platform?
Yes. There are dozens of reasons to write but only writers who want to establish themselves as professional writers, who aspire to publish a book or a self-published book need to concern themselves with platform development. If you are writing for other reasons, such as to heal, to connect with friends and family, or just for pleasure, then probably you don’t need a platform. There’s no reason why those writers should feel pressured to have a platform. Doing so might hinder rather than help.

3) Basic (and general, but important) question: can you give three specific tips to help writers launch their platform?
A. Clarify the expertise you have to offer. If you don’t know what your expertise is, then mulling it over could take some time. And that’s okay. Consult experts you respect. Do some self-refection. Get out and connect with others like you through associations or conferences. Write some articles on things you know how to do. This is how Cindy Hudson discovered how much she knew about mother-daughter book clubs [more on: http://getknownbeforethebookdeal.com/]. Today, she has a book deal with Seal Press. Don’t be afraid to take time for platform development before you start spending a lot of time online…especially if you already are online but are not getting any closer to accomplishing your professional writing goals. When it comes to clarifying your expertise, taking a step back and looking within is a very good strategy.

B. Carve out a distinct niche among others who are offering similar expertise. How are you different? Inquiring minds want to know. You’ll have to communicate who you are and what you do quickly. Attention spans are getting shorter, so writing down what you do concisely is critical. Platform isn’t the credentials or your resume; it’s what you currently do. It’s current, constantly evolving, and updated on an ongoing basis. Allison, your blog is a perfect example. (AWS: Thank you!) As a part of your platform, your blog is a place where you authentically share what you are learning and have learned about publishing to assist other writers. Your service garners loyalty and that loyalty is priceless, both to those you serve and to you. Any niche should always be a win-win proposition like this.

C. Identify and respond to your audience. If you are vague about your audience, the whole writing process takes longer and typically requires more rewriting. This applies to books, blogs and everything else. But when you identify your specific audience and begin speaking to them directly, the conversation can spark all kinds of wonderful ideas, connections and opportunities. In less than one year, look what Jenny Kales has been able to accomplish in her blog, Nut-free Mom [http://nut-freemom.blogspot.com/]. Small concrete steps build over time and create career momentum.

4) What about blogging? Everyone seems to do it these days, but is it essential? What can you do to make your blog stand out?
Blogging can be tricky and not just for folks who are unfamiliar with the conventions. For example, blogging can be a challenge for veterans who need to keep things fresh and keep themselves engaged while moving forward into new territory. On one hand, blogging is great and there are many good reasons to blog: to build and maintain your identity online, to be a part of an extended community of bloggers, to explore what it’s like to write and have your writing responded to online, to share about your writing process, to give and receive support, and to become better known. On the other hand, blogging can be a huge time suck from other types of writing you might have to neglect in order to blog. So if you are wondering, “How can I keep up a blog and take care of my four kids and my aging parents and my three pets and meet my deadlines…and…and…?" Then maybe don’t blog right now. Maybe reading blogs for twenty minutes a day and simply learning about blogging until you have a plan, makes sense. For folks who consider blogging a part of their professional writer’s platform, a blog can work wonders. I’ve noticed by studying blog-to-book-deal successes that the phenomenon really has more to do with the person (or people) behind the blog, the quality of writing being posted in the blog, and the degree of professionalism of the writer, than it does with the technology alone or even the amount of time the writer devotes to blogging. So, if you want to make your blog stand out, consider the role it can play as a handy, instant publishing tool to serve your audience. And don’t be afraid to take a creative approach and stand out in the crowd, even as you become a member of a huge online movement.

5) Times are tight, and people don't necessarily want to shell out money right now. Do you have any tips that are also cost-friendly? (Besides buying your book!)
Well, certainly buying my book is the best economic choice for the value that I can think of (wink). But, seriously, platform development doesn’t have to break the bank. Yes, if you don’t take a long-term, incremental approach to platform development, and then suddenly, you have to have a platform and you needed it yesterday…then sure, there are going to be expenses involved. But that’s because in your haste, you are squeezing the most important player out of the game—and that’s you, the writer. So my advice is don’t shell out money at the get-go, educate yourself first and take small steps, so you won’t feel the need to slap together a platform quickly to impress others. I suggest a more long-term approach and working slowly and steadily in order to spend less and save more in the long run. This means, while you are working on your novel, you should be at least planning your platform. And if you want to write nonfiction, I suggest platform development first and book proposal development second. Platform development will help you write a stronger and more impressive proposal. The numbers of people you influence will help close the deal.

