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How authors can create a marketing strategy to promote their own book, and when it might be right to bring in an independent marketing or publicity firms. Jennifer de Leon shares the highs and lows from launching Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, and we discuss expanded definitions of success.
This episode features:
Jennifer de Leon, debut author of YA novel, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From.
Bekah Sine Decker and Nikki Pierce created Method Agency, an independent marketing firm, in part to help Stephenie Meyer, author of Twilight, release films and #1 New York Times bestselling
Catch up on the series:
Episode 2: Agents: Who Are They, What Do They Do, And How Do You Get One?
Episode 3: Selling Your Book (Part 1)
Episode 4: Selling Your Book (Part 2)
Episode 7: After the Book Deal
Episode 8: Marketing and Publicity (Part 1)
Episode 9: Marketing and Publicity (Part 2), and Definitions of Success
Bonus Eps:
Publishing in the time of COVID
Sarah Enni: About 10 months before the release day for Jennifer de Leon’s debut YA novel, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, Simon & Schuster presented Jenn with a marketing plan.
Jennifer de Leon: They had a five page single-space PDF marketing plan, and there were different aspects to it. Education library, social media, digital marketing, publicity events. I needed my agent, Faye, to translate it because I didn't know what half of it meant.
Sarah Enni: Jenn and her agent were super happy with the plan -- Jenn’s publisher was putting a lot of effort into spreading the word about her book. Of course, this was 10 months ago...
Jennifer de Leon: I went into this thinking I would do a lot of conferences, panels, a lot of traveling to meet with booksellers.
Sarah Enni: Her publisher even sponsored pre-pub bookseller dinners - where Jenn got to spend a meal with the people actually in charge of selling her book.
Jennifer de Leon: And I did get to do some of that before COVID hit.
Sarah Enni: So, now...
Jennifer de Leon: I feel like I've gotten a crash course in social media and just being online and being, I wouldn't say savvy, but faking it.
Sarah Enni: Jenn still had the help of her marketing team, things just looked a little different.
Jennifer de Leon: The digital marketing has been the same, if anything it's been amped up. Instagram Live events, and then we're going to have an event hosted by Politics and Prose online. And then, of course, placing reviews, doing a blog tour, having me write short essays and try to place those, tons of podcasts, tons of interviews, and panels, of course.
Sarah Enni: Like we talked about last week, publishers, especially Big 5 publishers, have marketing tools at their disposal that individual authors just can’t replicate. Like relationships with the buyers for Target or Barnes & Noble, or the ability to set up pre-publication bookseller dinners.
But authors have more power than ever before to get the word out about their work.
Jennifer de Leon: Rewinding just three months ago, four months ago, I was devastated that I wouldn't have a quote-unquote “real launch” at a bookstore and with a party. And I just, in my wildest dreams, I couldn't have imagined how this turned and there were so many silver linings.
Sarah Enni: I’m Sarah Enni, and this is Track Changes, covering everything you don’t know you don’t know about the traditional book publishing industry. And this is the final episode -- at least for Season 1. I wanted to end by talking about what authors can do to help their books succeed, but also to ask you, the listener, to really examine what quote-unquote “Success” means to you.
Before Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, Jenn was the editor of Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education, a collection of personal essays about the varied experiences of Latinas in higher education. That book was published with the University of Nebraska Press in 2014, and Jenn held down a lot of the marketing on her own.
Jenn has been a long-time member of GrubStreet, a creative writing center in Boston. And at the time, they were offering a month’s long program that helped writers create marketing and promotion plans based on what’s called The Logic Model.
Jennifer de Leon: It's basically a way of thinking about your book launch, in this case, and how you want to define success. What it will look like, what it will look like to get there, and then what steps you need to take to get there.
Sarah Enni: You can google The Logic Model, it’s basically an organizational strategy that includes goal-setting and flow charts and a lot of other fun things. But the key thing included there is defining success.
Jennifer de Leon: Right away they wanted us to kind of pin that down because otherwise you're gonna run yourself ragged, just going in a hundred different directions at a hundred miles an hour, and you're gonna be exhausted and disappointed, and nobody wants to be that way.
