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Welcome to the Blog Blitz for Getting Past the Publishing Gatekeepers by Hope Bolinger, Linda Fulkerson, Rowena Kuo, and Carrie Schmidt, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
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ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Getting Past the Publishing Gatekeepers Remember when Dorothy finally reached the Emerald City only to be halted by the Gatekeeper, blocking her hopes of seeing the Great and Powerful Wizard?
The path to publication is like that. Agents, and Editors, and Publishers, oh, my!From the section on readers, written by Carrie Schmidt
Before you can get your book in front of new readers, you obviously must find them and then plant yourself where they spend time.
Most readers are, by nature, introverted. This is certainly not true for all, but many of us recharge by being alone and, well, reading. We tend to prefer low-contact socializing, but we love to talk about books.We are on most social platforms, and we gravitate toward others who read the same books that we love. While more difficult to find us in person, it’s not impossible. We do still love spending hours in libraries, bookstores, and even book festivals. Readers have established active discussion groups on Facebook, creative networks on Instagram and TikTok, and popular hashtags on Twitter. We’ve also infiltrated the less obvious places you’d look for readers, including a community of over 2 million members who ask others to ‘suggest me a book’ on Reddit. Readers are everywhere, waiting to be found by you and your books.
In equal turn, however, this ‘everywhere-ness’ can be overwhelming for authors who already have limited bandwidth. Juggling family life, an additional career or two, writing books, and marketing books doesn’t leave much margin, does it? From Facebook to Instagram to TikTok to local festivals and everything in between, how can you best focus your time and energy in looking for readers?
Prioritize
The truth is this: You must filter out some of the options and pick the focus that works best for you. If you don’t, you run the considerable risk of burning out on the social/promotion tasks and losing your passion to write those yummy words readers crave. When you do give yourself the freedom to zero in on one or two options, you will invest the largest portion of your budgeted engagement time in platforms that best fit you and your books.
Trying to spend time promoting your work in all the places becomes more like a game of Whac-A-Mole instead of a good return on your time and energy. I understand the fear of missing out on readers through other platforms, but sometimes we are most effective when we become more selective. One of my favorite movie lines of all time (from the 1995 version of Sabrina, with Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond) says the same thing a different way: “More isn’t always better, Linus. Sometimes it’s just more.” This is not only true of material things or money; it’s also true of book promotion.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press and the author of 21 books. She's contributed to 10 other books, in addition, including Getting Past the Gatekeepers. She loves to model, do theater, and get lost in the woods.
Connect with Hope by visiting hopebolinger.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.
USMC veteran Linda Fulkerson began her writing career as a copy editor and typesetter at a small-town weekly newspaper. She has since been published in several magazines and newspapers, including a two-year stint as a sportswriter and later the online editor of a midsize daily. Linda also served as the director of digital services for the largest media outlet in central Texas. She is the author of two novels, two novellas, and several nonfiction books. In 2020, she founded Scrivenings Press LLC, a traditional publisher of clean and Christian books.TOUR GIVEAWAY
(1) winner will receive a $40 Amazon gift card.
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight October 5, 2022 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on October 12, 2022. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
Title: The Bookshop of Secrets 
