OK to have someone else do the platform for you?
Posted: October 2nd, 2011, 10:56 pm
A lot of writers dread this whole thing about self-promotion, for various reasons: no time, too shy, no technical savvy, overwhelming, don't know where/how to start, etc. All of which are valid reasons IMHO, but the reality is, the edge in publishing does go to the extroverts (darn) willing to do whatever's necessary to make the sale. I would doubt most people of a writer mentality are big on public positions, save for a select few -- Don DeLillo got started in advertising; John Grisham was an attorney and once a Mississippi state senator; even Kurt Vonnegut was (*gasp*) once a used car salesman.
But a lot of us, I would say (I know I'm one of them -- probably one of the more extreme cases) fall somewhere within the range of Salinger to Quasimodo. In my case, ol' Quaz is comparable to a love child of the publicity-addicted warlock Charlie Sheen and the exhibitionist extrovert Madonna. (Who may or may not exist in real life!)
So my question is, for those of us who can afford it -- or find some way to make ourselves afford it -- is it a good idea to hire someone(s) to do these things for you, i.e. a marketing "team" while the writer sits home alone with the bats in the belfry (in more ways than one) "just writing books," and the publicity is handled by someone else?
My team would have a freelance writer to do the blog (I could easily just buy a cheap domain, slap on a standard template, and put Blogger on it, but s/he would have to do the writing), a marketing expert/SEO person to figure out this whole Facebook junk -- your standard "Web 2.0" publicity crew. But I'd also want a professional actress (not a big name, obviously, but someone better trained in how to handle public performance) to do f2f appearances and if possible, take my picture (as me). Right now my avatar here is the closest you'll see to a lifelike image of me, save for my HS yearbook, which I absolutely intend to throw in the wood chipper at some point. Like one of those pictures that "come with the frame" when you buy it at the $0.99 store, I want to use as though the model was me. (Stock photos, in other words, or a head shot from the hypothetical actress.) If/when agents ask about your platform tactics (this is where I'd probably want a secretary to handle phone calls, even if it was just the babysitter), would they be put off if it's not the "authentic you" online? What if there's, say, some sort of private disclosure right up front that "this is not 100% me"?
I'm not Susan Boyle or a female Busey by any regard. But I'm not Megan Fox either. I mean, J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer are a little chubby -- but they're 40+, so that's OK. They're both actually kind of pretty. Kathryn Stockett, L.J. Smith, they're pretty too. So is it OK to just put someone else in your place, if (and wherever) you can, or even if so, is this a death knell for one's (*ahem* my) publishing career before it's even started? As much I am a devotee of Salinger's brand of social networking, would I be permanently "slushed" for being a "phony"?
But a lot of us, I would say (I know I'm one of them -- probably one of the more extreme cases) fall somewhere within the range of Salinger to Quasimodo. In my case, ol' Quaz is comparable to a love child of the publicity-addicted warlock Charlie Sheen and the exhibitionist extrovert Madonna. (Who may or may not exist in real life!)
So my question is, for those of us who can afford it -- or find some way to make ourselves afford it -- is it a good idea to hire someone(s) to do these things for you, i.e. a marketing "team" while the writer sits home alone with the bats in the belfry (in more ways than one) "just writing books," and the publicity is handled by someone else?
My team would have a freelance writer to do the blog (I could easily just buy a cheap domain, slap on a standard template, and put Blogger on it, but s/he would have to do the writing), a marketing expert/SEO person to figure out this whole Facebook junk -- your standard "Web 2.0" publicity crew. But I'd also want a professional actress (not a big name, obviously, but someone better trained in how to handle public performance) to do f2f appearances and if possible, take my picture (as me). Right now my avatar here is the closest you'll see to a lifelike image of me, save for my HS yearbook, which I absolutely intend to throw in the wood chipper at some point. Like one of those pictures that "come with the frame" when you buy it at the $0.99 store, I want to use as though the model was me. (Stock photos, in other words, or a head shot from the hypothetical actress.) If/when agents ask about your platform tactics (this is where I'd probably want a secretary to handle phone calls, even if it was just the babysitter), would they be put off if it's not the "authentic you" online? What if there's, say, some sort of private disclosure right up front that "this is not 100% me"?
I'm not Susan Boyle or a female Busey by any regard. But I'm not Megan Fox either. I mean, J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer are a little chubby -- but they're 40+, so that's OK. They're both actually kind of pretty. Kathryn Stockett, L.J. Smith, they're pretty too. So is it OK to just put someone else in your place, if (and wherever) you can, or even if so, is this a death knell for one's (*ahem* my) publishing career before it's even started? As much I am a devotee of Salinger's brand of social networking, would I be permanently "slushed" for being a "phony"?
I guess it's a balance between how much is too much or too little. Although I wonder if the photo thing is necessary? I see on a lot of writers' websites there's at least a personal photograph. You're very pretty! And I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that Mr. Bransford, much like the weather in sunny California, is, well...