Sarah Enni: It is so important to interrogate what success looks like to you. Because it really is different for everyone.
Jennifer de Leon: You know, one author said, "I don't really care how many copies I sell. I just want to see my name in print. And I want my grand kids to be with me and know that their grandparent wrote a book." Or whatever. Somebody else said, "You know, I really do want to focus on sales. So I want to put my energy and my resources into that number." Like, "That's important to me."
Sarah Enni: And for Jenn, with the Wise Latinas anthology…
Jennifer de Leon: I really wanted to get the book on college campuses. So I kind of focused on that and student groups. And it was amazing to have that framework to apply to this really big goal and kind of break it down.
Sarah Enni: We’re gonna get more into how Jenn worked through this process for Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From in a minute. But first, I want to bring in some experts on what does work when it comes to marketing and promoting books.
Bekah Sine: I'm Bekah Stein. I am located in Philadelphia and I am one half of Method Agency.
Nikki Pierce: Hi, I'm Nikki Pierce, the other half of Method Agency.
Sarah Enni: Bekah and Nikki created The Method Agency, an independent marketing firm, in 2013. They were both working in marketing, for entertainment and tech, but they wanted to work for themselves. And then...
Nikki Pierce: It really actually was born because of an author who asked us to work with her.
Sarah Enni: That author?
[TWILIGHT TRAILER CLIP]
Sarah Enni: Yep.
Nikki Pierce: Bekah and I started a blog in 2008 called Letters to Twilight. It was a bit of like a snarky older girls take on a YA book that we really, really loved. And we found out that she read our blog and so we were like, "Oh my gosh!" Then down the road, she ended up putting out some movies and she was like, "I really want to work with you guys." Like, "You get our fan base and you understand how to reach these kind of fans." And so she was really the impetus for us starting Method.
Sarah Enni: In addition to helping Stephanie Meyer publish #1 New York Times bestselling books and promoting movies, The Method Agency also works with individual authors, including me. The Method Agency has been helping me market and promote First Draft, and most specifically Track Changes.
Bekah Sine: There's plenty of authors out there that just get really lucky and never have to think about the business end at all. But for the rest of us, thinking about yourself as a business, this is your job. This is your career.
Sarah Enni: I asked Nikki and Bekah where everyone can start, including writers who have not yet signed with an agent or sold a book.
Nikki Pierce: I think the easy things that every writer can have is a website, and a website that they consistently keep up-to-date.
Sarah Enni: Have a recent, hi-resolution picture of yourself. And, if you have sold or published a book, have a page with all the information for your book, including links where people can add it to Goodreads and pre-order or buy. And include links to any social media accounts where you’re active and engaged.
Okay - what else?
Nikki Pierce: An email list. This is huge. Start it early and send it out consistently. If you can only commit to quarterly, do that. If you can do it once a month, do that.
Sarah Enni: Social media is constantly evolving and the algorithms that determine what people actually see are constantly changing. That makes it tricky if that’s the only way you’re relying on reaching people.
Bekah Sine: Email is such an important way because you have control. You may not be able to get everybody to open that email, but you can send another email to people who didn't open your last email. Like you actually can control that when you have a list of emails. So we think of that as one of the most important things people can do as authors or just a marketer marketing yourself in general.
Sarah Enni: Okay, so I have a big list of people’s emails… But what do I send them?
Nikki Pierce: If you're looking for inspiration, subscribe to other people's email newsletters, see what they're doing, see what you like, see what you don't like. Make it short, it doesn't need to be long. If it's gonna be long, make a blog and send people to the blog via the email.
Sarah Enni: And, when it comes to social media, more important than being on every service imaginable is…
Nikki Pierce: Do it consistently. That's gonna be the word that we use all the time with clients. It's just be consistent. If you can only do Instagram, that's great. You should be doing Instagram all the time. But if you can do that and Twitter do that too.
Sarah Enni: When it comes to marketing books, Bekah and Nikki say it’s important to understand your audience.