6) Let's say you do land that book deal. How involved should an author be (very!) in the promotion process? Do you recommend hiring an outside PR person or should the author be prepared to do a lot of the work him/herself? And if so, what sort of work?
Don’t try to go it alone. Having a team is helpful and important. So not only should the author be involved in the promotion process, the author should be involved way before the promotion process. There are many key people inside a publishing company to introduce yourself to and stay in touch with on an ongoing basis including, but not limited to, your acquisitions editor, your book editor, your publisher’s event planner, your book’s publicity person (if you are lucky enough to get one), sales folks (ask for an introduction) and anyone else within the company your editor thinks you should meet. If you are easily overwhelmed by meeting lots of new people, ask your editor who you should talk to early in the process and then schedule introductions over time. If you can afford a PR person, that’s great. They can assist you with publicizing the book before and after its release, which can be a huge help during an extremely busy time (at least you should be busy—very busy, right Allison?). Be prepared to do research and talk to lots of authors about who they recommend before you approach a several to discuss your needs. On the other hand, there are ample books available that cover how to handle your book’s release in detail (some with more suggestions than are humanly possible). Some favorites I flagged in Get Known include Plug Your Book! By Steve Weber, Self-promotion for the Creative Person by Lee Silber, Publicize Your Book! by Jacqueline Deval, and two by Penny Sansevieri: From Book to Bestseller and Red Hot Internet Publicity. If you can’t afford to hire someone, put together a brainstorming group with your fellow first-time authors and share resources. This can exponentially increase your success.

Thinking Long Term, Part 2

Okay, so we already discussed the fact that this career is about taking small steps that add up to bigger ones, but how can you maximize making those steps as big as possible?

Well, this was something that I'd never really considered, to be honest. I'm pretty savvy at marketing (minored in it in college! - hee), but though I've definitely considered how I market myself as a magazine writer (always meet my deadlines, supportive of whatever an editor asks, etc), I hadn't really considered how to market myself as a novelist.

So...rewind to a few weeks ago. Once Time of My Life hit the New York Times list, my agent started asking me about my next book. Actually, she had been asking me about it for a while, but as I've said here before, I really need to be struck by inspiration, and while I was toying with some ideas, nothing had given me that electric jolt that I need. I considered a sort-of mystery/thriller idea, an idea focused on female friendships, and a few others along the way. But I realized that I really liked the magical, mystical element of ToML, so started to hone in on that. As luck would have it, this played into what my agent was hoping for.

So back to when the book hit the list. My agent and I had a chat again about my long-term strategy, and she mentioned that "branding" me as the women's fiction writer who deals with wish fulfillment could be really really smart. We talked about other writers whose models have worked really well for them: Emily Giffin who writes about modern women's romantic/relationship perils, Elin Hilderbrand who writes stories about Nantucket, Jennifer Weiner who also covers modern women's real life entanglements. I'd never really thought about this before - about the package that you can create with your work. But think about: their covers are similar (for example, Emily Giffin's covers are all pastels), their themes are similar, sometimes their title are similar. (Not to each other, I should clarify, but to each author's other books.) Another great example of this is my pal, Jen Lancaster. You think of her, and you immediately think of her similar covers, her tone, her subject matter, etc. And readers gravitate toward this because they have a general idea of what to expect. When you pick up an Emily Giffin book, you're picking it up because you loved her other ones and want something similar.

And I don't mean this in a bad way. At all. In fact, I think it's genius. Part of being a successful writer is writing for your audience. Does that sell you out? Not in my mind. Writing is a business. Your books are a commodity. You are a commodity. And if you want to succeed, you have to make yourself as valuable to your audience as possible.

