The Million Dollar Marketing Question

Flick'r photo by Colin_K

As all six of my blog followers know, I am speaking on social networking and marketing for children's writers in about six weeks.  From personal experience I have a bucket-load to share already, but that hasn't stopped me from perusing the internet for neat links and cool sites, and pretty much anything that might be of interest to me and/or anyone who has to listen to me in the coming weeks.  Those poor souls....

But I digress.

Anyway, you know, I have lots of good stuff for brand new beginners and even more good stuff for those promoting a book.

What I don't have, however, is much for those "in-betweeners" out there.  You know, those who have an agent but haven't sold a book, or those who are submitting straight to editors and getting personal rejections.

So I ask you, my collective social network, what are your tips for those who don't have a book yet but aren't beginners, either?  I'm interested in any of the following:

• Website or no website?  If yes, what do you put on it?
• And what about those Facebook Pages?  Do you set one of those up now, before you sell, or wait until you've sold something?
• Do you post sample work on your blog, or not?  What about blurbs?
• For those who have published, what are some things you wished you would have done before you sold a book (concerning social networking/marketing yourself and your work)?  Or things you wished you wouldn't have done?
• How important is it to network before you sell a book?  I mean, how much time/energy should "in-betweeners" put into social networking?
• Are there questions I should be asking here but haven't?  Please tell me the question, and answer it if you can, too.

I already have my own answers to most of these questions, but I'm curious to see what others think.  Feel free to pick one or all of these questions to answer, by the way.  Whatever you want to share, I'll be happy to hear.

I'm catering my presentation to all stages of the road to publication (and writing for all ages of children, too), so I am planning on being prepared for anyone who walks through that door.  Thanks in advance for your input!

Oh, and if you have a favorite link to share about social networking/marketing/online platforms, please share that, too!  I probably already have it on my list, but I'd love to be surprised by one I don't know about.

Thank you, lovely people!

Coming Full Circle

Call me crazy, but I like sorting things into neat categories.  I do it with everything, including (unfortunately) people.  Once, when I was a tween, I upset one of my dearest friends because I always called her my "church" friend as opposed to my "school" friend, because we'd met at church.  She thought it meant I didn't want to be friends with her anywhere other than at church. Oops.

Anyway, I also tend to categorize myself, particularly when it comes to my writing life.  And for the longest time, I called myself an "aspiring author" because only those who published something could be called an author.  I couldn't even bring myself to say "writer" when I talked about myself, mostly because when I did, people would inevitably say, "Oh, are you published?" and then I'd have to explain how I was an aspiring author.  And I'm notoriously lazy when it comes to that kind of looped thinking, so I just skipped to the inevitable end and stuck with "aspiring author."

But in 2006, my "aspirations" took a huge leap forward.  And it was because of a little activity called Writing and Illustrating For Young Readers (WIFYR for short).

Okay, so WIFYR isn't little.  It's actually a week-long writing conference for those who write for children and teens.  And it's AWESOME.  No, it's BEYOND AWESOME.  In fact, it's the best deal out there.

I'm biased, of course, since this conference took my sub-par writing and pushed me closer to the pro status, but I'm telling you IT'S WORTH EVERY PENNY.  This conference made me start thinking like a writer, start acting like a writer, and start writing like a writer.  I now call myself a writer, and I don't bother much with that "aspiring" stuff anymore.  And it's all thanks to WIFYR.

So why am I telling you all about this?  Well, because life has a funny way of coming full circle.

Because, you see, this year I'm presenting at WIFYR.

See for yourself!  Here's a screenshot for those of you who won't take my word for it:

And here are the links to the info in all its glory:

http://www.wifyr.com/sch.php (the schedule)
http://www.wifyr.com/asess.php (the afternoon presenters, I'm on the list...promise!)
http://www.wifyr.com/faq.php (heck, I'm even listed in the #7 FAQ!)

So, for those of you close enough, find the time and money to sign up for WIFYR.  Mostly because it's the best deal you'll ever get for a 5-day conference, and also because I want you to stop by and say hi so I won't feel so lonely.

They do have the full-day conference deal (which is what I did in 2006), where you workshop your book with a small group of attendees and a published author mentor.  (Did you see who those mentors are this year?  HOLY AWESOME BATMAN!  http://www.wifyr.com/mwork.php )  And they also have a price just for the afternoon sessions.  I've done that, too, but the whole day is much much much more fun.  If you can swing it, go the whole day.  Especially since this year, one lucky full-day attendee could get a $1000 fellowship.  (More details about that here, but be aware that the deadline for that is April 20th, so HURRY:  http://www.wifyr.com/blog/2012/03/09/1rst-annual-wifyr-writing-competition-and-fellowship-award/.)

So, yes.  WIFYR.  Do eet.  I'll save you a seat.