But Wait. Maybe You Should?

Hi Friends,

We had a fun talk on Tuesday about all the things you do not HAVE to do as a writer. I am VERY MUCH FOR giving you permission to not do things that won’t or don’t help you be the kind of writer you want to be. There is no one way to be a writer, and if there were, then everyone would know how to do it and I wouldn’t be writing you this newsletter. So I’m going to be an absolute jerk today and tell you when you might want to do all the things you don’t HAVE to do. The root of this has not changed—you don’t HAVE to—but using your newfound self-awareness, you might find one or two of these things may work for you.

• Make a mood board for your bookIf you’re visually driven—do this! It doesn’t have to be fancy, or on Pinterest (remember that?). It can be physical images pasted in a notebook or pictures copied into a Google doc for your eyes only. In my last novel, I pictured Gina Davis when I thought of my main character and it would have been useful to put her picture in a doc and look at it when I was writing in her voice. I managed without it, but I can see how it would have helped. If you think this will help you, try it!
• Make a playlist for your bookAre you aurally driven? Make a playlist! It can be on your phone or a music service (set to private even) or a physical CD (remember those?) and it can help you capture a feeling or atmosphere or ~~vibe~~ while you write. OR you can use it when you are NOT writing to help generate new ideas. I can see how this would be useful on walks or runs or folding laundry or whatever other task you do where you aren’t at your computer but your mind is still churning. Again, you don’t HAVE to, but it might be a thing you find useful.
• TweetTweets do not equal book sales. You do not tweet BUY MY BOOK and watch the BOOKS SOLD ticker roll up. It just doesn’t work that way, or if it did, we have no way to track it. What tweets can do, both of the look at this sandwich I had for lunch and the buy my book variety is remind people you exist and, at least sometimes connect your name with your book/genre/subject matter. With tweeting, you can build relationships with other writers/editors/people in our genre etc that can turn into future panels/projects/promotional opportunities/friendships/jobs/support systems. These things that can help you career, but also help you as a person. All these things take time, a long time, but some good things can come from tweeting, occasionally. If it doesn’t affect your mental health and you at least somewhat enjoy it, tweeting might be something, eventually useful even!, you can do.
• OutlineDo you find yourself staring at a blank page when writing? Not the kind brought about by anxiety and imposter syndrome and stress, but the kind that comes from uhhhh what happens next? An outline can help! Even if you think creating one takes precious time you could be writing, even if you think it will tie you down to a storyline that might not work, it can still save you from those deer-in-headlights moments at your computer. An outline is not a contract that obligates you to write a certain story. It is a path. A trail. You pick the path! You can take a fork in the road! This metaphor is getting out of hand! An outline, however loose, might be something that helps overcome the day-to-day indecision of what to write next. Try it.
• Send people swagDo you get a lot of swag? Do you have 50k water bottles and zippered pencil cases? Then you might be traveling in circles where swag is common, or expected, or welcome, or useful. I’ll say it again—swag is not required and there are few to no mechanisms to show what swag equals what book sales. But some areas/genres/industries do a LOT of swag, and if you’re in them, this could be something useful in your promotional campaigns. Those areas/genres/industries are ones that traffic heavily in Instagram: influencers, self help, cooking/food, craft, (some) illustration, parenting, fashion, make-up, fitness, etc. If you have many instagram followers and are never on twitter, then this might work for you. If your book has a lot of applicable hashtags, this might work for you. (And if not, this probably WON’T work for you.)
• Have a Hot TakeAre you a talking head on a news program? A journalist? A critic? An essayist working in and around current events, however broadly defined? You might work Hot Takes into your general writing/promotional/on-line life. If this is you, you are probably already writing Hot Takes without even thinking about it! And this is ok. As above, it’s not a direct Hot Take to book sales relationship (usually) (unless your book is also a Hot Take, and, well, you probably knew that when you wrote it). But it could be a part of your general tweeting strategy, or something you pitch to websites, newspapers, or magazines. Hot Takes are the cotton candy of journalism—all flavor no substance—but that doesn’t mean they’re not effective in some way. (Gird yourself for trolls.)
• Get a Beta ReaderI have had friends and my agent and my writers group read my work, which are all beta readers of a sort. But these feel like less formal beta reader arrangements, to me, and not only because I don’t pay any of these people to read my work upfront. Not all beta readers charge for their services but some do. I would seek out a beta reader if I wanted a feedback on my whole novel, either about specific aspects or in general, from an objective and trusted source (i.e. not my friends who love me), so that I could make changes before I send it to my agent. This would come with a schedule (likely) and probably something written, or whatever works for you and the reader. If this is what you need or want, seek it out.
• Publish your bookReasons you may want to publish your book with a traditional publisher: You want to. You need or want it for your job. It fits into your larger career strategy, i.e. to help you get speaking gigs. You want to prove your old English teacher wrong. You want to make your friends/parents/self proud. You think it will bring you fame and fortune. (uhhhhhh sorry about that.) You think it’ll make it easier for your idea to become a movie. (Technically but it’s still a looooooooong shot.) You love books. All of these are valid. You don’t have to, but you can.