So. Though I'd never considered this before, I thought this strategy made a lot, a lot of sense. Yes, I thought, I happen to do "wish fulfillment" very well, and I enjoy writing about it, so it's not like I feel like I'm under duress to please my readers. And it's also not like I have to write the same thing over and over again. Tom Clancy has written a million thrillers and Stephen King has written a million horror books and John Grisham has written a million legal page-turners, and that doesn't make them boring. There are dozens of ways of exploring the same themes, and once I realized that, I really freed up my brain to conceive the concept behind The Happiest Days of My Life.

Before my agent mentioned this strategy, I was sort of all over the map with ideas. But doesn't this make so much more sense? I know that readers responded to this sort of idea from me, why confuse them with something so entirely different? Look, some of you might be shaking your heads thinking that this really fences in a writer as to what he or she can write. And to that I'll say, maybe. Sort of. But think of so many of the best-selling writers whom you can name: many of them adhere to this strategy. And when you DO have a big enough audience, certainly, you can stretch your wings, just as Grisham did or even Jennifer Weiner did when she branched into short stories. Writing for the love of writing is a wonderful thing. But that alone probably won't pay the bills. You have to be strategic and consider the overall package. And the plus side of this is that I'm very, very excited about writing this next book - there's no compromise in it at all. I'm happy writing it, and hopefully, readers who enjoyed ToML will be happy to read it.

Anyone else out there ever considered this branding idea? Or is it as new to you as it was to me?

Thinking Long Term

Thanks so much to everyone for your well-wishes and congrats! I sincerely appreciate it so much.

Okay, so I promised a little behind-the-scenes detail from the book sale and some other stuff, so here goes. Warning: I'm extremely zonked right now, so I might split this post in half - part today, part tomorrow. But I'll get you all the info, I promise!

So, what was most gratifying about the sale of The Happiest Days of My Life was that it validated everything that I have placed my faith in over the past few years. Let me rewind and explain because I think this might give some of you a bit of inspiration too.

When I sold The Department, we sold it for what Pub Mktplace would "a very nice" deal. In non-PM terms, this means that the pub house has some faith in you, that you'll likely get some co-op/promo budget, and that expectations are that you'll sell a decent amount of books. So...what happened with the Department is that it sold...a decent amount of books. Not great. Not terrible. Adequate. Cancer books, I realized even though plenty of people told me this and I didn't believe them because I'm apt not to believe negative things, are very, very hard sells. It doesn't matter that it gets great reviews or is mentioned in a variety of huge magazines. People don't want to read about cancer (often - not always) or other harrowing situations that they've faced in their real lives (like, I would never pick up a book that deals with a sick child because it's just something that, though I've never been it through personally, I could not stomach at all), and...well, lesson learned. No cancer. Nothing that will turn potential readers away.

I also learned to think BIG CONCEPT, which is something we've been chatting about here on the blog. A good book isn't enough these days to set it apart from the other good books that are out there. Not for midlist authors who have to fight for attention. So I started thinking BIG CONCEPT, came up with Time of My Life, drafted the first 100 pages, and voila, my agent was ready to sell them. (Actually - tangent, I forgot. Before this BIG CONCEPT thing dawned on me, I wrote 150 pages of a different book. We shopped it around and got middling offers. Offers, yes, 4 of them if I recall, but they were lower than my original advance, and truth told, I knew I could write a better book. BUT. This is when my agent said something very wise, very pivotal, and something that I had to believe, just because I believed in her. She said that the third book was when we should expect my advance to explode. That these first two books were stepping stones to prove myself and to build my audience, and that the money we got now wasn't the money we were really chasing. It was a long-term strategy that wasn't necessarily easy to accept because who knew if it would pay off, but we didn't have much of a choice. Ultimately, we walked away from these 4 tepid offers because not only did I want to write a better book, but I also knew that these lower advances would mean a smaller print run and less promotion/co-op...which meant that this third-book advance strategy that we were aiming for would backfire. Advances are all built off of how well your previous book sold, and if my second one sold poorly, I was screwed.)

