Career Do Overs: In The Beginning...

 This Week's Topic: Do I have a point in my writing career that I wish I could do over?

Hahahaha! So many. {facepalm}  If I had to choose, I'd go with the beginning of my career. To give a sense of era: I started writing when queries were still done via snail mail and mss were printed and shipped between author and editor. In hindsight, I would've paid less attention to the gatekeepers of tradition and rolled more with the innovators and risk-takers breaking ground in the indie market. When I think of all the money spent, time invested, and expectations contorted just to get three minutes with an editor from a big publishing house or an agent with a golden key to the Big 6....{wince}. Don't get me wrong, the folks were nice enough, but it was akin to being an Idol wannabe showing up for an open casting call at the convention center. The odds were not in my favor. Alas, the end of the printed communications era led to the era of "no response means no" from the gatekeepers, which exacerbated the wretched situation of not knowing if your query or requested mss was received when sent into the maw of slushpiles. Hence, why in-person meetings with gatekeepers increased in value, though the odds of getting The Call didn't. In the beginning, I invested too much in playing the meet-and-greet game and not enough in putting my work in front of a hungry audience. Had I been braver (and less arrogant, tbh) I would've embraced indie publishing long before I actually did.

Sure, I definitely needed to be rejected and fall flat multiple times to hone my craft and find my voice. I wouldn't do away with those early experiences. Nor do I wish to unmake the friendships and acquaintances from that time--we were all hungry, desperate, and disillusioned together. Wait, we still are! Only now we bemoan capricious ad platforms, series that miss when we could've sworn they'd be hits, and emerging technologies that harm more than help. 

I certainly feel I have more control over my career now than I did in the beginning, and a lot of that comes from lessons learned from the good, the bad, and the oof-that's-leaving-a-mark. 

It's said if you wish you could go back and make different choices, it means you've not only recognized your mistakes but also have learned from them. Thanks, School of Hard Knocks!

Social Media Trap or Marcella Goes Off the Deep End

"I wanna be where the readers are.
I want to see them reading.
Carrying around those -what do you call them? Oh. Right. - BOOKS.
Out in the sun. Or in the shade.
On the beach or in a cafe.
Read in a bar.
Wish I could be a Tik Tok star."

My apologies to The Little Mermaid.

Social media is hailed as The Way to sell books. You need to know Facebook ads, Amazon ads, Tik Tok, YouTube, Instagram, the rotting corpse that was once Twitter. . . It gets overwhelming fast. Publishers push authors to do all the things! Yet experienced indie author Kristine Kathryn Rusch likes to remind authors that the best advertisement for your current book is your next book. Cal Newport argues that your best, most creative work  comes from flow state and that flow is achieved best in deep work - those times and places where the external world goes away and you descend into deep brainwave activity wherein you lose track of time and are absorbed in your material. This state is predicated on not being interrupted, not having your attention fractured by anyone or anything. He argues that readers shouldn't necessarily have access to you. You have a job. Writing.

I suppose if you compartmentalize extremely well, you could make an argument for engaging in deep work for a few hours each day and then indulging in a little social media promotion. Fair enough. I'm having to think a little harder about that because I don't compartmentalize well. Maybe not at all. It doesn't help that earlier this week, I heard someone mention that cell phones are black mirrors. This rocked me. 

If you aren't familiar, black mirrors are scrying mirrors used in ritual and divination. They are powerful tools and most of us familiar with them keep them carefully wrapped and hidden away from casual glances. This is because a part of you travels when you scry. Part of you goes bye-bye. It's one thing to do that intentionally and for a purpose and then to shut down the mirror after and to reclaim every part of you that went traveling. 

Black mirrors drain energy. It's not malicious. It's just part of the work done with them. They don't have intent, but their utility is the emptiness that draws practitioners out of their human shell to journey for answers to a question or for a vision of something. Used consciously and safeguarded appropriately, they're harmless and helpful. 

If cell phones are black mirrors, they are black mirrors that are used utterly unconsciously. They aren't warded or guarded. We stare into them without regard for where we go when we do. Just try to get the attention of someone absorbed in their phone. Where do we go when we stare in that black mirror? Where does our energy go? I'm not saying that cell phone are traps devised by the Fae. I am saying that if the Fae wanted to build irresistible traps for mortals to fall into, they could have done worse than to have invented cell phones.

