For my romcom novel that came out last month, I tried a lot of author marketing…
I made TikToks and Instagram posts and reels, trying out different angles and tactics. (I also tweeted, but I’ve since left Twitter/X for Bluesky, because Twitter/X stopped letting you block mean people and had way too much yelling.) I got into my hometown paper (and you can read here about how to write a press release for a book) and did a few other things.
Of course, my publisher was doing a ton of promotion, but I wanted to help. I didn’t expect to make a huge splash…
And I definitely didn’t expect to wind up in Newsweek!
Here’s how it started…
As a freelance book editor and someone who blogs about writing, I’m always seeing people say things like, I’m already 35, 40, 50 years old…is it too late for me to get published? (It’s why I wrote this blog post, “Am I Too Old to Be a Writer?”)
So I put up a post on Reddit with this photo of me overlooking Chicago’s “The Bean” sculpture and Lake Michigan. (I was at Cindy’s Rooftop, because that’s where I set one scene in the book!) The caption read, “From the time I sas 8 years old, I wanted to be an author. I’m 56, I published a book with a major publisher, and it’s been optioned for a Hallmark movie.”
Before this, I rarely talked about my age.
Ageism is still a socially acceptable prejudice. People have all kinds of pre-conceived notions about age, and I never wanted anyone to assume I was less energetic, less tech-savvy, less knowledgeable about trends, less open-minded, less likely to have more successes in my future…just less than, period…based on how many years I’ve been on the planet.
Ageism somehow assumes that having a lot of life experience is of no value whatsoever. This is a grim outlook, when you think about it…believing that we all go through difficulties without becoming more resilient, and we all make mistakes without learning a thing.
As I said in this post about my writing journey, I think authors feel a particular pressure to hide their struggles.
But I realized that if more of us are honest about our age, that can help counter ageism.
To be honest, though, I never expected the reaction I got.
The post got lots and lots of upvotes…millions of views…and thousands of comments!
I really didn’t expect all the comments about me looking young for my age. Probably some people were just being nice, which I appreciate! Though honestly, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people looking their age, either.
I wound up getting media requests, and my story was featured on Bored Panda and in Newsweek. It helped get the word out about my book!
I think the post went viral because people need to be reminded that it’s never too late to give up on your dreams.
If you’re thinking about author marketing and selling your book…
Don’t be afraid to talk about your personal story, too. It’s okay if you don’t fit some kind of mold. You may think you don’t have the right background, the right look, the right age, or whatever, but there are other people out there like you…and even more people who will like hearing about your unique story.
Have you had any successes with author marketing? (I could write a long blog post about book marketing attempts that didn’t work for me, too!) Do you have thought about ageism, or personal experiences with it? Let me know in the comments! Thanks so much for reading, and have a great week!
I am 83, and my WIP is #4. I am still in the querying trenches and expect yes anytime…God’s timing. Number 5 is in outline. Thank you for all your reference posts.
Hi Diane! Good luck on the querying, and I’m so glad #5 is in the works! Thanks for the kind words!
Good morning! I’m so glad to hear your book is doing so well. So far I’m loving it, but decided it isn’t something I can listen to in the office. grins S-T-E-A-M-Y!! Deliciously.
Marketing- I had two books release within a week. One with my publisher, and a second Christmasin Sugarberry Valley(my single woman trying to adopt an autistic foster child, MOC story). My publisher does a ton of marketing, although since my book wasn’t Christmas I felt like it was pushed into the shadows. I’ve been all over the place marketing. I am using Canva to schedule posts in Facebook, Instagram, Pintrest and LinkedIn. I have been doing X. I haven’t been exposed to meanness, but I don’t get a lot of engagement there. I’ve been recycling my posts to BlueSky and TikTok. I’ve done some ads through Amazon for Christmas in Sugarberry Valley, but it doesn’t seem to be taking. What has taken off has been the Facebook Reader groups I’ve been on. I was completely surprised by the response there. I have another day coming up, and look forward to it.
My Amish book has hit Publishers Weekly
Bestseller list twice so far this month. I signed a 4 book contract with my publisher and had a TV/Movie production reach out to my agent. She said they rarely go anywhere, but that glimmer made me feel like a rock star, as you know.
