Book PR and Marketing Questions Answered Part XV: 2024 Words of Encouragement from Published Authors

For my final post of 2023, I want to end with love, light, and hard-earned insight about writing and this industry from published authors. First, here’s my marketing and PR advice to you for 2024:

• continue to ask questions and listen to the answers
• review and update your website, social media, and email newsletter (if you have and if budget permits)
• be good to others 
• treat yourself with grace
• buy at least one magazine or newspaper each month that features books and authors
• pick a new genre to read (it’s refreshing!)

And now, I turn it over to them.

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Keep your writing time sacred. Shut the door. Turn off the phone. Keep your promise to yourself. Write the story.

–Raquel V. Reyes, acclaimed author of the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series. Her recent release is Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal.

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Publishing is a SLOW business and it often takes years to sign with an agent or sell a book. I highly believe in finding balance in your life, either another line of work, a hobby, or anything that you can focus on so that you don’t drive yourself crazy waiting to hear back from agents, editors, or for your book to be published. Focus on what you CAN control, which is to keep writing and find joy in other aspects of your life so that the waiting doesn’t consume you.
–Lyn Liao Butler, Amazon bestselling author of Someone Else’s Life.

Her forthcoming novel, What is Mine, debuts February 6.

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No matter what stage you are at, the person you have to please first is YOURSELF. External validation is nice (and of course, publishing is also external validation) but ultimately it’s the internal validation that sustains you as an artist!
–Marie Myung-OK Lee, acclaimed author of The Evening Hero

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Look for the joy! You will find it in a revised sentence that sings, in a reader’s review that got what you were trying to do, in an unexpected sales number, in the pride of your friends and family that grabs your heart, and in the satisfaction that comes from holding a book you created. Yes, the hard work exhausts you, the writing, the marketing, impossible deadlines, reading and rereading again and again, and also disappointments. But joy lifts, energizes, and motivates. It’s there if you look for it.
–Linda Moore, acclaimed author of Attribution.

Her forthcoming novel, Five Days in Bogota, debuts May 14.

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Don’t attempt to write for today’s hot category, which may be meh by the time your manuscript might become a book. Write the story only you can tell. Maybe you’ll invent tomorrow’s new niche. Always have access to a notebook (or app) in which to record phrases you overhear, whole quotes, ideas, observations or vivid words that might enrich your future writing. If this strategy was good enough for F. Scott Fitzgerald, it’s good enough for you and me.
–Sally Koslow, acclaimed author of The Real Mrs. Tobias

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Everyone has a different process for writing books, and it might take a while to find yours. You might feel frustrated because your fourth book isn’t coming together the way the first three did, but don’t be afraid to experiment with different plotting methods or writing schedules. I’ve written over two dozen books, and my process for each was never the same. It took me a long time to realize (and accept) that my lack of a process IS a process. So take your time and enjoy the journey!
–Larissa Ione, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Demonic and Four Horsemen series.

Her forthcoming novel, Legacy of Temptation: A Demonic Birthright Novel, debuts February 6.

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Create a plan for yourself. Laying down the groundwork of the who, when, and how many in a given week will help you manage your stress so much better. Also, never underestimate the power of self-care!
–Diana Giovinazzo, acclaimed author of Antoinette’s Sister

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Don’t bank on one thing. If you’re submitting a novel to agents, or your agent is submitting your work to publishers, write something else while you wait. Write something shorter, different than your novel – a poem, a story, an essay, a review. Submission can be grueling, and you need a small reward, a reminder that you have a voice people want to hear. Plus it helps your publishing portfolio, and there’s a very good chance you’ll find surprising results when those muscles are flexed. You have no idea how strong you’ve become.
– E.A. Aymar, author of No Home for Killers.

His forthcoming novel, When She Left, debuts February 6.

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Never write anything because you think it’s hot right now or will sell. Every book I’ve written is one that I want to read but it isn’t on any shelf. You have to write to please yourself.
–Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of The Proof of the Pudding and The Paris Assignment

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There’s no linear path to publishing. Everyone’s journey is different, so don’t get caught up in comparison because it is the true “thief of joy.” Know why you’re writing or why you wrote this specific book. That one answer can save you a lot of time and aggravation, so think it through. Publishing is hard. And only getting harder. But many of us have no choice but to write. So find your path, your people, and keep pushing forward. The one difference between successfully published authors and you is the never giving up. Keep going, manage expectations, and don’t forget to pay it forward when it’s your turn.
– Rochelle B. Weinstein, USA Today bestselling author of What You Do To Me

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Have any words of encouragement you’d like to share? Please, leave your wisdom in the comments below. All the best to you in 2024!