How Seth Godin Saved My Career: Lessons a marketing guru taught a literary novelist
By Guest | April 5, 2014 |
Photo by Flickr’s neubda
Our guest today is Deborah McKinlay, author of some half dozen, nonfiction, humor titles, and the author of two novels The View From Here (Soho Press, 2011) and That Part Was True (Grand Central, 2014), a NYT Book Review editors’ choice on February 16th, and one of Parade Magazine’s “Ten Books You’ll Love For Spring.” It has been optioned for screen by the BBC independent film unit.
From New York Times Book Review (Feb 9th, 2014): “When the British author Deborah McKinlay takes us to ‘the depths of the English countryside, in a house that was an advertisement for the English countryside,’ we recognize that a Lively voice — à la Penelope, that is — will be reporting with wry detachment and affection.”
Deborah wanted to write this post because she “managed to find a happy middle (as a writer) after a long, dry patch (I won’t say ending because it’s a long road) and think some of my experience might resonate with people, and hopefully encourage them.” She believes there are a lot of mid-career, mid-life, authors who are feeling pretty lost in the current, increasingly slippery, publishing landscape. They started their careers in one world and find themselves suddenly in another.
Connect with Deborah on Twitter @yourauntlola.
How Seth Godin Saved My Career: Six lessons a marketing guru taught a literary novelist
In May 2010, Garrison Keillor wrote an op-ed for the New York Times about the sad demise of traditional publishing – a charming piece, tied up with some winningly written nostalgia. I am a great fan of Mr Keillor’s, I read it nodding. I went on nodding until I was whomped by the following epiphany: I am not Garrison Keillor; a successful, established, fabulously talented author with a New Yorker background, whose op-eds are published in the New York Times. I was, in fact, a mid-life, mid-career writer, scary broke and a single parent. Luckily, these last two facts rubbed together enough to make some sparks. I figured that if the world was changing, it probably wasn’t smart to sit around nodding with the Old Guard. I decided to find out who was riding the forward wave. It was Seth Godin. These were the lessons he taught me:
Join the conversation: I stopped treating the internet as either a postcard substitute, or a portable encyclopaedia. Given that what I do best is write characters, I invented a Twitter persona and started to tweet as her – I still do. One advantage of this was that I could do it anonymously at first, but the secondary appeal was that by tweeting samples of my writing, rather than processes, or other people’s writing, I found some readers. I now have a way to connect with them and, importantly, to figure out who they are. (Not always, as it happens, who I thought they were.)
[pullquote]His advice is, ‘Do anything that won’t knock you out of the game.’ I repeat this to myself regularly – it stops me agonising over semi-colons. I write, I edit, I take a hard look and, if it’s good enough not to embarrass me, I ship. I am often surprised by what sails.[/pullquote]
Find a tribe: Seth Godin’s definition of a Tribe is a group who unite around a leader, but don’t simply follow – they share ideas and purpose. I stopped just looking for an audience and had a go at connecting with people who would find each other. I focused my Twitter energy on getting retweets, rather than new followers. Then, I figured that novels might also benefit from some ‘shareable’ aspect. That Part Was True tells the story of two people who correspond about, among other things, a love of cooking. In the rewriting I consciously expanded the cooking element. It is the part of the novel that readers comment on most, contact me about most and ask me to write about most – it’s ‘shareable’.
Ship: I heard Seth Godin say in an interview ‘I ship’. His advice is, ‘Do anything that won’t knock you out of the game.’ I repeat this to myself regularly – it stops me agonising over semi-colons. I write, I edit, I take a hard look and, if it’s good enough not to embarrass me, I ship. I am often surprised by what sails.
Ignore geography: I already had some feel for this – I had sold my first novel, The View From Here to Soho Press in New York, despite the fact that I was living in a remote corner of South West England. But the emphasis in Seth’s Godin’s work gave me the push I needed to hold out for an across-the-Atlantic agent. I got a great one. I remind myself often now that the perfect reader/publisher for any piece of work might be in Scotland, or Sydney, or Ohio. I can find them.
Colour the cow: Seth Godin illustrates the need for differentiated products by talking about purple cows. This is pretty close to standard publishing lore – make your story stand out. There is plenty of good, logical, and sometimes inspiring information around about how to do this (see Donald Maass). I have read, and recommended, much of it (see Donald Maass), but I find the simple question “What is remarkable about this cow?” an excellent, grounding reminder that I my job is to produce product. It that has to compete with other product.
Nurture relationships: When I first came across Seth Godin’s work, I sent a two line email to him, telling him how helpful I had found it. He wrote back immediately and extremely informally. At that point I went from fan to admirer. When I sold That Part Was True, I thanked him once more. He wrote back again – immediately and informally. I went from admirer to evangelist. Recently, I have had quite a few messages from readers. Lucky me. I write back immediately and informally.