Ageism– after being a stay at home mom for 20+ years, I found myself a widow. We had no life insurance, no savings, nothing. Mid 40s, no skills on paper, I didn’t know if my age or lack skills contributed to the difficulty of finding a job. I went from working two full-time jobs while going to school to landing a great job. I earned my degree in 2022, Summa Cum Laude. It was after that degree where it seemed I face ageism quite a bit. It took me over a year of applying and receiving nos before I found my next stepping stone. And I love my current job, right now.
Hi Christina! Hee hee, thanks for listening to the book!
I have not done anything with Facebook reader groups, and I’m glad you mentioned that! That’s a big miss on my part.
SO EXCITED about the Amish book success…but not surprised!
You have been through so much. I’m so glad you love your current job right now!
thank you!!!
😊 Thank you for reading!
This is awesome!!! Proud to know you!!
💙💙💙 You know I feel the same!
It’s never too late to give up on your dreams? 😳😳😳
That’s right, Amelia! 😊
So you’re saying we should give up on our dreams? That makes no sense to the rest of the post. I would think it’s never too late to pursue a dream, not that it’s never too late to give up on a dream.
Seems everyone else had a clear understanding of the meaning. You know our brains automatically do this thing where it kind of fills in missing information and sort of explains things…never mind. I think you understood. Some people get surrounded by success and instead of letting the success encourage them, they recoil and hiss. Please don’t become a person like that. This is a place of joy, excitement, congrats, and tons of you can do it-ness! 😄. Enjoy it and pass the joy along.
Congratulations on your story going viral! It’s such an important message to share. I am debuting next October and will be 56 when THE CHANGELING QUEEN comes out. I have been nervous about sharing that, because publishing loves to make such a huge deal about young phenoms. So you are really inspiring me in that regard.
I haven’t really begun marketing yet, but my announcement came out on Reactor Mag last March, which helped me get some attention already.
Hi Kimberly! Ohhh, that is so exciting about THE CHANGELING QUEEN! I felt like I had great support from my publisher, and I bet you’ll have the same experience. I hope so! How wonderful to be looking forward to this!
I did honestly wonder about ageism in this industry, because I have noticed how some of the young attractive women authors I follow seem to get loads of attention and sales through social media. I guess that’s never going to change, but your story does give me more hope.
Yes, if you are young, female and attractive, you’ll get more attention. That seems to be the way it is. Wrong, but true.
Hi Naomi! Well, you’re beautiful, but I really don’t think we need to fit a certain mold to succeed. 😊 Thanks for commenting!
Congratulations!
denise
Not sure if my other comment went through, so I’m posting again.
This is so wonderful!
denise
For goodness sake – you’re still a youngster! I was 85 when I started writing my first novel, and 87 when I published it ( a romance, self-published on Kindle). Since then I have written two novellas (also on Kindle).
The reaction from my friends was, “How did you manage to write the sexy scenes at your age?” My standard response became, “I may be a bit out of practice, but I have a good memory, and an excellent imagination.”
This gave me the idea of featuring my age in all my marketing endeavours. I ventured into marketing with all my ADHD-engendered concentration – but there came the snag. ADHD was both the good fairy and the bad fairy at my Christening. It gives me the gift of creativity (hence my unbridled imagination) and the ability to focus intensely …. on something that grabs by wayward interest. (I wrote the first daft of my novel in 23 days). However the bad fairy countered this by giving me an aversion to marketing – I once tried “cold selling” as a rep, and it was purgatory to me. Oh, yes, I did make a start – I launched my web-site, started a newsletter, created an author page on FB and posted on Instagram. I had a couple of articles printed in our local press. But I lacked any enthusiasm for this aspect of being an author, and it became mere drudgery. So I stopped trying to sell, but I carry on writing which gives me enjoyment, and a reason for getting up in the morning. Now 91, my lack of mobility restricts my actions , but not my intellect; so writing is the perfect activity to engage my mind, I plan to continue as long as I am able to wield a keyboard; and to hell with ageism!
Congratulations, and thank you for sharing your story and your enthusiasm! It’s funny how sometimes we don’t know what will catch people’s attention. Wishing you continued success!
Congratulations! I took your final class at Catapult before they shut down, and I’m so glad to hear that you’re achieving such wonderful success. It gives me inspiration for my own writing journey!
Wonderful ♥️