screenshot of Newsweek article about Bryn Donovan

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…

 

woman's bare feet, a latte, and the romcom book Her Knight at the Museum on a bed

And I definitely didn’t expect to wind up in Newsweek!

Bryn Donovan, author, Cindy's Rooftop, Chicago

 

 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.”

 

 

book: Her Knight at the Museum by Bryn Donovan Get the laugh-out-loud romcom novel about a knight in shining armor in modern times. Shop now.

 

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.

 

woman hiding face behind book, representing fear of ageism

But I realized that if more of us are honest about our age, that can help counter ageism.

Bryn Donovan author in cafe

 

 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. 

 

laptop, coffee, glasses, notebook

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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! 

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