In September, 2012 I got a big break… into Garrison Keillor’s lovely, traditional, editorially rigorous publishing world. I am very happy there. But, given the nowadays necessity for frequent ventures out of the Literary Bubble, I am very glad to have found, in Seth Godin, a guide to a comfortable spot between sepia and green. (P.S. If you want to come, too, you can bring your Corona.)
Are there lessons you’ve learned in unexpected places that you can apply to your writing ventures? We’d love to hear!
Many thanks to today’s guest.
You can read more WU guest posts by visiting this link.
Something I learned from an unexpected place… I did a year long course in electrical engineering when I was 17 years old (and at the time I wrote a lot of admittedly bad poetry).
My engineering tutor told us – a class of surly teenagers – “read this, don’t just take it home and use it as a table prop. If you don’t read stuff, you won’t learn!”
Although our tutor was frustrated at our collective refusal to do anything resembling homework, his words made me stop and think. I recognized that I needed to read more poetry, if I wanted to write better poetry.
Hello Katherine, It’s funny, isn’t it, the way that some
simple re-wording of something, or a particular circumstance,
brings things that we already know home? When I came across these
marketing ideas they struck me because precisely because they were
familiar, but the approach was pithy and fresh. And, more
importantly, I was open to them. Best, Deborah
Sorry… I double becaused you. Do not type when making
soup.
Deborah, thanks for sharing these tips. I love the idea of tweeting as a character. Did you do that while writing your WIP or after it was finished? What an intriguing idea. I also agree about nurturing relationships. I feel as though the WU community is my tribe. There are so many kindred spirits here. Thanks for these valuable lessons. Here’s wishing you much success.
Hello, No, the character on my main Twitter account (Aunt
Lola) is unrelated to either of my novels – I talk a bit about her
genesis on my website. But I did invent a second character for the
launch of The View From Here (@blondedujour) and found that quite a
useful marketing tool. For me the joy of Twitter is that its
dynamic (i.e. I can mess around with it) Best, Deborah
Fascinating use of Twitter, I do believe that on this you went one better than Seth! I just began to follow you and noticed how whimsical your tweets are, great fun to read, well done!
This goes on long way for me to solve the Twitter riddle. Because to announce your book title with, say, a 99 cent sale on it for a couple of days will get you strictly NOWHERE. It will only make you look like a (clueless) spammer. So, I feel I must really thank you for some excellent pointers!
Hi Claude, thank you very much. I agree about the selling tweets. There is a balance to be found, I think. Although I do struggle with it still. I find if there are long periods of ‘value’ without any selling, people are pretty tolerant of some not-too-strong ‘buy my book’ stuff. I try to think of social media as a way to introduce myself… Nice to meet you.
Best,
Deborah
I love Seth Godin for a different reason – his posts make me think, and sometimes give me something to blog about by connecting what he says to some aspect of my odd writing process.
I had missed ‘I Ship’ somehow – but it’s very good advice. Nobody can read your work if it hasn’t gotten out of your house.
Marketing is a good place to look for tips – until we acquire ESP.
May your tribe be large and prosperous.
Alicia
Thanks, Alicia. ‘I Ship’ came from an interview rather than
the blog – which always makes me think, too. I think we’re Tribe
mates now. Deborah
My favorite lines?
“I write, I edit, I take a hard look and, if it’s good enough not to embarrass me, I ship. I am often surprised by what sails.”
Very hard for me to ship and not want to grab it back.
Hah – I always want to grab back, Normandie (I get the same
sensation at mailboxes). I would take back this post and all my
replies so far, if I could – they’re riddled with typos. But, the
ms. that became my last book would still be in a drawer if I hadn’t
steeled myself and pitched it, so I think there’s a middle ground
between perfect and no good at all that you do recognize after a
while. All best, Deborah
I often pause for thought at Seth’s blog. Big ideas easily grasped. Small ideas with sparks of opportunity. Blessed brevity!
Re: brevity – AGREE
I am finally learning how to use Twitter to my advantage instead of being overwhelmed by it so this is timely.
Hi Susan, I was terrified of social media, for ages (and
subsequently dismissive of it). I think the key is to find a way to
use it that feels comfortable and sustainable for you. I cannot
blog regularly, but Twitter lets me duck in and out, and, also,I
found being able to tweet anonymously for a while liberating (I
recommend it). Deborah
This was an inspiring post. Tweeting as a character! What a fun experiment.
Thank you, Paula (and all the other generous commenters)
Sometimes I need to remind myself of how experimental all writing
is. It’s fun to get creative when The Rules begin to box you in.
