Oops, I'm doing book publicity wrong
On a whole spring's worth of silence, and why it feels just fine
I’ve been living every day fully, not writing or posting about living. It’s a relief, truly, and also consistent with my decision to send out newsletters only when I have something to say.
I’m pretty sure I broke all the rules for publicizing a new book, though. Instead of revving up my social media engine for the first three months of Imagine a Door’s existence, I went (mostly) quiet. I haven’t shared a Substack post since March 22, about a week before my April 1 book launch.
That’s a whole spring’s worth of silence. Yikes.
What is wrong with you? I want to yell.
And yet, I made this decision and I’m okay with it and I want to talk about why, because “best practices” exist for a reason, and we can choose to do things our way. Especially when the world is on fire.
Publishing a book is an incredibly vulnerable act, and we have to take care of ourselves in the course of promotion, whatever that looks like. For me, this time around, it’s been staying present in the real world. Trips to the river with teenagers. Distributing free COVID kits. A few days in Bend, including off-roading in a Porsche and eating at a popular food cart pod, thanks to being invited to speak at the Central Oregon Writers Guild. Sending letters to friends going through hard times. Visiting the new Portland custard shop (twice) and its secret speakeasy (once). Watching roller derby scrimmages. Celebrating my oldest’s graduation. Picking flowers for a hospital visit. Watering a neighbor’s yard. Growing food in mine, so as our trees and bushes get rooted, we can feed more people.
It’s also a terrible time to be in publicity mode because we—and our friends and neighbors—are under attack by the US government. Every day we wake up to headlines an unscrupulous president who wields power with apparent intent to harm as many people as he can. I feel worse when reading the news, but it’s part of my routine, because I refuse to be complacent or compliant; information is the first step on knowing where and how to fight. But I’m not using my time to shout what I’m doing on social media or in this newsletter. I’m just doing the work, offscreen. And I don’t have time to perform social justice and resistance for a social media audience, because the kids are waiting for me to shut my laptop and take them to the river. (Again.) I assume most, if not all, of my online friends are doing their own resistance work and might not have the bandwidth to hear about mine, anyway.
If Imagine a Door had been published by another publishing house, I would have felt the pressure to share photos of my book events, updates about my next tour stops, and gratitude posts about bookstores that carry it. I’d feel that responsibility to the press. And I’d be trying to balance that with responses to the latest horrors, because it feels irresponsible to only post good stuff. Even though, I know, I really know, that kindness and beauty are a kind of resistance and always worth sharing as tiny candles in the darkness.
Despite my lackluster social media performance, what have I done effectively this spring? Aside from my intentional step back from this newsletter and not being “book-launch active” on social media, I’ve been working hard to promote Imagine a Door. All of these tasks have been approached with intent and focus, maybe because I haven’t also been scrambling around for the perfect Insta image.
Setting up and participating in events, including Janet Clare’s visit to Bold with her new book True Home, and the upcoming About Bliss event with Cristina Olivetti at Powell’s on Hawthorne. (Save the date, Portlanders! Thursday, July 17!)
Working with a publicist to get coverage I might not be able to reach on my own.
Attending PubU, the Independent Book Publishers Association annual conference, held this year in the Twin Cities, including participating in a breakout day for established publishers and speaking on a distribution panel and Daniel A. Olivas’s Chicano Frankenstein earning a silver medal.
Sending desk copies out to creative writing programs.
Trying out PodMatch, a podcast connection company, and actually saying yes to requests for interviews (gasp).
Visiting classes of writing students online, answering questions, and talking about Imagine a Door, including with Jordan Rosenfeld and Diane Zinna.
Responding to emails about Imagine a Door and saying yes to requests for informational interviews with students trying to break into the industry.
Participating in interviews with other Substack authors, including this one with Alyssa Graybeal and two with Christine Fadden (part one and part two).
Checking sales through my distributor’s dashboard and seeing where books are shipping, what returns are coming back, and how Imagine a Door is doing.
Playing with keywords through the tool Publisher Rocket, seeing if I can nudge Imagine a Door into more-correct categories (and dang, it’s still stuck in JOURNALIST BIOGRAPHIES at the A-place).