Social media, cell phones not withstanding, isn't evil. There are plenty of benefits: engaging with people you enjoy but maybe have never met in real life, finding new-to-you info and books and music, in a world still constrained by pathogens, social media can be a glimpse into a larger, more diverse world. We should absolutely enjoy and contribute to those things. But if we're going to social media *just* to sell books rather than build relationships we enjoy, we'll do more harm than good.

So before you stare into that black mirror in your hand, think long and hard about what you want to get out of it so you know exactly what and how much to put into it.

Cover Reveal: TWISTED MAGIC!

I'm a day late posting because yesterday was crazy. Lots going on here, all good. I hope to share with you all soon! 

In the meanwhile, the news you've all been waiting for, I know: TWISTED MAGIC, Book #3 in Renegades of Magic, has a cover and a release date!!! It will be out October 30, 2023. The preorder links are still going live, but we'll add them to the website as they do. As always, you can preorder directly from me via the website. That includes print (which isn't available for preorder anywhere else). I'll have the back-cover copy and tagline soon, as I'm well into writing the book. At last!! Hooray!!!

 

Social Media Engagement: There's Always a Cost

This Week's Topic: Social Media Engagement

{steeples fingers}

{stares into camera}

Your time is a commodity. A very valuable one. 
Your emotional investment is an undervalued yet critical commodity.
Not every commodity is measured in money.

There's a lot of advice on where, when, and how authors should engage with their audiences. There's even pressure from publishers of all sizes for authors to grow their audiences to the magical level of "influencer" (thus, making the author the owner of the marketing burden, aka the marketing costs). Taking on the social media challenge is all well and good for authors who enjoy virtual engagement, but there's a significant portion of authors who don't, and that's okay too.* 

Social butterfly or not, the minimum requirement in the virtual space for an author is a website that lists your books, preferably by series then by reading order. That's it. No engagement necessary. Your website exists for readers who've stumbled on your work(s) and want to read more. All the other stuff that authors of small, medium, or large readerships have on their sites is there because the author either: a) has the time and desire to offer and maintain it, or b) pays someone else to do it for them. Either way, there is an out-of-pocket cost in cash and time. 

If you want to be more aggressive, get your name out there, and develop an auto-buy readership, a robust social media presence is certainly one way to do it. However, understand that the pressure on authors to be active on social media comes from the misbegotten notion of "free advertising." Just because you're not paying money to exist in a virtual "public" space doesn't mean that you're not paying in opportunity costs, in your time, or in your emotional capacity. Lots of writers prefer to spend those resources on writing their next book. Is engaging in social media a direct 1:1 cost exchange for a writer? Of course not. Your personal resource values are unique to you, and only you can truly know the costs. 

For some authors, it's cheaper to pay big platforms like Facebook, Amazon, or Bookbub to run ads than it is to build brand awareness and loyalty through social media. It's certainly easier to measure ROI on an ad campaign than on a Discord server.

Don't allow external pressures to force you to do more than you can afford, be it in finances, time, or health. 

By contrast, be aware that the less effort you put forth, the fewer sales you get.

When it comes to social media,
you should do what enjoy
and discard all that gives you angst.

*Note: If you're under contract with a publisher, be sure to read and, if necessary, modify any clauses that stipulate your web presence and/or participation. You don't want to be in breach of contract just because Instagram is an anathema to you.

What's On My Mind

I wish I had something sexier for you. I don't. What's on my mind is Covid. Not just because it's surging in the US and around the world but because it came in my door 14 days ago. It got Mom first. Then it go the rest of us. We did the Paxlovid thing and are dealing with the rebound now. Y'all. There have been SO many runs to Urgent Care. It's silly. Anyway. You know why I missed last week. I felt like hot garbage. I'm feeling better than that, now, but this rebound nonsense is zero fun. 0/10 do not recommend. 

So. Stay safe out there. We masked everywhere that wasn't home and it wasn't enough to keep us safe. Thankfully, so far, my father (the objectively most vulnerable) is the one skating this with the fewest issues. Anyway. Look out for yourselves and your loved ones. I wish this on no one.

Best Laid Plans and Magical News!