Best, Deborah
… you can bring your Corona.
My first serious typewriter, a sleek manual Corona. Wish I still had it, it was a treasure.
Or maybe you mean beer?
No objection to the beer, but I meant the Typewriter…
love the clack and ping.
I needed to read this. Thank you for writing and sharing it.
Thank you, Leanne. I’m very happy if it helped.
Deborah
Enjoyed this post, Deborah. My takeaway: short, informal emails are quick to write and mean a lot to recipients. I’m also impressed that you made up a fictional twitter character. i don’t even twitter myself!! :)
Hello Carol,
I think, for me, Twitter was easier than emails, I am better at Sporadic. It’s just nice to be in touch with readers, though, isn’t it? It is not so long ago that most writers had very little connection with their readers at all.
All best,
Deborah
Kia ora Deborah,
Kia ora Deborah (for the 2nd time!)
Thank you for the great, down-to-earth post-good for a “mature” writer to read… Congratulations on the article about you in the latest NZ Listener, and your lovely photo on the cover. We here in NZ are VERY proud that you are a Kiwi. Your comments since flying high show you haven’t lost your Kiwi humility, and I am sure, never will. (All those warnings we grew up with, not to skite). I hope we’ll see you home for a Writers Festival soon. https://www.jenniogden.com/blog.htm
Kia ora, Jenni! What a great message. I haven’t heard the word ‘skite’ for a very long time – you’ve got me pining for chocolate fish. Thank you. I hope to get to The Land of the Long White Cloud before too long. Meanwhile, watch a west coast sunset with a glass of Sauvignon for me.
All best,
Deborah
I really enjoyed your post, Deborah. Like you, I regularly read Seth Godin’s posts and admire the way he can inspire thinking outside the box.
I have my author email, FB, and Twitter in the name of my protagonist, female freelance assassin Katla Sieltjes. What always makes me laugh is getting horny men sending me messages with ‘I read your profile and I think you’re cute’. Must be the push dagger in my profile picture…
One of my latest promo creations is a Loki Enterprises business card that I give to people who want to know where to find my books. (For full story on the business card, see my blog.)
Martyn V. Halm, author of the Amsterdam Assassin Series.
Hi Martyn,
Yes, I had a couple of Twitter followers who were convinced I was a gay, American man before I put my name on the account. I was flattered.
Best,
Deborah
You mention that “the perfect reader/publisher for any piece of work might be in Scotland, or Sydney, or Ohio. I can find them.”
How, exactly, do you find them? Twitter?
Hello Darlene,
I’d love to be able to tell you that I had found a single, infallible source of fabulous contact information, but, actually I spend a lot of time hunting. I set aside a couple of days about every two months just to trawl the internet. I do use hashtag Twitter searches, but also find reading lots of blogs on great sites like Writer Unboxed leads me to other sites, and references to publications/agents/conferences that I can follow up. I keep notes of anything that looks interesting the old-fashioned way – in a big, fabric covered notebook.
If you set some searching time aside it helps you not to get aimless, but also gives you permission to wander a bit – for me, because I work at home under my own steam, that’s about the right level of structure. I find it helps to use terms related to what I want to write about, as opposed to just ‘writing terms’ (although there are specific listings of magazines and publishers and agents around, if you do).
I hope that helps.
Best,
Deborah
I just discovered Seth Godin and he’s become the “yellow Volkswagon syndrome.” Now, that I know of him….HE’S EVERYWHERE. I think he’s terrific. Funny, informative, down-to-earth. I’m glad he re-ignited your career. Great post, Deborah.
Thanks, Marcy. I know – he was so yellow Volkswagon for me that I hesitated about the post. I thought everyone saw him everywhere, but risked it. Glad I did.
Best,
Deborah
Seth was DEFINITELY worth the risk and I’m so glad you wrote this post. There’s always wisdom to gain from that yellow Volkswagon of a man! :)
“His advice is, ‘Do anything that won’t knock you out of the game.’”
One of the most succinct calls-to-action I’ve seen. I love it. Thanks, Deborah.
Hi Jan,
I know, I love it… Really helps with the pitch procrastination. Also with the rejections- I’m still in the game. Glad to pass it on.
Best,
Deborah
I am a longtime Seth Godin follower. While he often gears his lessons towards business or marketing, they are key insights that can be applied to any area of life. The thing I like best is that his message often highlights how we get lost in the mundane details and that what we need to be focusing on is the big, obvious thing. This is especially true for writers, as we obsess over commas and pulling forth the word to describe the perfect shade of blue – when the really important things like “tell a compelling story” and “personally connect with your readers” are what we should be focusing on. And then the rest will fall into place.
Exactly!
Best,
Deborah