Bekah Sine: A YA book is a very different animal on social media than a business book where you're talking to people on LinkedIn. It's not the same for every book. Let's say that.
Sarah Enni: Ugh, I just got a full-body chill from Bekah saying “LinkedIn.” So I guess I’m in the right category.
But, kind of like with email, authors getting started might be worried. Now that I have a Twitter account… what the heck do I talk about? Just hype myself up 24/7?
Bekah Sine: We always say this 80/20 rule in terms of social media. 80% of the time, you just want to be conversing in community with your audience, and 20% of the time you can be selling. And so talk about your book. Sure. But make sure if you're doing 10 posts, only two of them are actually asking for that sale or asking people to click through and buy your book. 80% of the time, those other eight posts, just talk about something else.
Sarah Enni: And anything else means, seriously, anything else. Talk about things you’re actually, genuinely interested in. In my Twitter bio, in addition to listing First Draft and my book, Tell Me Everything, I also included “cats, cults, and cryptozoology.” If anyone tweets at me about those things, I’m gonna respond. Because I’m genuinely obsessed.
And, along those lines, here’s a pro tip about the website, newsletter, and social media:
Nikki Pierce: People follow people online.
Sarah Enni: Buy YOURNAME.COM, not YOURBOOK’STITLE.COM. Use your gorgeous face as an avatar, and not the cover of your book.
Nikki Pierce: People want to follow real people, the personalities. And also if everything goes well, you're gonna have a second book. So you're not that first book for the rest of your life. So people buy into you. They want to know more about you. They want to connect with you and not just a character or a cover of a book.
Sarah Enni: Okay, so set yourself up with a website, newsletter, social media. The basics.
Now, let’s say you do sell a book. Congrats! Now it’s time to get back to that Logic Model.
Let’s hear how Jenn used the model when it came time to think about Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From.
Jennifer de Leon: The three core elements of The Logic Model are: Mission and Intent, Definition of Success, and then Your Campaign.
Sarah Enni: Starting with Mission and Intent.
Jennifer de Leon: So put another way, "Why do I even write?" Like, "What impact am I trying to have?"
Sarah Enni: Whoa. She went there. But seriously, you can only gain from having this conversation with yourself, and get real.
Jennifer de Leon: They actually had us craft our own mission statement for our career, which I thought was really cool.
Sarah Enni: Companies have mission statements. And remember: this is your career.
Jennifer de Leon: For Mission and Intent, there are quantitative outcomes, like book sales, assigned essays, another book deal, maybe even job opportunities, distribution. There's also impact that you can influence, like you can entertain and educate, change someone's thinking, influence them. Those are the qualitative, I guess, like you can't really quantify those.
Sarah Enni: When Jenn considered these questions for Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, it was tough at first.
Jennifer de Leon: You know, it's just, there's so many directions to go in. Politics, immigration, segregation, education, METCO, I mean, there's like feminism, there's so many themes in the book.
Sarah Enni: But ultimately, Jenn chose the direction that was most important for her.
Jennifer de Leon: I just really want to focus on getting this to teachers because they will get it to students and that's what I really care about.
Sarah Enni: Awesome. Mission and Intent: Check. So, what’s next in The Logic Model?
Jennifer de Leon: Definition of Success: "What outcomes am I after? How will I know that I'm successful? How will I measure them?"
Sarah Enni: If you just sold a book, it’s time to sit down with pen and paper and get serious about goal setting. Here’s Bekah:
Bekah Sine: Your book is 18 months out, put everything down on a list of all the things you could potentially do, all your huge grandiose goals.
Sarah Enni: And then…
Bekah Sine: Revisit it in a couple of days and try to pare that down to something a little more realistic, something you feel like you can actually tackle over the next year leading up to the book.
Sarah Enni: And when it comes to this step, granularity is key.
Nikki Pierce: We love goal setting. Figure out what are those goals this year? Do I want to sell 5,000 books? Do I want to sell 25,000? Like figure out whatever that number is. Like if you're increasing your email list? By how many people and within what timeline?
