How Many Books Should You Market, Write & Read - At the Same Time?

A Literal Literary Loser Tries Math

Writers are traditionally not great with numbers. It’s one of the key reasons we become writers.

Nonetheless, in the spirit of transparency and exposing my mistakes - so you don’t have to - I’m going to give it a shot.

How Many Books Should You Market - At the Same Time?

All of them. Marketing is like parenting. It never stops. Even when your.. uh… books are living on their own, away at the furthest college they could find from you, and/or making it clear they have no interest in anything you have to say.

However, you should market strategically.

For instance, with Hanukkah gift-giving season coming up, I am obviously pushing my most recently released novel, “My Mother’s Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region,” with many guest-blogs, reviews, and interviews. But I am also subtly marketing my July 2020 release, “The Nesting Dolls,” which features three generations of a Soviet-Jewish family, and “The Fictitious Marquis,” which Romance Writers of America named the first #OwnVoices Jewish historical. See a theme, here?

Then, as soon as Hanukkah is over, the figure skating season is upon us! Time to promote my Figure Skating Mystery series through videos like the one below:

And, finally, it’s also Kindergarten admissions season in New York City. Diligent promotion of that title has landed it in the #1 slot on Amazon’s Parent Participation in Education Best-Seller List.

How Many Books Should You Write - At the Same Time?

Well, that depends on your definition of writing.

Does writing mean actually sitting at your computer typing letters which become words which become sentences which become paragraphs which become chapters which become books?

Or does it mean thinking about plots and characters, dashing off notes about plots and characters, researching plots and characters, or boring your friends and family with endless talk of plots and characters?

Currently, I am writing a bi-weekly serial about the early days of soap-operas for SoapHub. If it’s well received, I intend to turn it into a book. I am about 135 pages into composing what will ultimately be a 100,000 word manuscript featuring Russian oligarchs. And I am toying with the idea of an epistolary, interactive novel that tells the multi-generational tale of a Hollywood family starting with gushing fan magazines, turning into scandalous tabloids, then into message boards and social media.

So how many is that? And which of them count as writing?

How Many Books Should You Read - At the Same Time?

As many as you want. Go crazy. I’ve currently got two non-fiction (one autobiography, one popular science), one thriller, one family saga, and one NY Times best-seller at various stages of completion. Who knows what I’ll be in the mood for at any given time?

How about you?