Anyway, back to those 100 pages. So, my agent shopped them around to very, very positive responses. BUT. As with that other ms, the advances, while higher - generally around what I earned for The Department - were, well, disappointing. Not because by any objective terms they were disappointing, but because you hope to build and build and build, and in this case, I'd flat-lined. Why? Because The Department's sales were only okay. My sales track record spoke for itself, and even though everyone who read these 100 pages of Time of My Life agreed that it was a bigger, more universal, break-out book, no one wanted to literally bet on it. My agent said - and I agree, to this day - that had ToML been my debut, I would have been paid huge money for it. But it wasn't, and I was swimming against the current of my previous sales, and that was that.

Ultimately, we did all that we could with our situation: we went with the best editor, the best imprint, the team I'd been dying to work with, and yes, they also offered the most money. But I was prepared to go with them for less because I knew that I was at a critical juncture: crappy sales and crappy promotional game-plan and crappy art, etc, meant that my future as a novelist would be in jeopardy. Because I couldn't stomach banging out novel after novel for dwindling advances and lackluster sales. It's hard to explain until you've been through it, but it's like your heart gets crushed when your book doesn't perform to your expectations (forget the industry's), and I just knew that I wouldn't want to go through it over and over again.

So, through all of this, my agent kept reminding me about book #3. That that would be our big one. I didn't focus on this while I worked on ToML, but certainly, I aspired to it. I trusted my agent's instincts, and while I'm sure that I would have worked just as hard on every aspect of ToML regardless of the prospect of an even bigger book the next time around, it was nice to know that I could swim upstream and possibly overcome the sales record of The Department. My agent thought I could, my editor thought I could, and most importantly, I thought I could.

The news this week of the sale of The Happiest Days of My Life was, of course, incredibly exciting and gratifying. But not because of the $$$ behind it. (Though that's great too.) Really, it's because I've worked very, very hard to get to where I am. I tried to be as smart as I possibly could be in an industry that isn't always forgiving or easy to understand. When things didn't go as well as I hoped, and certainly, I could have settled for different options, I didn't. I didn't settle. And it was tough. I'll be honest. It required a lot of optimism and false confidence when I didn't feel too chipper about the news that was coming in. But it worked. My agent was right. I do feel incredibly lucky to have achieved what I've achieved, but I also feel like I've earned it, you know? Not everyone will love what I write, and that's okay. But no one can say that I haven't earned it. And to me, that's what matters.

And I hope that in sharing this (there is plenty more to share, but that's tomorrow, as I'm about to collapse on my keyboard), you guys might see just what I'm talking about in terms of thinking long-term in your careers. Forget the instant gratification of landing that fat advance and think of your career in a larger scale.

Tomorrow: branding and strategy behind book #3.

The Making of a Best Seller

So, hmmm, okay, in case you didn't hear: I am officially and forever will be a NY Times Best Selling Author!!! Yay! What does this mean? Well, it means that for the future on out, all of my books will say that I'm a NY Times Best Selling author. For the present, it means that I'm working it into as many conversations as possible. :)

Actually, what it means is something fairly intangible. I've learned some interesting stuff this past week about best seller lists, and I thought that you guys might find it interesting too. When whispers of the fact that I might have a chance of making one (or more) first found their way to me, the first thing I asked was, "Well, how are these lists quantified?" And the answers I got back -from just about everyone - editors, writers, my agent - is that no one really seems to know.

Huh.

You'd think that it would be simple math: add up the top sellers and put them on the list. But evidently, this isn't exactly how it's done. And each list has its own method of going about it. From what I've learned, the news outlets not only look at numbers, but they also survey bookstores to see what is hot and what is selling like wildfire, and some lists, like the NY Times, ignore big box stores (which served to my advantage, as I'm not yet in Costco, but now hope to be), while others (like, I think, USA Today, but I'm not certain) do not. USA Today lists the top 150 books period. They don't differentiate between fiction and non, children's and adult, paperback and hardcover. It is strictly: these are the top 150 sellers (based on some secret calculation) in the country, which, of course means that it's tougher for a novel to land on the list, as non-fiction sells far, far more copies than fiction.