Running a book publicity cohort through my Author Avenues project, meeting with our 2025 writers twice a month to talk about publicity, answer questions, and brainstorm.
Keeping a Write or Die Diary for a week that I’m hoping will get posted on the site sometime soon.
Putting Imagine a Door up on NetGalley, for review sourcing, through the IBPA discount program. Even though the book’s already out, I figured another boost couldn’t hurt. I also paid for an extra marketing boost.
Running Forest Avenue Press, including publicity for Gigi Little’s new book, Who Killed One the Gun?; getting galleys ready for Liz Prato (Purgatoire) and Vincent Chu (Nice Places), both due out in spring 2026; and hiring a freelance editor to help with Julie Salmon Kelleher’s developmental edits for The Sea-Glass Shore, due out in fall 2026.
Selling my second novel, The Neighborhood Dames, to Ooligan Press! That deserves its own post, and I’ll get there soon!
In looking at this list, where I’m lacking is in SHARING what I’m doing on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky. Doing the thing, that I’m solid on; posting about the doing is where I keep dropping the ball.
Some items and photos have made it out, of course, but I haven't approached social media with a focused plan or shared even half of what I might have in a simpler, less fraught time in our country’s history. I haven’t even posted the images of my events at Powell’s and Annie Bloom’s—both captured beautifully by my teenager—because life keeps pulling me away from the computer. And I’ve had a dozen or more ideas for Substack, then written none. At least until today, when I realized, this is getting embarrassing.
Is social media as effective as it was a few years ago, when Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary came out? I’ve never found it successful for selling books, or getting buy-my-book content out widely. But it can be useful in telling the story about your book coming out and rousing attendance for events.
One of the things I did share widely is that Willamette Week named Imagine a Door one of Portland’s Top Reads for May, thanks to Annie Bloom’s Books! A certain series author had the top-top book, but Annie Bloom’s told the newspaper that a local author was second, and so they chose to feature my book. So awesome. Hurray for indies! Hurray for local bookstores promoting local authors!
I also had the pleasure of recording a podcast with Adam Vitcavage of Debutiful and it just aired. Check it out!
I think it’s so funny, and kind of awful, that I posted before Imagine a Door came out and nothing on pub day, or pub month, or the month after pub month, and so on.
But also, I am fine with it! What a relief to not hold that over my head, to not force myself to be accountable to an external standard. Would posting more have sold more books? Maybe, but the activities I chose to do were good for my heart and soul AND a lot of them helped sell books too.
Question for you: How are you finding social media these days? Are you doing it the same as usual? Differently? If you are an author with a book out, what publicity “must-dos” have you ignored or done wrong? I think we need to normalize doing what we can, and not performing to EVERY EXPECTATION. Feel free to answer in the comments, so we can get a conversation going, or email me directly. I’d love to hear what you think.
You had me at "I've been living every day, not writing or posting about living"! I have a substack and every time I go on vacation I have great plans to start using it, when the reality is that it's just not part of my writing life at the moment. It's so important to just get rid of the "shoulds" and "supposed tos" and be present. Thank you.
Choice between going to the river with your kids and the computer? Seems clear to me. I appreciate your thoughts so much, Laura. And part of that is because you DON'T post them all the time. I know you wait until you have something to say--that's why I always read it.
I have a book coming out --not for 2 years--and I'm thinking about how to proceed. I'm going to do all the things, but I'm not going to change anything on social media. I post my sky photos and my dog photos and an occasional summary of a particularly appalling call with my political representatives. And I am never going to open a Substack. Long ago, when my first book came out, I started a blog because that was THE THING TO DO. It was moderately successful, and still, I hated it. Too much noise. I fear we are diminishing ourselves by talking all the time. Or, rather, I know that I diminish MYSELF when I spend too much time "speaking" and not enough time being quiet, paying attention. IRL, I tend to seek out the people on the periphery, the places that are overlooked. They are more interesting to me--and truly, for promoting a book, I believe that holds true as well.
My book is an extension of myself, just as yours is of you. You stand in your integrity, Laura. You have at least one reader who is watching and taking notes.