The Old Never Gets Old

 

My 2014 poetry book

 

“Wow! That book was published in 2014!” This was a thought I had recently when I was looking for the publication date of one of my poetry books that I was promoting. And even though this book was published over 10 years ago, I was still going to promote it. Why? The book’s theme was still relevant. I mean, we do still care about our soldiers and veterans, right? As well as those who lost their lives while serving their country.

 

Relevance is something writers need to aim for when they are trying to get their work published. One thing I was often told about my Tips book was that the topic was evergreen. And while this is true, I have realized that, as I have been working on revising it for the third time, a lot of the material was not. In fact, it contained a lot of dated material, something that can happen to any nonfiction book. (I often keep hoping that this third revision of the book will be the last one, but who knows!)

 

But circling back to a book’s old publication date, the question remains: Should a writer retire their work after a number of years have passed since publication? I think it really depends on the type of work that is at issue here.

 

When it comes to a book, a lot of factors will decide if the writer should quietly stop putting their energy into promoting it. Some of those factors include whether or not the topic is relevant, if there is a demand for that kind of information or books with that theme, and if there is anything new related to that topic which the old edition has not yet covered. With the Tips book, for example, it never discussed AI. However, AI is a hot topic in the writing community, so it belongs in a book about writing (and I am including it in this particular book about writing).

 

As far as articles, essays, poems, and short stories are concerned, the quality of the work is what must stand out in order for it to withstand the test of time. People will always want to read a good story, poems which are well-written, and essays including lived experiences. This is why we still read the works of Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe even today. With nonfiction, old work is a reflection of the time it was published. For example, anyone who reads the writings of Benjamin Franklin will understand that his thoughts and opinions were all products of the time period they stemmed from. There is the knowledge that dated writing is, well, dated. Still, they serve a purpose; historians are interested in them because they are interested in reading material about certain time periods, and students will read them in order to complete assignments. So, in this way, the old may be old, but it is still relevant.

 

If a nonfiction book warrants an update, then it should be updated. Update the book before continuing to promote it.

 

But with poetry, fiction, essay collections, and plays? Never stop promoting them. Why? Because the old never gets old.

 

That 2014 book I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post is a poetry book. The theme is still relevant, and so is the content of the poems, so that book can still be promoted – yes, even 12 years after it has been published.

 

The same goes with any of my works of fiction, essays, and story collections. Promote, promote, promote.

 

Authors should never choose to stop promoting their work only because said work was published a X number of years ago. If the author knows the work is too dated or irrelevant, then of course they shouldn’t promote the work. But if the theme or the topic is still relevant, then by all means, keep promoting it.

 

Which is why I will always promote my poetry book about the seasons, because we’ll always have seasons. I will always promote my collection of YA horror stories because I know there are young adults out there who enjoy reading horror stories. And I will always promote my book about writing parents because there are always going to be writing parents.  

 

I’ll continue to submit YA horror stories for publication because there is still a demand for YA horror stories. I will continue to submit writing about the seasons, should I ever feel compelled to do so, because the topic is still relevant.

 

The point is that the writer should not decide to give up on wanting to get their work published or promoting their work just because the work is old or they tried a certain number of times to get it published but ended up in Rejection City. If your writing is still relevant or something that a certain demographic of readers will want to read, then keep going. Keep promoting it. Keep trying to get it published. 

 

I wrote a story in 2012 that was published in an anthology in 2025. I wrote a novella in 2011 that was published in 2025. (Alas, it is currently out of print, but I am hoping it will be back in print soon!)  

 

The writing may be old, but the demand for that kind of material isn’t. Update it if necessary, but don’t ever stop trying to get your work into print. You WILL find a home for it somewhere, so keep submitting it! 

 

“I Saw Your Post on Instagram”

 

Photo Credit: Atlantic Ambience via Pexels

If a writer wanted to know just what it takes to spread the word about their work and/or their books, there is one common piece of advice that would be given: “Put yourself everywhere.”

 

Yes, it’s exhausting.

 

Yes, it takes a lot of time.

 

And, yes, sometimes it feels like shouting into the void.

 

But it works. Seriously.

