I asked my newsletter subscribers if they had any questions for me, and they answered! Here’s a sampling of questions.
Q: Hi Sarah, My question is basically, how can I—a (constantly tired) introvert—start a newsletter. Does it have to be all about me? I use a pseudonym. If I invent an alternate persona, won’t I slip up at some point and make my readers angry?
A: I too am a constantly tired introvert, so I feel you on this; it's really hard to put yourself out there. The good news: I do not think that you have to invent an alternate persona as an author—that’s just making your life needlessly complicated. You can be you without revealing your real name or any other identifying information about yourself. You only reveal what you’re comfortable revealing—the standard advice here is would you tell this to someone you were sitting next to on an airplane? (But let’s be real, as introverts, we’re not actually talking to anyone on a plane if we can help it.)
So what do you say in an author newsletter if you don’t want to reveal too much about your real self? You talk about you as an author—your writing process, your books, teasers, sales, what you’re reading, things like that. I have a whole PDF full of ideas here. If you want to share playlists but don’t want them attached to your real Spotify (or whatever) account, you can make a new free account under your author name.
Please definitely start a newsletter, though! It’s so important for authors to have a place that’s their own, and not subject to the whims of social media sites that can disappear your account out of the blue. (Make sure to download your newsletter subscriber list every so often in case your newsletter platform goes kablooey—I am in fact going to go do just that right now.) You can keep your newsletters short and sweet so it’s not too much of a chore to get at least one out a month.
(By the way, this AMA format is actually a great newsletter idea! And again, you choose what you want to share, so you don’t have to answer personal questions if you don’t want to.)
Q: You may not know, but...does Tik Tok help genres outside very steamy romance/fantasy/ etc.?
A: I’m not on TikTok, so it’s not at all my area of expertise, but I do know that there is a niche for EVERYTHING on TikTok. Steamy romance and fantasy get the most attention because they have a lot more titillating bits to share, and that helps capture attention quickly and stop the scroll, which is how you win at the TikTok (or any social media) game.
For quick wins on social media—so this goes for TikTok and Instagram—you need a really great hook to stop the scroll. And for that, you need to know what’s going to make people who will love your book stay on your post for longer than two seconds. No matter what platform you’re on, you need to find your niche AND your people there.
But just hoping they find you isn’t enough of a strategy. Neither is posting once every couple of weeks or when you have a new release. IG and TikTok are just too loud and oversaturated for that.
TikTok tends to value quantity or quality, so it wants you posting a TON (Instagram also rewards this, but not to the same level as TikTok), and most authors don’t have the time for that, especially if they’re a one-person show. But doing so many posts is really about tweaking the message every time until you hit on something that works (and is actually quality for your audience), and then replicating that again and again. (And if that sounds exhausting, yeah, it is.)
Getting on the radar of influential people in your niche (even if your niche is small, there’s always going to be some big fish) who will share/talk about your stuff is also helpful. And this is where the social part of social media comes in—you can’t just barge in and ask them to sell your book; you need to build a relationship with them before you can ask for help.
But the real question is: do you want to be on TikTok? Is that where your audience is? Steamy romance and fantasy work well there because those are genres that people on TikTok (who tend to skew younger) are reading. Pick a social media platform that you know is going to be worthwhile for you to be there, and put your energy towards that.
Q: What should you do if you are not clicking with your editor? Should you try to fix the relationship? Or request a new editor from your publisher/move on in the next project? Should you tell the editor why it didn’t work out?
A: It depends what your situation is.
1) If you have an agent: This is exactly what an agent is for, to deal with issues for you so you can focus on your writing. Let them handle it!
2) If you don’t have an agent and you’re working with a publisher who have assigned you an editor: You’ve gotta advocate for yourself here, unfortunately. First, is it worth it to attempt to fix the relationship? Could the editor do anything to salvage the relationship to get the project finished, and then you can request another editor for future projects? Unless working with them is completely untenable for even a second longer, I think I would try to see through the project with them. If it is completely untenable, document everything and bring it to their superior to get a new editor.
If you’ve seen the project through but you’re supposed to do another book with them, I’d discreetly ask their superior to assign you someone new. Where this gets tricky is if that editor is the person who brought you on as an author to this publisher and/or if you don’t know who their superior is. In that case, you’ll have to have an honest conversation with the editor about why things aren’t working out between you. (Sometimes it’s as simple as you just don’t mesh well and their editing style doesn’t work with your writing/revising style! It happens.)
It’s also potentially tricky if the publisher is tiny and there aren’t any other editors on staff or available. You’ll have to weigh out the possibility of losing out on working with that publisher again (obviously only if you don’t have a contract yet for the next book) versus working with the same editor again.
3) If you’ve hired the editor yourself as a self-published author: You’re the one in control here and you ultimately get to decide what edits you accept or don’t. If you’re in the middle of the project and it’s not working out, you’ll have to check your contract (make sure you ALWAYS have a contract!) to see if you can get out of it, which will probably just mean paying the editor for the time they’ve already spent on the project. As an editor, if someone came to me in the middle of an edit and said, “look, this just isn’t working out,” I (a) probably already get that, and (b) would agree to close out the project as long as I got paid for my work so far.
As for whether you should tell the editor why it didn’t work out, if you feel comfortable doing so and you think the editor would be receptive, sure. Maybe ask them if they’re open to feedback before sending a constructive email, but I’d honestly want to know if there was something I was doing that was turning clients off so I could correct it in the future.
Q: What is the most annoying thing a client can do? (Asking because I want to be on your faves list, not the sh*t list)
A: For me, it’s all about communication and making sure that we’re on the same page. I hate having to chase after people for an answer, or for money, or for why they haven’t sent in their manuscript. Even if it’s going to be an uncomfortable conversation and that’s why you’re ghosting, it’ll be better if we just rip the Band-Aid off and find a solution. (I’m not scary to talk to, I promise! My job is to help, but I’ve gotta know where we stand.)
Also, just keeping me aware of what’s going on with you as it pertains to our work together. Like if you need to cancel or delay your start date, I need to know as soon as possible so I can potentially rebook that spot. I only get paid when I can actually do work, so filling those spots is important to my livelihood! And it's much easier to fill the spot when it's not a week or two before—most people are booking their editors months in advance.
So, open lines of communication at all times! The editor-author relationship is very important to me, and as in any relationship, communication is key. (We all hate the miscommunication trope for a reason!)