Sarah Enni: So figure out very specific goals. And then --
Nikki Pierce: Give yourself workable goals, you know, break them up quarterly, "I'm gonna do these six things that are gonna contribute to getting more email newsletters."
Sarah Enni: Timelines. Quantitative data. When I have to read books for the podcast, I look up the number of pages, break it into 50-page chunks, and write in my planner all the days I have to read that book. Seriously. Take the guess work out of your goals.
That being said -- now is also the time to think about the bigger picture. By considering...
Jennifer de Leon: Expanding Definitions of Success, which I actually think is really important because book sales like, review, like, I feel like these, you can't control those as much.
Sarah Enni: And by expanding, Jenn means...
Jennifer de Leon: So stretching them, like not limiting them to, "Well, if I don't get a New York Times review, then that's it. I guess I didn't make it." You know, it's like, "No, no."
Sarah Enni: For example, Jenn came up with this as an expanded definition of success:
Jennifer de Leon: I will be very happy if one day I'm riding The T in Boston, the subway, and I'm sitting there and I see a young Latina girl reading the book, I'll probably like lose it.
Sarah Enni: That would be a moment for Jenn. One where she could think to herself, “Damn. I made it.”
Jennifer de Leon: Things like that I think are just as important to hold up then, you know, number of sales and everything.
Sarah Enni: Okay you have your Mission and Intent. You have your Definition of Success, broken into measurable steps, and you’ve considered expanded Definitions of Success, too.
Now--time to put together Your Campaign.
Jennifer de Leon: Thinking about, "Are you trying to connect with other readers? Other authors? Expand your network? Are you looking for recognition? Are you just looking to learn and enjoy?" And then that will determine your campaign.
Sarah Enni: Start formulating your campaign by examining your inputs.
Jennifer de Leon: Inputs: Your time, your networks, money, consultants, including maybe another publicist or a publicist, if you don't have one already.
Sarah Enni: For Jenn, with Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, her inputs included the community of writers that she had built at GrubStreet, as well as her writing group, the Chunky Monkeys. It also included Teach For America, a program Jenn participated in when she was younger.
And, of course, Jenn’s input included a robust plan with her publisher’s marketing team. Nikki and Bekah recommend every author reach out to the marketing department at their publisher to get some basic info, and make sure that the marketing department puts a voice or face to a name. Here’s Nikki:
Nikki Pierce: I think getting with your publisher too with the marketing people like, "Hey, who's gonna be marketing this? Can I just have a very quick, like 10 minutes with you?” To just get a timeline and to figure out what those big dates are coming forward, and how you can support them.
Sarah Enni: We went over this the last episode, but the marketing teams in publishing houses are overworked, so make sure you’re approaching them respectfully, and always leading with the fact that you want to help and contribute as much as is feasible for you.
OK, so.
In Jen’s case, she had decided that students and teachers were her primary target. So she went about creating a plan that centered on those audiences.
Jennifer de Leon: I did some research, I took notes. I kind of looked at other authors who I think are successful in this vein. And I'm like, "What are they doing?
Sarah Enni: She learned about the We Are KidLit Collective, a group that works to get books written by and about Indigenous people and People of Color into classrooms. And Teach for America was thrilled to hear from Jenn, and did a lot to help its members learn about her book, including Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From in book clubs with teachers and profiling Jenn in the alumni magazine.
Jennifer de Leon: With event planning, you know, I thought, "Okay, let's have an event that's marketed towards teachers." Because bookstore events are usually targeted towards a general readership, but in this case, I felt like, "Let's do something different, you know? And if we market it towards teachers, we can do giveaways. And then email all the participants, you know, the reader's guide and maybe raffle off a Zoom session with their classroom."
Sarah Enni: And, for her launch:
Jennifer de Leon: I always knew I wanted to have a launch, even if it was online and all of that, and be in conversation with Celeste Ng (author of Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You). And once we were starting to plan that, I thought, I really wanted to use that launch as an occasion to get books in the hands of kids. And so we're using the launch as a fundraiser, to raise donations of the book, for every ninth grader at this one high school in Boston. So I feel like, yeah, there is some nice synergy around the events I'm doing.
