CREATING AND BUILDING YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE AS AN AUTHOR

It's a pleasure to have Canadian author, Jamie Tremain, guest on my blog today to share their journey to published author. Book launch for "The Silk Shroud" is April 23/17.

Writing a book? Want to be a published author? Here is what Jamie Tremain has learned along the way to becoming published.

While you are crafting your story, there’s something else you need to think about. Creating and building your online presence in advance of even searching out an agent or publisher can be beneficial to your success.

Several years ago we, as Jamie Tremain, began writing not one, but two stories. Eventually we settled on polishing “The Silk Shroud”.  Once we began to seriously consider that we might indeed be published one day, we decided to venture into the world of social media. At first it was a blog, chronicling our foray into the writing world and our journey of writing.

As we became more involved with the writing community – networking being another vital component to success – we began to attend writing workshops and even conferences whenever possible. After all, writing can be a very solitary process. So it’s a welcome relief to enjoy the company of others. And without a doubt the writing community is among the most supportive and encouraging you’ll ever find. If possible, join a writing group where you can have your work critiqued and learn from others first hand.

As our network grew, the name Jamie Tremain began to gain recognition, and we decided to try our hand at interviewing established authors for the blog. This was a great success and became another building block in establishing our brand.

All the while, we continued to write and revise. Once we felt The Silk Shroud was finished, we began sending out query letters to both publishers and agents. A very long process and being organized cannot be over emphasized!  A spreadsheet to track responses and contacts is helpful.

From the blog, we then moved to creating a Twitter profile and of course, a page on Facebook dedicated to all things Jamie Tremain and writing.

The more involved we became within the writing community the more we realized, much to our chagrin, how much of the promotion and marketing would fall upon us, the lowly author, should a contract to publish be offered. So we began to really watch how other authors were promoting themselves. What seemed to work, what didn’t. Everyone is different, and it can take a while to find your own style. It can be overwhelming to read all the “advice” out there. We found our own methods which worked for us. We determined that unless an editor wanted us to do something different, we’d stick to what we knew and what enabled us to keep the creativity flowing.

The author interviews on our blog became our style and has received moderate success. Even to the point of “Jamie Tremain” being approached by publishers and authors to review and/or interview other authors. 

We believe that when potential publishers saw that Jamie Tremain was indeed serious about this writing business, we were not so easily dismissed, in part because we had built a following. Which translates into sales.

The norm in today’s world for an author means YOU do the lion’s share of marketing and promotion. If you already have a presence online, you’re off to a good start.

Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Reddit, Goodreads, along with your own blog and/or web site will become a necessary evil, so the sooner you see them as tools of your trade the better. Create an account with VistaPrint or other sites where you can easily create your own promotional materials. From bookmarks to banners and everything in between. And remember to keep those receipts!

Can the process be discouraging at times? Absolutely. Do you wonder if it’s worth it? More times than you can count. But perseverance and belief in yourself will carry you through.  And when that day comes and you hold in your hand, YOUR book, the smile on your face will let everyone know it was worth it.

Happy writing!

 

L-R: Authors Elizabeth Lindsay & Pam Blance writing as Jamie Tremain

 Contact and/or Follow Jamie Tremain:

Web Site              http://www.jamietremain.ca/

Blog                     http://jamietremain.blogspot.ca/

Facebook             www.facebook.com/jamietremainwrites

Pinterest               www.pinterest.com/linelbulin

Email                     jamietremain@rogers.com