So, as the days and hours approached, I was nervous. I was more than nervous, I was full-on freaking out, albeit mostly internally and taking a good deal of it out on the elliptical! :) But the fact is that you CAN sell more copies than another book and not end up on the list. I knew this. I knew that there is no transparency with the decision-making process, and while I also knew that my sales should have been strong enough to land me somewhere, really, no one knew for sure. You also have to keep in mind that these lists are like a grading curve: if you sell well in a week where there are no big releases or other books fall short of expectations, you have a much greater chance of making it. If my book had come out in May? I probably wouldn't be in my designated slot.

So back to the original question: what does all of this mean? To be honest, I'm not sure yet. I know that book stores get the list today and tomorrow and will probably offer more support/sales. I know that, as mentioned, I get a shiny new title that excites the marketing folks. I know that I get a tiny thrill when I see my name on the actual pdf I have of the list. I know that this will likely give me more leverage when I sell my next book. But right now? In this moment? Well, maybe it will convince people to fork over $15 when they otherwise wouldn't have. Maybe it will convince a few more newspapers or magazines to run reviews.

But to be honest, life goes on. I got the news and had a wonderful, like, 20 minute bubble of pure elation/oh-my-f-ing-god-I-can't-believe-I-did-it moment, and then my kids needed dinner, and my son needed cough medicine, and we had our daily bedtime routine, and then I got dinner ready, and then I fell into bed and watched my DVRed episode of Samantha Who and the intro to Lipstick Jungle. (Sue me, it's a guilty pleasure.)

We'll see what happens from here. You know I'll keep you posted!

And thanks AGAIN to EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU who helped get me here. Truly. I'm sure that some authors don't recognize that it takes a village to make a best-seller, but I do. I feel grateful and humbled that I have found such wonderful neighbors in all of you.

If and When Blogger Ever Unlocks This Blog...

Ugh. Apologies! For some reason, Blogger has locked this blog to review it for potential spamming, and I've been unable to post since Friday! SO ANNOYING. So I'm writing this in the hopes that I can get it online sometime soon.

I don't want to write anything too important in case by the time this goes up, it's outdated, but in the meantime, I'm actually on my GCC tour this week! So to keep you occupied until I get up to speed with blog posts, here are some links to various Q/As I've done.

Again, apologies on the inactive blog. Blame Blogger.

Brant Flakes - http://marilynbrant.blogspot.com/

Wendy Nelson Tokunaga - http://blog.wendytokunaga.com/

FOOTNOTES - http://joannerendell.blogspot.com/

Kelly Parra: http://publishersmarketplace.com/members/writerwords/

Yes, Reviews Do Matter

I posted this question a while back: do reviews actually matter or are book sales based on something else - co-op space at the front of the store (yes, definitely) and word-of-mouth (also, yes definitely). But I wasn't sure, really, if reviews mattered that much. In fact, I'd spoken to my team at RH, and they weren't sure so much either. No, let me amend that. They were certain that some reviews, such as in People or EW, mattered, as well as some of the other biggies, like O and Elle and the NY Times, but beyond that, no one felt strongly that a magazine review, for example, could make or break a book.

Well, it's been interesting. Because, as of now, reviews for Time of My Life certainly DO seem to have mattered. The book's pre-release sales are very strong, and I can only think this is due to the mentions in this month's magazines: Redbook, Cosmo, Family Circle and Hallmark. But what's interesting is that The Department had similar reviews - in Redbook, Cosmo and Marie Claire - but it didn't seem to sell nearly as well. (And let's hope that I'm not jinxing myself once the book actually comes out!) :) So I'm not really sure what the difference is. Maybe it's that reviews matter but only if it's a universal theme that really appeals to readers. Cancer is a tough sell, and maybe even the most glowing reviews in every magazine (short of perhaps, People, which can completely make or break a book) wouldn't have skyrocketed it to the best-seller list.

Maybe what matters is reviews, yes, but also something intangible - the excitement about a book that then spreads via both reviews and word of mouth and across the blogosphere and onward. I don't know. I'm just sort of rambling, spitting out what I'm thinking. It's sort of baffling, to be honest, and it leaves you both excited and nervous because really, who's to say how a book becomes a BIG book? Authors out there, do you know what I'm talking about? It's almost as if any book could become a big book, and certainly, yours has as much a chance as any, but you have to pinpoint that right mix of what people are looking for, as well as that right mix of publicity and awareness to make readers want to buy it.