Sarah Enni: Since Jenn knew what success looked like for her, her marketing strategy was distinctively targeted, which gave her more focus and control, and made her book event really stand out. And as a nice bonus, doing all that thinking, planning, and prioritizing ahead of time helped Jenn keep perspective and take care of her mental health throughout her launch.
Jennifer de Leon: There are so many ways to feel unsuccessful in the writing world and like where it's horrible, but it's true. So it's important to front load and have your own metrics, you know, ahead of all the ones that the world's going to just spit at you anyway.
Sarah Enni: Some other tips to consider when thinking about your marketing strategy...
Know your peers. Some of the best people to connect with are authors who are at a similar stage of the journey. So let’s say you sold your book tomorrow. You’d most likely be a 2022 debut. Find out if there’s a group for 2022 debuts. I’m sure there is. They probably will have a Facebook Group or a Slack or a Discord that you can join. And you can ask your agent if they have other clients who are publishing on your timeline. Follow them on all the things and, if appropriate, reach out.
Bekah Sine: Find out who else is coming out and follow them and start conversing with them because I think authors can be each other's best cheerleaders. And so you're gonna have this community of people all publishing around the same time, its new friends that you can really just go to for support. And people then really blast out exciting things about your book when it comes time.
Sarah Enni: And if you’re thinking, “But aren’t authors who publish at the same time as me my competitors?” That… isn’t really the vibe.
Nikki Pierce: I think unlike any other community that we've worked in or any other industry, authors love to support other authors. And you don't see that for most other businesses. So get in there and be authentic, be a real person and support them.
Sarah Enni: This is also a great time to start checking out and following bookstagrammers, people with podcasts about books and writing, booktubers, editors, agents, book reviewers. People in the book community whose content, or just general attitude, you connect with. And, engage.
Nikki Pierce: You don't want to come to them a week or two before your book's coming out and just beg them to do something. If you're building a relationship that's authentic 18 months in advance, they're gonna be way more open to answering your email or re-tweeting something when it really matters.
Sarah Enni: Another thing: Nikki says, don’t be afraid to advertise.
Nikki Pierce: Don't be scared of advertising, it's not bad. It doesn't look bad on you that you're using advertising to grow a following. You're just finding people that would be the perfect audience. So even if it's $20, spend it and don't think it's weird to do that.
Sarah Enni: So, if you’ve got a really great post up on Instagram that you want more eyes on, put some dollars behind that. And, Nikki and Bekah suggest that, instead of making ads through your phone on the app, use Facebook’s browser tool called Ads Manager...
Bekah Sine: And that's where it gets a little more complicated, but you're gonna have a lot more control and you're gonna be able to target an audience and potential readers a lot more if you can learn a little bit about the basics of Ads Manager. You can take $50 and get more eyes on a really cool post you did about your upcoming book.
Sarah Enni: Another tip: Think Local. Your publisher is gonna be thinking about your book on a broad, national scale, you have the advantage of access to the community where you live.
Nikki Pierce: They're doing the nationwide stuff, but you're gonna know what's going on in Denver or Albuquerque or wherever this author lives. So think about it in advance. Like what are the book events, if there are, in your town? What are entertainment kind of events that you can go to, maybe a local con, that sort of thing. Just write a list, have that information ready that you can share with the publisher too. And if they can help you in any way and get in to that, that's great. But also you can just reach out and ask as well.
Sarah Enni: Also, establish a relationship with your local indie bookstore. I mean, ideally you’re way ahead of the curve here and already frequent your local indie, and are kind to the booksellers, and go to events at that store -- virtually or IRL -- and are, in general, a good literary citizen in your community.
Bekah Sine: Yeah. And hopefully there's a great independent bookstore in your neighborhood that you can partner with and go in, introduce yourself to the owner. Those places are small and say, "I'm an author. I live in this town. My book comes out X, Y, and Z. I'd love to do, you know, can I hold my book launch party here? Can I do an event?"
Sarah Enni: So, you’ve reached out to your publisher’s marketing team to get insight about their plans. You’ve set up your website and the social media that you like to use regularly. You’ve created a targeted campaign and you’re working on being a good literary citizen. What if it feels like that’s not enough? Or, that you really need help?
