For the very first blog post in this Views from... series, the lovely Cat from The Write Catalyst has written about the uncomfortable feeling that comes with promoting our own writing and how she got over it when she published her first book. If you need help writing 'that' novel you have been thinking about, Cat is launching Novelling November to guide you through the journey.

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By Cat Lumb

I don’t know about you, but whenever I’ve finished a book that I just couldn’t put down the first thing I do is look up the author. I tweet them to let them know I’ve loved their book, I write gushing reviews, and dish out as many stars as I can.

Isn’t that what we all dream of as writers?

But what happens if the author hadn’t been brave enough to share it? If, instead of proudly shouting from the rooftops that they have written a book for people to read, they hide it, or bashfully dismiss any suggestion that it could be a good - or great - read? What then? Maybe we would never find our favourite author, or character, or story...

We want readers who are fans of our work. My proudest moment as a writer has come from reading a review of my debut novel where someone said they pulled a sickie at work to be able to finish reading it (see attached image) ! I have no idea who that person is. As much as my friends and colleagues have invested in my writing career, it’s the reviews from readers I’ve never even met that mean the most.

Because that means my writing is reaching further than my immediate circle.

Like many, I was that writer who *loved* sitting at my desk and writing down my ideas, but ask me to share them...Eeek. *curls into a ball and hides*. Slowly - very slowly - and with much encouragement from my writing group I admitted to my writing dream and sent a few pieces out. Many were rejected, one or two hit the mark.

Then I invested in a coach, and was pushed well out of my comfort zone.

I told her I wanted to be an author. But what I did was write stories, submit them once, and then store them away when they were rejected. I talked so much about wanting to be an author that my coach challenged me to publish my first short story collection - and when I did, it was a revelation. I got sales - mostly friends and family - and that was it. I was an author.

What I’m not is a marketer.

I had no idea how to promote my book. In fact I was adamant that I didn’t want to promote it because the whole idea of selling is icky. I figured if someone stumbled across it in the midst of the billions of others out there, and then made the spontaneous decision to buy - great.

But I didn’t think I had any control over that.

It was here that my coach taught me a different way to see my writing and the daunting idea of promoting it: imagine it through the eyes of my reader.

Take a moment to consider how you discovered your favourite author or book. Was it by accident in the library, a recommendation from a friend, a present, or even a post on social media? How disappointed would you feel if your favourite author were out there, but you didn’t know about them because they hadn’t shared their work? Imagine if you hadn’t seen an ad, or a recommendation, or even a review...

Without these things, your favourite author would languish in obscurity and you may never have discovered your favourite novel. This is why I’m a huge advocate of owning up to our achievements as writers - whether that’s simply starting a new novel, or publishing your fifteenth.

Here’s the thing: Potential readers need to know you exist to fall in love with your writing!

Without marketing we would never know they exist. Without promotion, your favourite book would never have been read by you - or anyone else. Your experience as a reader would be diminished - and there would be a gaping hole in your book collection - or maybe no book collection at all!

So this is a reminder that out in the world at this very moment, there is a reader waiting for your words. You are their future favourite writer. They just don’t know it yet. In order for them to find you, you have to be willing to step up, to share, to talk about your book and your writing. You wrote this story for them, and it’s your responsibility to help them find it too.

Market your book as if you were the reader, not the writer. Promote it to the reader who longs for that story, who needs to get lost in the words that you write, who will be grateful for the few moments of peace when they can escape into the world that you’ve created. 

Remind yourself that we don’t read because of a single tweet, or recommendation, or review. We read to connect with a feeling, and as the writer you are the best person to represent the feelings that your book evokes.

Reach out knowing that there are readers out there who need access to the words you have written; who will feel as connected to you as you do to your favourite author. As a writer you have the capacity to create that feeling in someone else - but only if they know about your work.

So, how might you tell them?

Cat Lumb writes short stories and novels in her Plotting Shed in the garden with a dog at her feet. She left her Museum Educator job in the midst of a pandemic to become a Writing Coach, aptly named The Write Catalyst. She released her debut novel In Lies We Trust in March 2021 reaching #16 in the Amazon Kindle Espionage Thriller Best Sellers list.

You can find her on Twitter @Cat_Lumb and Facebook @TheWriteCatalyst.