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Lockdown & authors - a thread.
Bookshops are closed and you’ve got a book coming out? I’m sorry. It’s crap. But don’t lose hope. Some things I learned when Keep Him Close came out at the start of last March’s lockdown...
Bookshops are closed and you’ve got a book coming out? I’m sorry. It’s crap. But don’t lose hope. Some things I learned when Keep Him Close came out at the start of last March’s lockdown...
1. It is ok to feel really sad about this even though other people might well be worse off than you. You worked really bloody hard for a really long time and it will feel like that hard work has gone to waste. It’s also ok to be furious. It is heartbreaking.
2. If you’ve got books in supermarkets then great, you will keep selling despite lockdown. But if not... all is not lost. Ask your local indy bookshop if you can team up to provide signed copies whichever they can post out. And remember bookshops will reopen eventually.
3. Digital sales will do well regardless. You might strike lucky with a Kindle or BookBub deal. Every sale counts, every reader counts.
4. Turn to the Twitter writing community for support. The #twitterbooklaunch parties from @DavidNWriter are legendary. Rant to your writer friends (thanks to @KateRiordanUK @TheRosieWalsh @EmyliaHall for being there for me and for some of the advice here 
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5. Debut authors check out @2021Debuts for support.
6. Do what you can to promote online. Connect with your readers via Facebook and Instagram as well as Twitter, if you have the energy. Ask readers to post reviews on Amazon, Goodreads etc. Do a Twitter launch or an Insta Live. It might make you feel better to DO something.
7. But if it doesn’t, and you don’t have the energy, don’t sweat it. Tbh it probably makes little difference 
shouting into your Twitter echo chamber.
shouting into your Twitter echo chamber.
8. If you do have rubbish sales, remember it’s NOT YOUR FAULT. Your book hasn’t flopped. Covid did this. Plenty of authors have wept on pub day without a pandemic to blame. This is not because of you/the book/a publisher letting you down. It’s out of your hands.
9. Your career is not over. A good friend told me last year: everyone is in the same boat... 2020 [/2021] sales figures will look famously weird when this is all over. They (publishers) can’t write off everyone.
10. And one day when you write that future bestseller, this lockdown book baby of yours will be easy for your readers to find in your back catalogue on Amazon. All is not lost.
11. At some point move on. The VERY best thing you can do is summon the courage to start chipping away at your next masterpiece. You’ve got this 
Read nice reviews from readers and other authors. Re-read gushing emails from editors and agents. You’re fucking awesome. Go write.
Read nice reviews from readers and other authors. Re-read gushing emails from editors and agents. You’re fucking awesome. Go write.
12. Someone somewhere will read your book and love it. 
You will come through this. You will be ok. You will sell a lot more books. (I haven’t seen proof of that final one yet
but it’s going to happen! 
).
You will come through this. You will be ok. You will sell a lot more books. (I haven’t seen proof of that final one yet
but it’s going to happen! ).
Finally... I’m in this with you - for the second time in the space of 12 months I have a book coming out not only during a pandemic but during a lockdown. Point a few readers in the direction of my paperback of Keep Him Close, out in Feb, and I’ll do the same for you
Post details of your book in this thread - https://twitter.com/EmilyKoch/status/1346233887685566464?s=20 maybe it'll sell you a copy, maybe not. But there's a lot of people on here who'd like to help you celebrate your hard work with a RT and a sketchy GIF.