Hmmm. It's interesting fodder. At least for me. :) As far as whether or not reviews matter, I'll be honest: I read commercial books, so I do read the reviews in both People and EW, oh, and also in Elle. Other than that - well, maybe in Glamour too - I'm not too easily swayed. What about you guys? (I know that there are some literary types on here who definitely pore over the NY Times Book Review, right?)

Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck

So today I'm over at Writer Unboxed talking about why I decided not to hire an outside publicist for Time of My Life, but did decide to shell out some cash in other areas.

Check it out here.

And in the meantime, I got a few advance copies of TOML yesterday and snapped a moment for posterity!

On a more sober note, I'm also posting about the plight of a fellow freelance writer, Lori Hall Steele. One of the scariest things about venturing out into the freelance world, as many of you know, is that you often go out there without a net. If you're single, you might not have health insurance; if you haven't had the chance to stow away enough savings, you might risk financial uncertainty. There are a lot of wonderful things about being a freelance writer, but this lack of safety net isn't one of them.

Lori is a member of the group, Freelance Success, which I've raved about here, and to which I owe the success of much of my early freelance career. It's a community where, even when folks barely recognize a name on the forum or know that another writer might snag one of their assignments, they are still supportive, encouraging and will likely become among your closest friends. So now, all of us at from FLX are rallying to Lori's support. Here's why:

First, start by reading Lori's Washington Post essay here. It's heartbreaking. A year ago, Lori's feet stop working. Next, the paralysis spread to her arms and legs, and she was confined to a wheelchair. From there, her arms abandoned her, and thus, there went her freelance career, the means she used to support both herself and her 7-year old son. Now, within the span of 1-year, the doctors, who initially believed this to be Lyme's Disease, have diagnosed her with ALS, and Lori is paralyzed and on a ventilator. (Yes, I told you this was sobering.) Her insurance company is denying her requests to pay her medical bills, and these bills are expected to soar to well over $100,000. More pressingly, she is going to lose her home imminently because she can't afford to pay her mortgage.

So, because we are part of her community, and because her plight is also our plight, we FLXers are raising a rallying cry. Every one of us with a blog is posting about her situation and hoping that if you have any spare change to donate, that you'll consider offering a small sum to Lori. Because so many freelance writers could be in her position, and because, just because I'm sitting here on my laptop with my mortgage comfortably paid, doesn't mean that I can't feel my friend's pain. Everyone at FLX who can afford to do so is donating $25 (or more), and while I know that these are taxing times for a lot of people, if her story in any way resonated with you, I hope you'll consider helping her out as well. (Other fundraising efforts, such as maxing out at the ASJA fund, are also underway.) So if you find that you can skip some small indulgence and instead offer it to Lori, please click on this link and donate what you can via paypal.

Here's some words from her essay:

“I tell him I’ll always be here for him, one way or another. Always always always. Just like my mother is here for me. Just like I was there when he was 3. It is an impossible promise, a gamble with his trust. I secretly pray I don’t let him down, not on this.”

Thanks all! And thanks for allowing me to post this.

And Then There Was Ask Allison

Question of the day: Why did you decide to start a blog (which I enjoy very much!)?

Whew! To answer this, I have to really think back to nearly two and a half years ago! I cannot believe that I've had this blog for so long. Wow.

But I started the blog for several reasons. The first - and most altruistic - is that I was tired of reading Ms. Snark (or was it Miss Snark) who anonymously offered advice that I sometimes thought was mean and also sometimes thought was wrong. I thought, "Hey, I've been in the trenches of publishing for long enough that I might be able to offer some advice of my own." Only I wanted to do it with, well, less snarking, and with accountability. If you disagree with me or want to take me to task, at least you know where to reach me, what my background is, and whether or not my experience is relevant to yours. As far as the snarking goes, I'm all for snarking. Some would say that in my real life, I'm maybe even a tad too snarky. But this business is tough, and I've never seen the need to be snide to newcomers or fellow writers...there are plenty of other people in the industry who will do that all on their own.

