This week's question: After your book is released and the publicity campaign for its grand entrance nears completion, how do you keep your book on the red carpet and in the spotlight?
This week’s question identifies a precise moment in my life. My latest book, A Killing Breath, was released on April 17th to respectable reviews. It debuted #5 in the African American mystery and suspense category on Amazon. In the middle of its publicity campaign, I was on deadline for the fourth and final book of the series, A Killing Earth. Amid the writing and rewriting, the tearing out of hair, the book signings, and festivals, I was finally able to send Earth off to the publisher.
After the publicity campaign for Breath concluded, I was truly and frustratingly exhausted. The burnout was real. All I wanted was to lie in the summer sun, sip my whisky and read a book that I did not write.
Which brings me back to this week’s question and this moment. After peaking at #5, Breath Amazon’s ranking fell. It was like someone popped a balloon. I know that it wasn’t the only book to do so after the launch concluded and the publicity waned. As authors we understand that. The demand for publicity is like that monster at the end of a horror movie that keeps popping up for one last jump scare before its final demise. Except publicity is immortal. And it’s gluttonous. As authors, we are compelled to keep it fed.
So, what can we do to keep our books alive? Writers responding to this week’s question have offered some fine advice. I’ve also given it some thought. We could mine our books for material to use in blog posts, articles, and on social media. We could make deleted scenes and chapters available on our websites or in our author newsletters, create a Pinterest mood board reflective of our setting. And those research rabbit holes? They are gold. For example, in Earth the killer buries his victims alive. I spent an age researching people who started the journey to the graveyard with their hearts still beating. There was this one story about someone who sat up in the casket at his own funeral and asked for a drink of water.
No need to stop there.
We could tie events from our books to events in the real world as long as we are thoughtful. My book is set in a fictional town called Byrd’s Landing, Louisiana. It would be crass for me to use a real-world hurricane as a promotional opportunity, but October 12th, National Gumbo day? Fair game. And there are the opportunities we can glean from relationships we cultivate with local librarians, book clubs, and independent bookstores. We could find community through organizations such as Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Crime Writers of Color. Aside from getting the word out about our books, the conversations with fellow bibliophiles and authors would be well worth the trouble.
We can choose to do all or none of these things. Another option would be to focus on one or two that we can fit into our lives already filled to brimming with our day job or jobs, grandkids with their sweet grubby little hands, gardens and cookouts, baseball games and Sunday dinners, all of which brings me to my last point.
There is one choice we cannot make if we want to stay true to who we are. Writers must write. Feed the publicity monster when required, but after a launch draft the next book while remembering the words of Ray Bradbury:
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