The release of Hope Is A Six Letter Word is imminent now, so it’s time for me to enter author purgatory. All of the inspiration and graft of creation is complete, and I’m in that phase that most authors have to deal with; the terror and anticipation of whether anyone will actually buy/ read/ like the damned thing. I hope so. I really like it, and I’ve had good feedback but you can never really tell until the reviews come in (or not, as the case may be).
It is the getting of those reviews and that coverage that is such a challenge too. There is so much competition for fiction, and without one of the very big publishers or publicists behind you, it tends to be down to the author to do all the work of the next stage. Let’s be frank, even with their backing it is very much down to author engagement unless you have a celebrity profile. And I’ll let you into a little secret; most of us aren’t very good at marketing. If you don’t have a particular genre or niche it can be even more difficult, and in the modern world many of the media outlets that you could have approached ten or twenty years ago simply aren’t that interested either. The nature of the circulation or broadcast game for them means a tendency towards clickbait and ‘hook’ stories, as they are fighting for attention just as much as the author is. And if your story isn’t action and plot heavy either (and a lot of what I write is very characterisation heavy and internalised) there are even less opportunities to find that elusive hook to get attention.
Social media and reviews are the prime platforms for getting the word out about a new book, and the truth of the matter is that even positive reviews and ‘likes’ rarely translates into big sales, and you can end up in the lap of the Gods, hoping for that one ‘lucky break’ which will propel your book into public awareness, and that will translate into reads. So I’m stuck in that horrible spot right now. I’ve done all I can with the book itself (lets call it a product, as that’s what it is from this point), and before it comes out, I sit here and fret whether anyone will like or even read it. My ask for any readers out there, and not just related to my own writing, is to leave online reviews where you can. They don’t have to be long or elaborate if you’re not comfortable with that, but the fact they are there makes an immense difference to the visibility of a novel, and is also the only was the author can feel that they’ve been a success, and that someone out there cares about their writing enough to comment.
The picture, in case you’re wondering, is of Formby beach, one of the setting for Hope. Even if you don’t like the book you should visit It really is lovely there!
Stay safe,
Kit