Newsletter

Hello Writers,

A quick reminder that we’ll be meeting this Thursday (tomorrow, January 29) for the Book Club Discussion of Reason for Hope by Jane Goodall. This was one of the first books I can remember reading where so much of the story is cheerful and uplifting with very little conflict, yet still very engaging!  Since we often discuss whether it’s even possible to write a book without conflict, this really made me pause and reconsider while I was reading. Strangely, near the end of the book, there was a lot of conflict, and that part was far less engaging for me. I’m interested to hear what the rest of you thought.

A small update to our Thursday rhythm: the first Thursday of each month will now be a write-together-only session, with no reading at the end. This is meant to lower the pressure, offer gentler entry into the group, and make space for focused writing—while also allowing us to end a bit earlier. The second and third Thursdays will stay read-then-write, and the fourth Thursday will continue as Speaking Your Story.

Thanks to everyone who showed up for the book launch party! It went so well! Everyone did a great job with their readings, and we had a nice turnout. You can watch the recording here if you weren’t able to join: https://youtu.be/ef-hH0niewA?si=74dk_c4R6wThpR51 (read more about it below.)

Regarding the anthology, the whole process from the call for submissions to marketing it has taught me a lot. Book sales have been pretty good for an anthology. I wasn’t sure what to expect really, but we’ve sold 85 copies. (Get your copy here if you haven’t already!)

Please ask your friends and family to write reviews for the book! I am currently working on a Substack post about book reviews and it’s surprising to learn how much having many reviews (even if they’re bad!) helps with book sales. The reviews don’t have to be elaborate, even a one-sentence review helps! Watch the Memoir Mentors Substack for more on this topic soon.

I can definitely see a tick-up in sales after we have done social media posts. I’ve taken a bit of a break on that. It gets tiring, and I worry that I’m annoying people. I attended a class last night the most useful takeaway was that marketing works best if you come from a place of excitement rather than pleading. That said, it’s hard keep the excitement levels up long term.

One of my friends is a very successful author. I just got her latest newsletter today and was struck by how light and easy it seemed. She simply wrote a little update about what has been going on in her life and what she’s been writing lately, and then she included an ad she made on Canva announcing that three of her books are on sale right now. She closed with a section called “Ask the Author” with one question about her writing (conceivably from a reader, but she could just as easily have made it up) and a one-sentence response.

It felt so natural and engaging in a low-effort way. She sends one a month, that’s doable! I think this could be a good model for any of us wanting to promote ourselves. Okay, yeah, sure, it’s easier for people who have multiple books out already, but there’s no reason that we couldn’t do something like this about our writing life even before our book comes out! I think I may experiment with this & encourage you to do the same.

Looking forward to seeing some of you on Thursday!

Warmly,

Christina​