A Work in Progress

Panel: Gabrielle de Cuir (M), Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Lou Antonelli, Gail Carriger, Gini Koch

One of the unintended amusements of this panel was that its located was moved on the online guide, but no change notice was put outside the room, so the audience was split until someone figured it out and all of us in the updated room traipsed back to the original room.

My Notes

• Social media is very helpful
• The Facebook page is where people went for updates between issues of the newspaper
• Don't underestimate social media
• For print media: don't pay for anything
• You still have the bulk of the responsibility to help sell your book
• One of the issues new writers have is segregation
• Once you send a book out, start to think of it as a "product"; separate yourself from the work
• Big Five publishers, even when they spend a lot of money on you, still expect you to do your part
• Creating your own "brand"
• Most of us are not very fast writers, and the publishing industry is notoriously slow
• You want to keep yourself in people's minds in between books coming out
• Build your brand with things pertinent to you and to your books
• Which part of the "pie" are you after?
• Nothing is more powerful than word of mouth
• You're selling to an agent and editor, not a person
• Second market is librarians
• Book review bloggers
• Everyone has a limited amount of time and we're in the entertainment industry
• Need accolades page on your web site
• If you're self-published, make certain you mention that your book was professionally edited
• It's your career—control it
• There is an element of luck—something that's very hard to tap
• What other things are in your skill set?
• What can you do to boost your luck?
• Love your fans really, really hard
• Reward your readers