Nikki Pierce: If you feel like, "Hey, the publisher seems maybe a bit too busy right now, and the plan looks a little slimmer than I would hope to see, how can I add to that?" And maybe it's time to reach out to someone or maybe it's time that you build, you know, your own marketing Plan B to support that.
Sarah Enni: Part of that plan could be using an independent marketing firm, or independent publicist. Of course, bringing in outside help is not right for everyone.
Bekah Sine: It is hard for a first time author. I'm not saying that things can't be done, it can be, and we've definitely worked with first time authors, but it's probably more when you're on your second, third book, when you've got a little bit of traction under your belt. And you're like, "Okay, what next?" Like, "I'm too busy writing all these books and things are going well on this end, but I need something to help support me to get me to that next level." That's probably a good time.
Sarah Enni: So, slightly more established authors may see more of an advantage. And then, of course, there’s the fact that hiring outside help is not free.
Nikki Pierce: If you're gonna go with someone, I think starting out it would be about a thousand dollars a month for just a basic level package to get started. But you know, if you really want to buy into things like advertising, which we think everyone should do, and it doesn't have to be a ton of money, you're gonna probably be paying a little bit more than that.
Sarah Enni: And, as always, be on the lookout for scammers, or people just looking to take advantage.
Nikki Pierce: I would highly, highly, highly recommend that if anyone is looking into hiring an agency, looking into hiring a publicist, look for those recommendations, talk to people, look at their work, just make sure that everything's above board. Cause if someone is selling you on a hundred dollar or $500 package, I really would want to know what you're getting for that money. So just make sure that you do your due diligence.
Sarah Enni: Of course, Bekah and Nikki say, as with many things, you get what you pay for.
Bekah Sine: We've seen publicity pricing ranging from companies out there that I don't know what they do, but they put you on these random websites that nobody reads for $3.99 a month to companies that costs $10,000 for a six-week campaign, but very well could get you in Oprah Magazine.
Sarah Enni: But it’s important to be clear on one thing: hiring an outside marketing team or publicist is not a guarantee of anything.
Bekah Sine: You do often get what you pay for, and that's not a hundred percent true in every case, because you might have a terrible book.
Sarah Enni: Obviously that’s not true for anyone listening to this podcast. But...
Bekah Sine: Let's say an author is out there with a terrible book and pays $10,000, but nobody's interested in covering it. I mean, that's a reality. But somebody who you're paying those thousands of dollars to, is gonna work a lot harder than somebody who is only charging $3.99 per month.
Sarah Enni: Okay. So all those caveats aside, if you’ve decided that soliciting outside help is right for you, the next step is thinking about who to hire: a publicist or a marketing team?
Nikki says figuring out if you need one or the other, and when you need one or the other, might come down to your timeline, and your objective.
Nikki Pierce: Are you a new author and you just need to get your name out there? It might be really good to start with a publicist, maybe six, eight weeks before and start really ramping into that on-sale date and make sure that they're getting your name out there.
Sarah Enni: But if you want to work with a marketing agency, you need to be looking into that much earlier.
Nikki Pierce: You'd need to work with a marketing team before that, to really get the plan in place. They're gonna create a strategy for you and either they execute on that strategy or they create it for you and then you execute on it.
Sarah Enni: For the Method Agency, Bekah says their ideal timeline is...
Bekah Sine: Probably at minimum three months before release date so that we can make sure there's a plan that we're starting to ramp up. If you're just looking to hire somebody for a short time, I would say a three to six month plan, maybe starting with four to three months before, and then going, you know, a month or two after release to really wrap things up.
Sarah Enni: And if you do hire outside help, don’t keep that a secret from your publisher’s marketing team. Make it clear that you’ve hired someone, and who they are. And Nikki and Bekah say it helps to arrange an introduction.
