In today’s interview I speak with local author Kit Crumb about his extensive experience of writing, creating, and marketing over twenty different books. There are many different steps involved in writing a book, however getting your book into the world is a challenge in and unto itself. Kit speaks about this process today and shares his tips, tricks, and wisdom for getting your book out into the world and in the hands of readers.
Hi Kit, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today. How have you been?
That’s a complex question. As you know I live at 4,700 feet. The winter has been long with more snow than I’ve seen in the 17 years I’ve lived up here. So, on the one hand, I’m really ready for the spring thaw. On the other hand. Being socked in by all the snow has been a great excuse to write more. So how have I been? Thriving.
Kit, you have now written over 20 books and claim to never suffer from writer’s block. How do you keep up this productivity and what has been the secret to never getting stuck on a particular story?
The answer is simple, but not easy. I write every day, in the same place (my writer’s desk), and at a rate of 1,000 words an hour. I have one story I work on and three in the wings. If I get stuck I simply start writing on my next favorite story and since I write series it all falls into place, and so I just keep on writing. I also find that whatever corner I wrote myself into I will have what I call a light-bulb moment that will get me out of that corner.
Kit, part of the joy of writing a book is actually putting it out into the world and having it read, but this is not as easy as it sounds. Please tell us about it.
I wrote for about twenty years with that as my focus, without a thought to marketing. Primarily because like many writers of the late 1990s, I thought that getting published by one of the big 8 publishers would take care of all that.
Kit, what were some of the biggest mistakes you first made when trying to market your books?
First came the math. I wanted to make a living from my writing. The math came when I sat down one day and calculated how many books I would have to sell. That worked out to how many bookstores I would have to be in. If I were in a thousand bookstores and each store sold one of my books every day I still wouldn’t be making a living. I had a friend that sold her books with a professionally designed cover, layout, and editing through Amazon by the hundreds. She had a website, wrote blogs, did book signings, and paid for promotions. Talking to her about marketing made me dizzy. But she did all the work and kept all the money that would have been divided between an agent and the publisher. I was intrigued. My biggest mistake was not putting together a marketing plan right then. Not starting.
Interesting and very different than I had imagined.
I knew I wanted to market my books. I could see having a website but didn’t want to sacrifice my writing time. I felt there had to be a way to market that didn’t involve blogs, email lists, and book signings.
Kit, how did you learn to successfully market your books and what was the biggest breakthrough you experienced?
For almost two decades my books had been sleeping on half a dozen platforms, Amazon, Kobo, and Smash Words to name a few. The few reviews I had (very few) were encouraging. The breakthrough moment came in a phrase. I’d always read that a writer wanting to self-publish had to find the readers. The phrase should have been that the self-publishing writer had to get their books out there and make them visible and available for the reader to find.
One of the big goals of doing this interview here today has been to share much of your wisdom and insight with other authors in order to help them along their journeys.
Just as every writer writes a different story, there is no single method for marketing that all writers should follow. I did what worked for me. I read dozens of books and articles, and watched hundreds of videos on marketing; most promised a secret method. Most wanted me to fork over some big bucks for those secrets. Smoke and mirrors. The quest was again simple but not easy. I had to make my books available.
Kit, what would be the top 3 pieces of advice you would offer other writers?
First: write more than one book. The series sells. I can remember finding an author I really liked, but I usually had to wait a year for his next book, and by then I had a new favorite author. Write more than one book and write often.
Second: Ask yourself, how available are my books? How can I make them available to thousands of readers?
Third and most important: don’t listen to all the garbage talk about how hard it is to market your own book. I mentioned reading books and watching hundreds of videos on marketing. Honestly most of them started out explaining how hard it is to market your own book. Is marketing easy?
No. Set goals that are reachable. When you finish your book it becomes a product. Stay creative and productive, and think like a publisher.
What should writers avoid at all costs?
Do not listen to the advice of non-writers. Avoid cheap-looking covers, and doing your own editing… or having an English major edit your manuscript. If an editor doesn’t read your genre they shouldn’t be editing your book. A famous author once said there are three rules to writing great fiction but nobody knows what they are. Just as there are hundreds if not thousands of texts and videos on how to market, there are just as many experts that will tell you how to write.
Kit, what is it like to have your books out in the world for all to read?
What’s it like? Hmm, life-affirming, mind-boggling, satisfying, and scary.
Do you ever get feedback or new ideas you never expected to receive?
The greatest source of feedback comes from the reviews I get on my books. I read all my reviews. My books are my product and I’m always looking for a way to become a better writer.
Kit, it takes a lot of hard work to push through the multiple barriers one will encounter when taking on such an endeavor as self-publishing and sharing their book with the world. What has been the secret of your success?
All success begins in the mind. For writers, the mind fuels the imagination and creates stories. But for authors/marketers who are resilient, and see a good return on their efforts, whatever form that comes in, there is another factor at work: the ability to inspire the self, produce consistently, and overcome all obstacles in both writing and marketing. Shields, I have only succeeded in being better today than yesterday, as a writer/marketer.
What have been some of the best decisions you have made for propelling yourself forward in your own writing career?
Write every day and reread with a critical eye.
Kit, what question did I forget to ask you?
Shields, you forgot to ask about the fantastic covers on my books, I want to give a big SHOUT-OUT to my partner (and the love of my life, though sometimes my sternest critic) Chris Mole of Book Savvy Studio. For 20 years she has captured the theme of my stories and converted them into covers that bring my books to life.
Kit, thank you always for being an inspiration to our community. You were one of the very first contributors to LocalsGuide, writing many interesting pieces for our community to read.
It has been my pleasure, I remember the fun we had brainstorming your ideas for the LocalsGuide.
In conclusion, do you have any last thoughts or comments you’d like to share?
If you’ve succeeded in writing a story you can succeed in marketing it.
Write On!
