I can’t recall the first time I met Holly, as like many people in the writing world, I knew her online before I ever met her in real life. Her name was known to me long before I associated her with the smiling face that regularly dropped into my Subiaco bookshop. I’d heard of The Write Club and the Off The Page podcast she did with fellow author Polly Phillips. She was all over social media (in a good way), and then I was completely blown away when I learned that her anticipated new book The Shallows was actually her debut.
[Cue record scratching sound here]. Debut?
Holly’s book has done enormously well since its release in early September with milestones many established authors can only dream of: Good Reading Magazine Book Post of the month, a notable September book in The Australian newspaper and an instant Amazon #1 bestseller in the US, UK and Australia.
There are plenty of places you can learn writing skills from Holly (she teaches at FAWWA in Swanbourne as well as running masterclasses, retreats and offering editing and mentoring services)… but what I wanted to learn was Holly’s next-level self promotion skills, and she has graciously allowed me to pick her brains…
What did ten-year-old Holly dream of being? Did you always want to be an author?
Yes, ten-year-old Holly ALWAYS wanted to be an author (when I realised you could do it as a job). I was always writing, making up plays, performing in front of adults and imagining different worlds.
You’re pretty much a goddess when it comes to marketing – I was stunned when I heard that The Shallows was your first book – I assumed you’d already had a number of books published – so what is your secret…?
Being totally passionate about doing well in this tricky business of publishing! I treat the marketing and social media aspect of my job as that, a job. It’s a fulltime effort and I really enjoy it because I get to be creative, mingle with the writing and reading community and gauge what’s trending, what’s happening etc. I look at how other authors have done it (successfully) and simply mirror them!
Have you had any formal training with marketing? If not, where did you get your mad skills from?
No. No marketing, but I do think perhaps the PR degree helped with building relationships with the online writing community. My father was a wicked salesman too, so perhaps it’s just something that’s in me. But I truly think it stems from a need to DO WELL and be successful in this career that I’ve wanted my whole life. And because of how much effort I’ve put into the promo etc, I have gained big rewards such as being featured in The Australian, being selected as a Global First Reads Thriller, The Good Reading Mag Book Post, being asked to go into the STM Magazine for a feature article and other great and exciting things that I can’t announce that’ll be happening next year!
What was your process in gaining followers/an audience prior to your debut book being launched?
Before securing an agent, I interviewed authors for a blog and focused the questions around topics I needed answering, such as: how did they secure their agents etc. This helped to build my profile as they started tagging me on their posts and the more interviews I did, the more contacts I was building. Plus I was learning from them. Then as soon as I secured an agent, I made my posts and stories more targeted around the publication process and I think I filled a gap where writers needed info. I was honest about the whole journey, and this helped to grow my community even more. And then I started The Write Club, and brought in my teaching and that’s when it really started taking off. Then I started Off The Page podcast with fellow author Polly Phillips and then I started writing masterclasses and retreats.
What tips would you give to a new author trying to build an audience? What platforms do you recommend?
Instagram has the best bookish and writing community. Everyone is SUPER supportive and often groups of people run writing challenges to keep themselves motivated. Build up your followers with other writers first and connect with them. And this will lead to more opportunities and more networking.
What was one thing that surprised you when your book first came out?
How many doors started opening up to me. I think I expected the launch week to be all fun and excitement, but then these really special moments started happening with new people contacting me, and I didn’t expect it to happen, and certainly not this quickly. 2024 will be a great year for my career as an author. But I think it’s because I’ve worked so hard to get here.
What would you do differently (if anything) if you had your time again?
I would tell myself to relax, and to know that every rejection was leading me closer to the perfect agent and the perfect publisher. And I probably wouldn’t have done Journalism. Hahaha. That was a waste of a HECs debt.
What would be your top three pieces of (self-marketing) advice for any author
1) Mirror someone who is doing it all successfully and learn from their mistakes.
2) Think creatively. We are creative thinkers, so use your imagination to promote differently and out of the box.
3) Be and STAY natural, real and genuine.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
If you’re a nice person and you genuinely want this, not for your ego, but because you really want to write for the rest of your life and get paid to do it, then you will make it and you’ll do it successfully. Be you must be kind, supportive, give back to the writers who aren’t at the same stage as you, share your process and resources and BE REAL.
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