Nikki Pierce: We like to go in to that and ask an author, "Hey, will you set up an email and just introduce us so that we can all talk together?" And we will respond to that and say, "Hey, we're working on a plan to support you." So it's just making sure that they know, you know, we're not taking over anything. We're not there to do what they're supposed to be doing. We're there to fill in the gaps.
Sarah Enni: Last thing… after you put in all this work, don’t pull a disappearing act.
Bekah Sine: In between book titles, take a break. Your book came out, you did a good job, take a little rest, but then don't go quiet for the next two years while you work on the next book. Still market yourself, still build yourself up as an author. Even if you're not actively talking about a book, that's super important because we see, kind of often, somebody who did something, was involved with their book, and then went quiet for years. Has another book and suddenly they're scrambling to get back into it. And that's just not how it should work. Really just continue to be involved. Even if you're not actively promoting a book.
Sarah Enni: Okay. After so many months, and so many episodes, we can finally check in with Jenn, who on August 18 officially released Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From.
While she was fresh off this momentous occasion, I asked her to share how the day went.
Jennifer de Leon: I had so many emotions. I was excited, but I was also anxious. I wanted immediately the book to do well, even though it had been out for like hours at that point. And then I felt already oddly, anticipating mourning it, like that it's going to be over. Like, and then "now what" kind of feeling.
Sarah Enni: There are so, so many feelings that come along with putting a book into the world, especially that first book. More than just your own feelings, even.
Jennifer de Leon: What I wasn't prepared for was like, how many people, in congratulating me, really shared some very sweet, deep sentiments of their own. Kind of like, "You know, I just want to say, like, this is a big deal and I'm really proud of you. And I am, you know, I've always wanted to do XYZ." Or, "I have really admired your hustle." They just kind of used it to pivot to some very real emotion within themselves. And that was kind of surprising.
Sarah Enni: I want to interject here, as the long-time host of First Draft, and let people know, especially if they are writing about difficult subjects, you should prepare yourself for this kind of emotional sharing. Now is the time to think about your boundaries and how you’re going to enforce them. Are you gonna respond to every email? Every DM?
Jennifer de Leon: Because you're vulnerable and open, then you invite other people to DM you and ask about, you know, writing. And I feel almost like an allegiance or a responsibility to give them, like, "Here you go!" Like some sort of answer, or kit, or zip file, I don't know. And like, "This is how you do it." But we know that that doesn't exist.
Sarah Enni: Consider making an email template with resources for readers. And/or adding a page to your website with resources, or an FAQ where readers can find some basic information on things you explore in your work. Try to anticipate those needs where you can.
And, not for nothing, but you can always include a link to Track Changes on that site. Just saying. Something else that’s really important to know: For every high, there’s an attendant low. Adrenaline comes, and adrenaline goes.
Jennifer de Leon: I definitely felt the letdown. I went to sleep that night and then the next morning I had a feeling like, “Oh, it’s over.”
Sarah Enni: And, if you’re anything like Jenn or I, you might be dogged by worries once the joy of the day has passed.
Jennifer de Leon: One thing that always makes me cringe is feeling, at the same time that I feel like I’m not doing enough, I have this feeling of, “Oh god, am I that person on social media who is posting too much?” Or being like, “Me, me, me, me.” It’s such a tough balance. It’s like a tightrope because you want to be that confident author-girl, you know? Who’s like, “Yeah, my book!” And show young people like, “Yeah, be proud of your accomplishments.” But then you don’t want to be too loud. I hate that I’m even saying that, but it’s true. That’s how I felt.
Sarah Enni: And Jenn has noticed something a little emotionally difficult that is specific to a virtual debut experience.
Jennifer de Leon: One thing I’ve noticed is this lack of closure with these events. With these events where you’re putting out emotion and thoughts and really promoting your book and trying to engage an audience that you can’t see, but you know they’re there, it’s very awkward to click the “leave meeting” and then it’s done. And I’m like, “Okay.” And it’s very odd.
Sarah Enni: At a normal book event, after the Q&A or panel ia over, you’d sign books for a while, talk to the bookseller, and then maybe even grab food or a drink with the other authors. Of course, these aren’t normal times.
Jenn talked about this with a group of other authors she had an upcoming event with. And they came up with a solution.