The second, less altruistic reason that I started the blog is that I'd just sold my first book, and I knew that a blog was a great way to self-promote. And this has been proven true. Not because I cram my books down your throats (at least, I hope I don't!), but because I've made countless friends in the blogosphere who are always more than happy to help me spread a word when I need it spread. In this sense, the blog has been invaluable.

So, to make your question a more universal question: if you're thinking of starting a blog, consider why you're doing so in the first place. Try to make yours unique in that it actually offers something to readers rather than just posting about your belly-button lint or what not. A blog requires a lot of upkeep, and I'll admit that lately, when I've been really, really busy, writing a blog post has been the last thing that I've felt like doing. So be sure that you like your topic: I've found, for example, that once I tackle a new question for a reader, I forget about the fact that I was dreading carving out some time in my day to do so. I'm sure that other frequent bloggers out there know what of what I'm speaking.

So readers, tell me: why did YOU start a blog and what do you think you've gotten out of it.

Do Reviews Matter?

So today, I'm over on Writer Unboxed talking all about reviews: who reads them, if they matter, and how authors cope with them.

Head over and check it out!

Are Men From Venus?

So today, I'm happy to mention a new book that comes out this week: Confessions of a Contractor by Richard Murphy. I don't really know Richard, but his galley was passed to me by a mutual friend, and I really enjoyed it. Head out to your local store or to Amazon and pick up a copy today!

What I found interesting about Richard's book (among other things) - and what I'm finding more and more these days - is how appealing a man's writing can be to a woman. In fact, some of my favorite writers these days - Jonathan Tropper, Tom Perotta, Nick Hornby, Larry Doyle, Joshua Ferris - are men, and I think that Richard's book falls well into the same category of these aforementioned authors. All of their books transcend gender lines, and some, in fact, might even been aimed slightly more AT women than at men. (For example, Tropper's How to Talk to a Widower was widely read by a lot of female friends I know.)

But when I thought about the flip side- do men read works by female writers - I started to think that maybe this is a one-way phenomenon. Am I crazy? I can't ever imagine seeing a guy pick up a book by Jennifer Weiner or Emily Giffin or even less-chicky writers like Jodi Picoult. (Well, maybe Picoult. Maybe.) Yes, there's a huge category - women's fiction, duh - devoted to female writers and their readers, but there really isn't such a thing for men. Is there? Have I missed something?

So are female writers being helped or hurt by this? I'm not sure, to be honest. I suppose that part of the whole "women's fiction" or "chick lit" category is nothing more than a marketing ploy...and that really, even if a book didn't have pink on the cover (or whatever), men wouldn't be interested in the words inside. And maybe having these easy categories helps women readers narrow down their choices at the book store. Hmmm. I don't know. But it definitely makes me think.

What do you think of the gender divide in books? Do you tend to read mostly male or female-authored books? Or doesn't it matter? And don't forget to pick up a copy of Richard's!

Spreading the Word

Question of the day: I would like to increase the readership of and was wondering how I could get it added to the "blogroll" of an online magazine. One of the Conde Nast publications would be great (ha! wouldn't it!) but maybe there is a better place to start? How do those publications choose blogs for their sites?

Well, this is a toughie. The Conde Nast pubs, for example, hire bloggers to write for them...for example, I have a few friends who write blogs for Glamour, and these are paid gigs. They're hired in the same way that a freelancer is for the magazine: it's a contracted position. From what I can glean, these folks have earned these lucrative slots by proving themselves to the magazine editors...so it's not as if an editor at, say, Self, is going to stumble upon your blog and decide to link to it.

I imagine that some of the other blogs/sites they link to are sponsored links. In other words, advertisers pay to link up with them OR there's some sort of cross-promotion going on. So, that's not gonna help you either.

