Buzz. A student from novel writing class told me last night that she cringes when she hears buzz words such as: network or platform. She’d probably blanch at buzz too. It’s all well and good to philosophize about wanting to be above all that. And I agree with a similar comment, that writers ought to concentrate on writing their best stuff and the rest will follow. The problem is, the rest rarely automatically follows.
The conversation reminds me of the classic argument I used to make about art while I was in school–no art student at my university wanted to be associated with “commercial” or “crafty” art from kits. We were FINE artists. And about 99 out of 100 of us toiled in obscurity because we were too FINE to market ourselves.
In writing, the same challenge presents itself. Do we write for writing’s sake? Well, yes. And no. If nobody can find your book or hear about it, how, will they read it? And if nobody hears about it and reads it, the nasty underbelly of publishing rears its ugly head and declares your book OOP (Out Of Print). There’s nothing quite like the sinking feeling an author gets upon learning the creation they finally got published is destined for the shredder. And that’s what Buzzing Books is all about.
Writing Tip for Today: While you’re in the early stages of novelwriting, I say it’s all right if you only want to write and not worry about BUZZ. Yet when the time comes, if you’ve stuck your head in the sand and refused to stay up-to-date on this marketing stuff, you’ll face a steep learning curve. Why not make it easy on yourself? Do a little every week. Start a blog, even if you and the dog are the only readers. Make your presence known on the more prominent social networks, and build a “friends” list gradually (Friend is another word for network). Stay connected to the reading world and when you hold your first novel in your hand, you’ll be ready to BUZZ your way into your readers’ hearts and minds.
