An Object at Rest from James W. Ziskin

The business and creative sides of writing can feel like being on a teeter-totter. How do you manage to keep a balance?

 

The simple answer is that I don’t keep a balance. Over the past few years, any energy I might have felt for the business side of writing has evaporated. It’s hard enough to find the time and the inspiration to write, let alone to come up with new ideas to promote my career.

 

As part of my self-promotional strategies, I used to attend writer conferences every year. Bouchercon, Left Coast, ITW, California Crime, New England Crime Bake, Malice Domestic, and Maine Crime Wave to name a few. I enjoyed re-connecting with old friends and making new ones, learning from the wonderful writers on panels, and sharing my flask of Dewar’s with thirsty colleagues. (I’m looking at you, Leslie Karst.) But since 2019, I’ve only managed to make it to New England Crime Bake once and Maine Crime Wave twice. Granted, there was the pandemic, but even so. I used to attend four or five conferences a year. Now?

 

My attendance—or lack thereof—is symptomatic of something greater going on inside me: inertia. I know I should do more to promote my brand or my books, but somehow not much happens. I’ve done a handful of signings, but those are a struggle. The return on investment seems minimal. I would need to hit dozens of bookstores and libraries to have any real effect, and I’m not feeling it.

I used to spend lots of effort searching for creative promotional ideas. I recommend you pick up a marvelous book called Promophobia, edited by Diane Vallere and published by Sisters in Crime. More than sixty of the finest crime writers working today contributed to this self-help volume. Click here for the link.

My own favorite promotion was for Cast the First Stone. I bought every die-cast Volkswagen bus I could find—blue if possible to match the cover of my book—and added the title to the roof. People went crazy for it. I must have given away twenty-five of them. It was an expensive promotion. What it did for my sales I have no idea. Probably nothing.

 

Another side of the business that every writer dreads is requesting blurbs. It’s hard to screw up the nerve to ask someone for their time (about ten hours for a novel) and a couple of lines of praise (if they like it and want to attach their name to it). Those lines don’t necessarily come easily either, so I’m immensely grateful each time. For me, when I write a blurb for another author, I spend a couple of hours at least crafting a thoughtful comment. It’s important to pay it forward.

 

Other business activities, such as maintaining tax records, are less arduous. We do those anyway for all our income and deductions, so I won’t complain about those.

 

If this post comes across as slightly deflated and defeated, I apologize. I know the business side of writing is essential, just not very sexy. Maybe I’ll go to Bouchercon this year to raise my spirits. That would be fun. And there would be plenty of tax preparation to be done once it’s over. Business, n’est-ce pas?

 

Maybe I’ll feel better about the business side soon, but for now I’m going to concentrate on writing. I have three or four book ideas percolating in my head, and it’s time to take care of those.