I had Plans for today's blog post here at the SFF Seven. But we know what the poet said about best-laid plans...

Yes, my day has gang agley. 

All in a good way, though. I got a lot done. Important stuff, just not quite the several steps required to post what I hoped to post today. So the short and dirty update is:

• TWISTED MAGIC will have a release date and preorder link soon!! (Though you can already preorder it on my website.)
• Of my new book that I've been writing, the one I wasn't supposed to be writing, but that insisted on being written, which I've been calling ONEIRA, Agent Sarah said: "You’ve crafted your very own fairytale, Jeffe and it’s magic."
• We strategized today, so look for more news on ONEIRA soon! And on TWISTED MAGIC!

On My Mind: Marketing Ouches & Ought To's

 This Week's Topic: On My Mind

What's on my mind this week? Marketing plans. Coming up with an improved version that will hopefully net more sales with a positive ROI. I've subscribed to assorted marketing guru sites and newsletters, enough to make my mailbox weep from the digital space hoggery. Some guides are useful for general sales, others for books, and still others for fiction. Of that, maybe 2% is relevant to selling fantasy novels. That's the kicker with most marketing resources, very few are applicable to novels. Fashion? Beauty? Tech? Resources abound, but selling books is a different beast. Moreover, selling fiction is different from selling non-fiction, just as selling Inspirationals is different from selling Grimdark. The key to successful marketing is to get your product in front of your target audience without getting too niche. There's a cost to micro-refining your audience, both in higher monetary cost as well as loss of potential audiences. 

Don't get me wrong, this isn't bitch post. It's a statement of the opportunity landscape. Speaking of opportunities, the places to advertise--both digital and print--for small businesses with small budgets are very limited. Conversely, the publishers (indie, small, and trad) number in the millions and are all vying for that limited space. Apply the basic economics of supply and demand, and it's no wonder advertising costs are rising while sell-through (actual sales) are stagnant (or declining. Yoiks!) 

Wah wah wah. {Tiiny violin.} What's to be done? For me, I gotta get over my strong distrust of certain digital institutions that offer small business advertising platforms (lookin' at you, Meta) and reevaluate venues that generated negative ROI 5+ years ago to see what's changed, what's improved, and what's best left untouched. Additionally, I need to catch up on the tech advances of certain sales/advertising resources and update what promotions I have running. Oh, right, I also need to create an advertising calendar that empowers me to develop, engage, and track promotions, instead of pantsing and forgetting (doh!). 

Yeah, I reckon I oughtta get to getting on my list Ought To's instead of weeping over the derth of sales. After all, I can't whine if I'm leaving opportunities on the table. 

{Well, I can whine, but. that'd just make me a big 👶}

Card carrying fan-girl

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Question of the week: Do I read in the genre I write?

This question is an easy one for me, because I’m very proud to have been an avid reader of my niche, fantasy romance, long before I was a writer. To be honest, I'm a little skeptical of writers who say they don't read in the genre they write. This cynical attitude probably comes from being a part of romance spaces where the voracious readership means that sometimes people who know nothing about romance think writing it is an easy way to make a buck. With no appreciation for a genre and what makes readers love it, an author is just going to flounder.

At the same time, I'm totally sympathetic to authors who started writing from a place of love--as a fan of their genre, whatever that genre might be--and now struggle to find the time to read as much as they used to. I certainly go through reading dry spells when I'm more interested in my own stories that anything written by some one else. There is also something to be said for taking a break from reading works similar to yours when you are in the midst of drafting in order to hold onto a purity of your own voice.

But my own reading dry spells never last long—reading is just too important to me, and has always been my favorite way to relax. I also enjoy engaging with readers over our shared love of books. It’s fun to get recommendations from readers, or to be able to point them at books I love when they are looking for a specific trope or theme. If I’m not reading widely in my genre, then I feel like I’m missing out!

   

Jaycee Jarvis is an award winning fantasy romance author, who combines heartfelt romance with immersive magical worlds. When not lost in worlds of her own creation, she lives in the Pacific Northwest with her spouse, three children and a menagerie of pets.

Find her at http://www.jayceejarvis.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18092674.Jaycee_Jarvis

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jaycee-jarvis

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJayceeJarvis

Mastadon: @Jaycee@romancelandia.club