 

I know, there are A LOT of people who will see that advice and respond with, “Not everywhere; just in the right places.” In other words, put yourself where your audience is. But what if your audience is spread out on different social media sites? What if your audience is too young for Facebook but on the TikTok bandwagon? Then get on the TikTok bandwagon too – but don’t neglect other social media sites!

 

That’s my opinion, anyway. As a freelance writer, author, and book reviewer, I try to be on as many social media websites as possible. The same goes for the work I do for Twisted Dreams Press.

 

And as much as it makes me cringe to use X, I use X (when I remember to!). But I only use X for Twisted Dreams Press.

 

So imagine my delight when I got an email from a prospecting author who started his inquiry with “I saw your post on Instagram.” If ever there was a form of validation that all those promotional efforts I do on social media sites is not a waste, this is it.

 

Sure, I don’t get these kinds of messages very often, but it is nice to receive them. It lets me know that I did NOT waste my time posting THAT particular thing on THAT particular site. (And, of course, this also means that my targeted audience is indeed on that particular site.)

 

I may not be doing much promotion on my personal Instagram, but for the promotional posts on Instagram that happen to catch someone’s notice, those are the golden moments that tell me that, hey, maybe I did something right!

 

But it’s not just receiving a message that I pay attention to when it comes to gauging whether or not I am on the right path promoting on a site. I also pay attention to likes, reactions, and comments. I notice if a post goes viral (oh, I had FUN thanking over 100 people for sharing one post in particular after it got lots of reposts on Bluesky), as well as the posts that don’t do very well at all.

 

I used to wonder why businesses pay attention to such things and why it even mattered at all. Now I know that looking at how posts do on certain social media sites and if they go viral is just as important to the writer as it is for a business. We writers are trying to promote our work/ We’re trying to get the word out about something that was published. We also want to show that we are taking this writing thing seriously, because, guess what? Editors, agents and publishers notice these things. They are on social media too. It’s important for us to position ourselves as serious writers worth their time and attention.

 

Some people may feel that we should only focus our energy on the platforms that work, whether it’s Substack, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. As for me, I’ll keep spreading myself out on various social media sites. I don't use all of them every single day (I'm usually on Bluesky and Facebook every day), but I'm there. Sometimes, I'll make an appearance on the other ones too. 

 

I don’t use all of my social media sites for my writing, but at least I’m still there. And I’m willing to share a post so that my voice among the hundreds of others on the site is not a silent one.

How My Job as a Book Marketer Turned into Another Way to Help and Support Authors

Photo credit HtcHnm via Pixabay

 

One of the things I love about being a book reviewer is that it is a great way to support other authors. The same goes for my monthly newsletter; I get to not only learn about other authors and their books through interviews, but I also have a chance to share all about their work and books. 

 

I am not one of those authors who view other authors as competition. Heck, no! We are all in this thing together and I believe it is important to support other authors.

 

We need to lift each other up, not tear each other down!

 

That said, I will always jump at the opportunity to do something that will support another author.

 

So imagine my delight when I was offered the position of Marketing Manager by PsychoToxin Press last year, in December. This position enables me to not only help support other authors but also to get the word out about some amazing books! (It helps that I’m a booklover and love to read a lot!)

 

While I have worked in book marketing, I have been using any and all available resource to promote authors and share about forthcoming books. Recently, I started to think about how I could also use this blog for that purpose.

 

In the past, I did post about other authors on this blog when they had books coming out. I featured guest posts, did a series for both Read An E-Book Week and Youth Art Month, and included my blog in blog tours.

 

Then for the longest time, this blog went quiet. There weren’t that many posts and authors didn’t use it for promotional purposes anymore.

 

That is about to change.

 

It was not too long ago that I started regularly posting on this blog again. I mostly used it to promote my own books and talk about the writing life.

 

Now, however, I will be including other authors on here and promoting their books. I will also be posting about forthcoming books as well as any guest posts the authors wish to share. I plan to interview authors on this blog as well.

 

I will continue to post about my own stuff as well – in fact, I’m posting a cover reveal for my forthcoming novella, All the Beautiful Things, tomorrow – and there will also be posts related to writing.

 

But for the most part, I will be posting about other authors on here and providing them with just one more place on the Internet where they can share about their books, or anything else they want to share. Who knows? My blog just may be a part of an author's blog tour again!

 

It’s just one more way to help and support other authors, and I’m happy to be able to offer this to them through my blog.