Embracing Shameless Self-Promotion

Last year I befriended Minnesota crime novelist Anne Frasier during our time together as judges for the International Thriller Writers. After that experience, I decided to take a closer look at her work. And I was impressed, not only because her latest novel, Pale Immortal, demonstrates her abundant writing skills, but because Frasier has given considerable thought to using new technology as a means of getting her work out there in front of readers.

I asked her about those technological approaches for a forthcoming interview, which will appear in the Crime Writers’ Association’s Red Herrings magazine early next year. Here’s an extract:

Ali Karim: You did some things to market your latest work, Pale Immortal, that required thinking outside the box. Tell us about some of those things.

Anne Frasier: The biggest was probably the video. I also started blogging. That’s not unusual, other than the fact that I didn’t believe in any kind of self-promotion a year and a half ago. In addition to the video and blogging, I put together a Pale Immortal blog with book chapters, the book video, photos, and MP3s. I haven’t dedicated that much time to it, but it still gives readers an idea of what the book is about.

I also came up with the concept of Project Pimp Squad: 100 Bloggers Blogging. My plan was to get one hundred people to blog about the book and post the Pale Immortal YouTube video on their blog the day of the book’s release. I knew one hundred was aiming pretty high; I’d really hoped for fifty, but ended up with over one hundred. It was so incredible and so much fun. The members of the Pimp Squad loved it and are still talking about it. The support and sense of community was astounding. People who hadn’t planned on being involved jumped in the day of the event because they wanted in on the party.

AK: What inspired the book video, and what transpired to bring it into existence?

AF: My daughter [Martha] is a film major. She’d planned to attend grad school last year, but decided to take a year off. I’d watched several book videos and found many of them lacking. My first thought: Wow, Martha could do something fantastic with a book video. It wasn’t until a couple of months later that I started thinking she might actually be willing to make one for me. She and my son are in a band--The Chambermaids--so they put together the soundtrack.

AK: Did the story inspire them, or vice versa?

AF: They knew nothing about the book. I described the mood I was looking for, and also suggested some scenes with the order they should appear. Martha read the book months later and couldn’t believe how well the video captured something she hadn’t previously read. I think it worked because she and I tend to think alike, so when I told her what I wanted she immediately understood. Grad school started this fall, so that’s the end of her book videos for a while.

I quickly learned that it’s hard to get people to watch videos to begin with, because they’re basically being asked to view an ad. I think YouTube.com has definitely helped in that regard, because writers can embed the video on their blog and other bloggers can embed it, too. That really took the book video to a new and more immediate level.

AK: Book marketing chafes many authors. How do you feel about peddling your wares?

AF: I’m not crazy about self-promotion. I honestly don’t think a writer can do that much. I think a book needs three things: an eye-catching cover, memorable title, and a prominent bookstore placement funded by the publisher. Without those, a writer’s sales are never going to be that great. No amount of blogging or touring or chest pounding can make up for lack of backing. That said, I enjoyed making the video and I really enjoy blogging. For me, being online is all about socializing and having fun.

As Paul Valery said many years ago, and which relates to all these uses of new technology, “The future’s not what it used to be.”