Jennifer de Leon: We already are planning an after-party Zoom, separate from the event, to have a drink, decompress. There’s some kind of like, “Whew.” Like the come down.
Sarah Enni: And as a debut author, these first events can be strange in another way. You’ve probably seen dozens of panels with other authors talking about their books. You may have even gotten the chance to ask other authors questions, or like Jenn, taught other writers’ works. But once you have a book out, all of a sudden, people want to know about you and your book.
That can be weird.
Jennifer de Leon: Celeste Ng actually gave me this advice. She was like, “Focus on your book and yourself as an author and positioning the book. You don’t always have to bring something else into the fold.” And I think she said, “I don’t mean this in a way of being selfish.” It’s more just like, “It’s okay to talk about your book and it’s okay to take up that space.”
Sarah Enni: Okay. This episode has been a lot of focus on how you can work your butt off to promote one book. But the intent of this series is to set writers up to think past one book, further out, to a career.
So I want to end on a bigger note. Broader goals. What does success – sustainable success -- look like to you?
Jenn has realized that, for her, success looks like her writing group, The Chunky Monkeys, and her network of other creatives she can be fully honest with.
Jennifer de Leon: I think that being able to share all aspects of this ride, and an identity of being an author in the world, is a measure of success. Like when you find a group of friends that you can be fully honest with, you know, like when you're not just talking about, "Your perfect relationship." Or, you know, "Your amazing career." It's like, "Come on." You know, you gotta be able to share all parts of it. So that feels like a success to be able to have a group like that.
Sarah Enni: When you can find a group of people who are willing to be vulnerable with and uplift each other, everything gets easier. And you get a more accurate perspective, too.
Jennifer de Leon: Whoever you identify in your subconscious as like the most successful person there, right? For that person to then share a story of like, "Oh, my book actually didn't sell that well." Or, "We rushed to the paperback, my publisher rushed to the..." XYZ. Everybody has a story.
There are so many ways to feel bad, sort of a weird phrase, but there are so many ways to feel bad about your book and your journey, that being in these spaces, I think, really allows us to humanize it and step back and realize that even the person who you hold up as the highest author in the room, or on the Zoom screen, has their own stories of not reaching X goal.
Sarah Enni: One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever heard came from Holly Root, the literary agent we spoke to earlier in this series. She tells her clients, “Keep your eyes on your own paper.”
So, try your best. Hold tight to your own metrics for success, and try to let go of what you can’t control. Let good friends carry some of the load and, above all, keep writing.
Um, wow. I can’t believe that this wild hair I had in the fall of 2019 has taken a full year and become a real thing that people can listen to. There are so many people to thank, but I want to shout out one woman in particular:
Jennifer de Leon: I can’t imagine going through this without you, without First Draft, without Track Changes.
Sarah Enni: Likewise, Jennifer de Leon. Everyone listening has benefited from Jenn’s willingness to be vulnerable, honest, and generous with her time. Please buy Don’t Ask Me where I’m From, and stay tuned. Because Jenn is a force of nature and she’s gonna be writing books for decades to come.
The other woman who deserves a lion’s share of thanks is Hayley Hershman, who has been a producer with me on First Draft for years, and who guided Track Changes from a scattershot whiteboard of ideas into the comprehensive, beautiful-sounding series that you’ve been enjoying. I say it every week in the credits and I mean it every time: Thank you Hayley.
I’m so grateful to everyone whose voice has appeared on this series, and many more, including Zan Romanoff, Julie Anderson, Callie Wright, Courtney Summers, Veronica Roth, Somaiya Daud, Maurene Goo, Derick Tsai, and everyone whose behind-the-scenes encouragement made it possible for me to keep going.
And thank you to YOU, the listeners who have told me that Track Changes helped them, or informed them, or clarified something for them. You’re all brilliant, curious, wonderful writers and I can’t wait to read all of your books.
Please let me know how you felt about Track Changes. And if you enjoyed it, leave a rating or review for First Draft on Apple Podcasts. I hope to see you here sometime soon, for Season 2.