​One of the biggest challenges a writer faces is presenting their work to the public. It’s not easy getting our work out there in front of an audience. There are so many challenges involved, and it’s not the most comfortable thing for many of us to do. In fact, being your own sales team is a scary and daunting task.
 
Many of us just stick with social media and share links to our work, telling people where they can buy it. It’s a lot easier to publicize when you can hide behind a computer. Some of us are comfortable enough to schedule book signings, but even that can be a bit intimidating at times. It’s hard to draw attention to ourselves at a fair or festival. After all, we’re writers. Not carnival barkers!
 
Another venue for our self promotion is radio. However, it’s not easy to get on radio. In fact, I’ve reached out to countless radio stations to promote Revelation Calling. Out of over 500 total contacts, I ended up doing only two radio interviews. It took a lot of time to make that many contacts. In other words, I wasted a lot of time. Video is a great option if you like to use YouTube but there are no guarantees that you’ll get views. Most of mine have had less than ten views despite how many times I’ve shared the videos on Facebook.
 
There is another great option for independent writers, however. (You didn’t really think I was just going to write a blog complaining about the issue, did you?) It might be well worth your while to consider going onto podcasts to talk about your work. For those not familiar with a podcast, it is nothing more than someone that wants to do their own radio show online. There are thousands and thousands of them. Take some time to search for podcasts geared toward writers, especially independent writers or writers in your genre. There are many Appalachian themed podcasts out there. They are just as eager to find guests to come on their shows as you are eager to tell others about your work! Check out the links below. This is from Appalachian Shine and features some of the members of this guild.
 
https://appalachianshine.podbean.com/e/christian-author-connie-wohlford/
 
https://appalachianshine.podbean.com/e/jonathan-swift-and-the-swift-silver-mine/
 
https://appalachianshine.podbean.com/e/kari-kilgore-and-her-connection-to-the-shining/
 
https://appalachianshine.podbean.com/e/appalachian-author-tammy-robinson-smith/
 

The devil is in the details as the old saying goes. Well, for us writers, that is true maybe a little more than half the time. We have it drummed into our heads that when we write we should show, not tell. Why would we write something as simple as “The woman was tired.”? We wouldn’t. We would write “Elizabeth stretched back in her seat and tried to fight back a yawn to no avail.”
 
Telling a story takes a lot of focus. It requires being detailed enough to keep the reader engaged and excited about the pages yet to be turned. However, once we finish our first draft, we quickly realize that although it is important what we put in our story, it is also just as important what we cut out of it. It’s not always easy to decide what to cut out of our story. After all, you may have spent countless hours researching for your book and you’ve learned so much. You want the reader to feel like they’ve learned, too. There’s only one problem with that. Maybe your reader doesn’t care about all of those details.
 
I’ve read my fair share of mysteries and adventures. Although some detail about a gun may be relevant to the story, I don’t care when that gun was invented, what major battles it was used in, or anything about the manufacturer. I also don’t really care for a political opinion on gun rights that the main character inserts. I only care about the details relevant to the scene that make it exciting and keep me wanting more. I’ve seen too many details about guns inserted into so many books that I roll my eyes whenever I see this flaw in storytelling. The details don’t advance the story. It’s nothing more than the author showing off his or her knowledge. It doesn’t even have to be about guns. It can be about anything such as the French Revolution, gardening, or even the proper way a private investigator conducts surveillance. Too many mundane details are irritating to a reader.
 
As we review our work, we can dwindle down these mundane parts by asking ourselves two simple questions. What facts elevate the scene and story? What details distract from the scene and story? Too many of the wrong kind of details can weigh down your story.