Ted Barris addressed a room full of diverse writers on the topic of self-marketing and answered a number of questions about navigating the many ways to promote one’s self as an author, at this year’s Festival of Words.
Panel attendees represented an incredible range of writing styles: memoirs, travel writing, technical manual writing, horror and suspense fiction, military history, fantasy young adult fiction, and so on.
As an award-winning author and long-time journalist, Barris opened the floor to the group to discuss their hang-ups with marketing their writing and offered his insight into their concerns.
Barris’ first piece advice to the group — and to all writers of all types — is to value yourself as a serious writer, and maintain that when addressing other people about what you do.
“You are serious writers. You have a voice, you have something to say,” emphasized Barris.
The next piece of advice: don’t be afraid to reach out, pitch your story, and brand yourself as a type of expert in your niche. He wants authors to go out and promote themselves, because, as he puts it, “no one knows more about your work than you do.”
Barris encouraged writers to reach out and make connections in their field, talk to other writers and pitch your ideas to publishers.
Sometimes, he noted, pulling something from a long-form piece and shaping into a shorter piece to have it published is a useful stepping stone to generating interest. Creating a portfolio of smaller published work can hook a publisher’s interest for larger projects, like novels or collections.
“[This is] the problem with self-publishing,” said Barris. “Anyone can self-publish, but if you go with a publishing company no matter how large or small, you can say, ‘somebody else besides my mom recognized my ability to write, and they believed in it enough to share it with their readership.’’
Choosing your market wisely, considering where your audience is and how to reach them can be the best place to start looking for publishing mediums. Barris made clear that there’s no need to be anxious over whether what you’ve written is new and groundbreaking; it just has to be interesting.
Confidence, it seems, is the key to putting one’s self into the market. He recommends getting work out there, starting small with publishers in your niche, and taking yourself seriously.
