Feb 2024: Whiting Grant, TikTok Advice
Plus: You can profit from a book tour!
Hello from Yosemite!
Today is the February 2024 Meeting. Here is the event link and here is the info:
ANBIP Authors Meeting
Sunday, February 25 · 5:00 PM PST, 6 Mountain, 7 Central, 8 EST
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/nxi-wwrw-spp
TikTok Advice
Last meeting, I said I hoped I could get a recording of my previous presentations on using TikTok, which I had made for audiences of science master’s students, science writers, and science journalists. I haven’t found any way to get recordings but I can show you my presentation on Canva.
Also, if any of you will be at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference in April, I’ll be hosting a sort of presentation/workshop on TikTok/Vertical Video on Saturday morning.
The TL;DR of my TikTok advice for authors, which is just my opinion and not really backed up by science, is:
If you jump on TikTok because you saw that someone sold a lot of books there, ask yourself why, and what kind of work they put in. Is that going to be you, or do you think a platform is a magic bullet? It’s not. Here’s one author whose attempt was a resounding failure. It’s not even writers who tend to sell books there, it’s readers.
Everything has a cost. I see so many authors saying “you should get on TikTok and make a Facebook page for your book.” I basically never see anyone saying what the return on investment is, as though that doesn’t matter. As though we’re all just staring at a wall with infinite time on our hands to waste. Yeah, I’m sure if you spend 10,000 hours on TikTok you would sell at least one copy of a book. But if you spent that time researching, writing, etc, you could make a better book that sells better for other reasons.I love TikTok, though. I find it very valuable to publicly journal my nonfiction non-memoir book because it’s a form of taking notes, and also, it’s easy to grow an audience. Some of the audience has valuable commentary, like how I might show a video of how something is done, and someone mentions it’s done differently in their country. Also, when I get the same question 100 times, I know that is something the public needs an explanation on.
Maybe my TikTok will sell books because I’m talking about the topic of my book and attracting/inspiring people who are interested in bones/dead animals. And the viewership is crazy good; I’ve got almost 209,000 followers on RollBones and I literally don’t even post that much. Last thing I posted was a week ago.
There are issues with TikTok; I do believe in monetizing content but I also worry about people who don’t care about the ethics of mass media unscrupulously putting out “content” that is fake and misleading. But, I suppose that’s never not been a problem in media. Don’t compare yourself too much to the BS-brokers, and please don’t try to be one, even if they have more followers and even if they sell books. They’re not you, they’re not in your arena, you are a person who provides real value to the world, and that is why your book will be good and you will be proud of what you make, and you will help people learn and understand, not hurt them with misinfo.
Maybe just try TikTok out. I guarantee you’re not allergic to making videos.
When I was in high school, I ran track. Try as I might, I just could never even place in any sprints, distance, or mid-distance. But I slaughtered everyone at hurdles and set a school record for the fastest 100M hurdle race. Why? Partially because I loved every day of it and never had any interest in making an excuse or phoning it in, but also because almost everyone else was scared of tripping on the hurdles so they didn’t join that race.* I hardly had any competition at all, just a few people at practice who sometimes didn’t even compete. Most of the strong runners were, for some reason, enamored with distance events and the relay, even though neither of those are any more points than any other race (plus, distance takes much longer to do, and the relay is fewer points per person per win. So I’d do multiple events and take home 16 points and stronger runners would get 1.25.)
Likewise, while there are tons of people watching TikTok content, there are actually very few who create anything, let alone high-effort posts.
If you’re one of the few people who’s not afraid to get out on the field, you’ll be very competitive.*Note: you don’t die when you trip on a hurdle. They’re designed to fall over, and if you knock it without falling, you can still win the race. The metaphor continues!
Picture break! Outside Yosemite.
Whiting Grant Advice
The Whiting Grant is now accepting applications through April 23!
That’s $40,000 for anyone writing a “creative nonfiction” (so…a non-technical nonfiction book?) book with a trad contract.
You can go to this info session on March 28 or this one tomorrow if you have questions about applying.
These applications are annual, and you need to have done significant work and have significant work left to do in November. If you miss this year’s application and you don’t think you’ll have much writing left to do in November of 2025, then you probably won’t get it then. If you qualify now, apply now, you likely won’t get another chance. (I wish I had known about this last year!)
Roberta Kwok has very generously shared her Otter notes on the 2022-2023 info session! Here they are:
Info Session 2022
Info Session Feb 2023
Profiting from a Book Tour
I’ve said in previous meetings that I wasn’t going to do a book tour or events because
1) I’m not getting paid to do them, and 2) I’ve seen too much about people having depressing, empty events. My rejection-sensitive dysphoria could never. Also I am quite busy.
For instance, this new author tweeted that only 2 people came to her book signing—and famous authors responded with “don’t worry, this happens to all of us!” I’m talking Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman. If no one’s showing up for them—even in Manhattan—no one’s showing up for me, a rando in rural Wyoming, a town that has one grocery store in 80 miles.
BUT!
As we discussed in the last meeting, authors can actually profit from book promotions by charging at events to give talks on their topic!
I’m fortunate to have some help from Sharon Louden, an artist who helps other artists sustain their creative practice, and who was hired by the Wyoming Innovation Partnership to help artists in the state. Sharon has also published some books, including a collection of essays called Living and Sustaining a Creative Life. She shared with me that she earned $400,000 from her five-year book tour, which she shared with the 44 essayists.
Sharon says that the first $10,000 came from a Kickstarter and much of the rest came from the venues themselves. Once I’m closer to the promotion stage of my book (Fall 2025) I’ll see if I can find some more detailed and varied reports. But, readers, if you have any numbers, reports, or retrospectives you’d like to share with the group regarding your profits/losses from book touring, I’d love to share them!
Book Recommendations
At the last meeting, members recommended the following books:
Write Useful Books: A Modern Approach to Designing and Refining Recommendable Nonficiton
Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process (on structure)
See you tonight!
