How to Share Your Novel (5 Easy Steps)

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar?

-You're sitting somewhere, quietly writing, when someone walks up to you and asks what you're working on.

-You're at a gathering (family or otherwise) and someone says, "Hey, you're a writer, right? What are you working on at the moment?"

-You're talking with someone and casually mention your a writer, which then makes the other person ask what you write and what you're working on now.

Each of these probably end with you freaking out and mumbling something about "a story about some kids on a quest" or something equally terrible. (Unless you're one of the people that has it together. Then good for you, don't read this post.) Today we're going to be looking at how you can share your novel with others, whether that's family or social media, without sounding awkward (hopefully).

Step One: Take a Deep Breath

This isn't nearly as hard as it seems. You only need a plan of attack.

Step Two: Understand the Importance

Being able to share your novel may not seem like an important thing to do, with all the other stuff you have to do, but it is. Reason one, when you tell someone about your current WIP in a clear, professional way, you'll sound like you know what your doing and people will be more likely to be impressed.

Reason two, have you heard of elevator pitches? If not, go look it up. Anyway, imagine if you were at a writing conference or something and you need to talk to agents and editors and such. If you babble around, you're not going to get the deal. If you have a pre-prepared speech ready, you could score big. So that's why it's important to always be ready.

Step Three: Prepare Your Speech

The most important part of this whole things. Besides, you know, actually sharing it. There are two parts to this- written and spoken. Let's start with written.

You need to have a blurb prepared for social media and your blog. Snippets never hurt either. To write a blurb, I suggest this wonderful post by Ink and Quills. I'm sure there are others out there, but this outline is clear and easy to follow.

Now, the spoken is a little harder. You need something clear and concise, while still getting your story across. And you can't just say your blurb out loud. That's weird. You need a few sentence speech you can adjust for any situation.

Let's say you're writing a Princess and the Frog retelling. You could say something like "I'm writing a retelling of the fairytale, the princess and the frog, only the story is more modern, includes a fantasy world, and is more about the best friend of the guy turned into the frog". Yeah, that's not very good, but it's something. You can tweak it however you want and add the details that are most important and interesting.

Step Four: Sharing on Social Media

This is the easy one. Once you've got your blurb done, all you need is a temporary cover or photo collage for your novel, then you can share it. It may seem weird to share what you're writing, but people really do want to know, or they wouldn't follow you. Don't be afraid to share snippets, character interviews, or other things your followers might be interested in seeing.

Step Five: Share to Other People

With your prepared speech in hand, you're ready the next time someone asks what you're writing these days at a party. Of course, don't just spout off whatever you came up with like a robot. Adjust depending on who you're talking to and how much they might know about writing. Another writer is fine with hearing things like WIP and POV, but a non-writer won't have a clue if you use those words. But hopefully, after this post, you'll be more ready to share your novel with the world.

Let's talk! How do you share your novel with people? Do you have any tips to add? Tell me in the comments.

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