If you're interested in hooking up with smaller blogs, the best way I've found is to simply send the blog proprietor a note and ask if you can link to them and vice versa. In most cases, a blogger is happy to add you to their blog roll. (Though I've also found that a blog roll, like mine, can get a little too long and cumbersome. I've been meaning to go through the links to make sure they're all still up to date and current, but just haven't had the time.) Of course, you can also endear yourself to a blogger by leaving comments on the blog and hope that he or she will simply add you out of the goodness of her heart.

Readers, do you have any tips to get in good with the biggie blogs like the Conde ones? Or other tips on getting in with bloggers period?

Any LA or SF-ers here?

I'm debating setting up LA or San Fran readings/signings for October, but I'm on the fence about the size of the crowd I'd bring in and whether or not the travel/headache/leaving the kids with my husband and hoping they surive/etc would be worth it. As I've mentioned in the past, book tours aren't as big a deal anymore, nor are publishers anxious to send you halfway across the world (or in my case, 3000 miles) if you're not going to generate good turn-outs. And I'm certainly not interested in jetting to Cali to do a reading for 7 people. Er. Yeah. No.

So I was curious to see if there are any/many LA or SF readers here who might pop in for a signing. Feel free to post below or email me off-board.

Merci!

Adventures in Book Signing

Update: right now, the odds of winning a $25 gift certificate on Amazon are pretty good - I think they're running at about 75%!! Doesn't anyone else out there wanna win? (I do realize that most people do their book shopping over the weekend...) Remember, just enter a comment below at any point before Monday as to where you spied The Department on sale, and voila, you're entered!

Anyway, so I spent the week canvassing NYC and signing stock in just about every bookstore in the city. (I think I missed two of them - apologies to folks who live in Tribeca and/or near the Borders on 32nd and 2nd. Both stores are in way too random places for me to get there.) And for the most part, it was a lovely experience. Booksellers are nearly always happy to have an author pop in, though I suspect in NYC, they're fairly used to it. They're gracious and warm and excited for your book, and try to thoughtfully place the sticker where it won't obscure the title and all of that.

But at one particular store, I had a less than wonderful experience, at least initially. I looked and looked for the book on the front shelves - called co-op space - for which my publisher, Avon, has paid handsomely and for which I am greatly appreciative. But it wasn't there. I approached a bookseller who already seemed annoyed that I asked her for information, despite the fact that she was at the "information" desk. She looked on the computer and told me that yes, they had a lot in stock, but after vaguely looking around for them in the same place that I had, she sort of shrugged her shoulders and was like, "I don't know what to tell you." When I very, very nicely suggested that I *thought* they were supposed to be displayed on the front tables, per my publisher paying for it, she sneered at me (seriously) and said, "That doesn't necessarily happen at our store."

Huh.

I started to very graciously protest (and was turning beet red in the process), but fortunately, a manager came over and asked if he could help. When aforementioned bookseller explained the situation, the manager directed her to "Cindy."* Aforementioned bookseller then walked up to a woman and asked her who "Cindy" was, and it turned out that this very woman - the one aforementioned bookseller approached - was "Cindy."

*Names changed to protect the innocent.

I sort-of did an internal chuckle and figured this bookseller was new and just trying to disguise her inexperience by being a know-it-all, though, it turns out, she knew, in fact, very little.

Anyway, I proceeded to the top floor, where I found 15 copies, and where another lovely, lovely bookseller rushed over to me, just as I was grabbing them to sign, to tell me that he had been directed to move them downstairs to the front table as soon as I signed them.

So - moral of the story? Speak up! Ask! Even if it's embarrassing, and you wonder if you're in the wrong! I'm sure that this isn't the only store which had inadvertently tucked the book away in the back, but I'm glad that at the very least, I remedied this one situation.

And, I should say, these lessons are certainly not just limited to my book signing experiences! You all know that here at Ask Allison, I encourage asking questions - even if you think they're silly - so if you have one about the way things work in our crazy industry, don't be shy! Post them in the comments section or email me directly. I'm always happy to try my best to help.

And in the meantime - enter into my contest!! Don't forget to spy the book this weekend at your local bookstore - or request it from your seller if they don't have it - and then come back here and post about it! (Or even better, send me a pic, and I'll post it on the blog!)

Happy weekend!