By Katrin Schumann

Do you hole up in near seclusion like Jonathan Franzen to create your opus? Do you use social media for ideas and encouragement? Do you read fiction while you write fiction? Where do you find your inspiration and your will to carry on in spite of the self-doubt? Do you search for answers in what other fiction writers do?

Ultimately, the only thing that matters is what works for you.

By Katrin Schumann

How many writers love the sales process? Raise your hands!

We all know that the process of writing a book is complex and full of surprises and leads to uncertain outcomes. But when our books come out, few of us know what to do. We don’t know what to expect or what’s expected of us, and we don’t know how to affect sales. 

Many of us dread the moment after the launch party (because let’s be honest, we all dream of that launch party—not realizing that WE are the ones who’ll foot the bill)

As writers looking to learn more about craft, most of us tend to do what we find most natural; we grativitate toward books on writing, articles about editing, or perhaps we read books by literary greats to study their style. Most of us likely choose other forms of the written word to help us learn more about how to write better. 

But what you might be missing are all the wonderful videos available at the touch of a button on writing

The Muse & the Marketplace conference is just around the corner, starting on April 29. If you haven’t signed up yet, now is the time to do so! I’ll be teaching a class on How to Use Social Media for Self-Promotion Without Being Annoying and I hope that I’ll see you there.

A few months ago, I was speaking with an author who was disappointed in the book sales for her most recent book.  I thought a lot about the reaction she had to her novel. It was a fine story, with strong literary appeal. The publisher was a small press, with likely not a lot of money for publicity. The author had a broad personal network, and I’m sure most of her friends bought her book and recommended it to their friends. She had a little book tour when it launched. I’m unsure if she had a publicist or what other efforts she made to push those words out into the world.