How to use and exploit your family and friends

Sell them to the gypsies?

Tried that with the kids; the gypsies wanted me to pay THEM.

I haven't figured this out yet, at least not IRL. Strangely, only one of my RL friends is a fantasy reader; she's one of my most faithful readers, bless her, and if I "use" her at all it's as a beta reader/test bed. Online (non writer) friends, I've managed better.

I actually had someone offer to buy my daughter. XD They found out that even though she is only five, she does her own laundry, cleans the catbox, and can make a couple of basic dishes. Oh, and she's asking if she can start doing dishes, and wants me to buy her another vacuum for her birthday.

Before anyone starts making bids, though... she is a WHINER. And a complete know-it-all.

I should totally take her to cons, though. XD She wants to cosplay as Lina Inverse and has Dragon Slave memorized. In English, sadly... we're working on Japanese. Bet I could wrangle that into promo.

Well, one free, easy, way to work your loved ones is having them all put little reviews on your amazon page. It really helps to have six reviews. And how tough is it for people to log in and write something about your book?

I've found that having people repaint their car to advertise my books meets with a certain amount of resistance.

"even though she is only five, she does her own laundry, cleans the catbox, and can make a couple of basic dishes."

I'll swap for a very handsome 29 year old son

I have piccies & he is housetrained in some ways...

It's weird, my grandma is one of the most fervent Peacock King fans I have. I was afraid she wouldn't think well of some of the gay interactions in it, but she's pretty open-minded. I think it helps that she's a western fan and Gerald thinks he's Roland Deschain.

My family's good for helping spread the word among their own community, but they're pretty small-town, not very internet-proficient, and also two timezones away. I tend to rely more on friends, especially internet friends, to do my bidding. Char and I even have a friend who's going to cosplay as The Peacock King. She's got the perfect face and posture for it and is/can look REALLY tall. She's a costumer/artist. That will be COOL to have pictures of.

I have heard tell that Char is going to cosplay Anda at some point. Since Anda is in Victorianesque undies a good deal of the time, that should be an AWESOME advertisement. I'm cosplaying myself at Orycon this year. I have some Victorianesque clothes and a pair of glasses that look EXACTLY like Teacher's. My family calls it my MeiLin drag.

My sister, who is currently a senior at one of the most prestigious undergrad business schools in the country, plans to have a big house and set me up in the attic. I will be able to stay up there and write all the time, since she will cook for me and do all my shopping (these are actually much better ideas than letting me cook and shop for myself). If that's not exploitation, I don't know what is.

Actually, my mom, sister and I have similar taste in reasonably fluffy fantasy novels and they might like Chatoyant College. However, I have this weird issue--practically a phobia--about telling my family about my weblit, or letting them read anything I've written, for that matter. Possibly that deserves its own thread...

@Miladysa: How housetrained? Do send pics! XD

Most of my family does not go for the genres I write, but I do have some friends who like them. One friend is my go-to for sciencey stuff. She makes Jregli sound a lot smarter than I ever could. I can also bounce the theories I'm going to be mangling for the sake of story off of her to make certain that I've got enough plausibility that scientists may eventually forgive me for the attempt. S&T is about to get very technical, so I've relied heavily on her expertise. And she doesn't care to receive credit, so Win!

I also got medical info from my mom and my chiropractor when writing the pages about Jregli's physical condition. They gave me a lot of terminology and even killed a few ideas I had that were too far-fetched.

My family members also show up in my writings now and again; they give me untold ideas for how someone would do something or say something or why or where, ad nauseum. I make certain to not parody them, but I do take ideas from our interactions.

My boyfriend can make just about anything. Make as in "fabricate." He's going to make little replicas of Shane's prism out of aluminum for me to sell. Between the two of us we made Dr. Horrible's freeze ray.

If you could use dodads made out of metal or wood, B may be able to make them for you. It depends on the complexity of them, cost of materials, and how much free time he has.

Ahahaha! He makes an adorable Dr Horrible! Did you go as Penny? Or a groupie?

I'm in the process of making a sexified Dr. Horrible labcoat...

That being said - what's the limit? I pay my friends & spouse in cookies, thanks, and "stamps" (points), but I'm sometimes worried I'll dump too much on them.

Conversely, is there a way to better utilize human capital? How can I use my friends to get word of my stories out there, to get in more audience? When they go to cons I'm not going to, should I send them with flyers?

~L

Absolutely send people with flyers, business cards, something physical to hand out, if they will.

Thanks, MeiLin! I went as dead Penny, although the costume was just meh. Oh well.

My family don't read the kind of stuff I write at all. And my friends, well the ones that do read Above Ground, don't really seem to understand that I could do with some help now and then (or even feedback!) - they just lurk. Sigh.

But, Miladysa? 29 year old handsome son? Is he single?

OK ladies - here's piccies of BOTH sons - 27 & 29, both single:

http://miladysa.blogspot.com/2008/03/mothers-day.html

You do good work.

amharte wrote:

My family don't read the kind of stuff I write at all. And my friends, well the ones that do read Above Ground, don't really seem to understand that I could do with some help now and then (or even feedback!) - they just lurk. Sigh.

I know this feeling. Several of my friends read my stuff with good regularity, but it's like pulling teeth to get them to even post comments.

I know! What is it about real friends being terrified of posting comments?

That said, a girl at work found out that I write and has claimed she's going to write a WFG review when she finishes reading... And it's kind of nerve wrecking to think about it! Luckily my story is the first serial she's ever read so...

A couple of LiveJournal friends are following PK. One of them was one of PK's first avid fanboys. It was heartwarming, and he's been a great supporter, and that's why we killed him off in the first Halloween update. (Jhe Lustig. <3)

LiveJournal's been something I've kept up for like, ten years now. I don't post there near as much as I used to but it's still a good hub to connect with old friends with. Same as DeviantArt, though I do check dA a lot more often (and update a few times every month usually).

My best friend was my biggest fan and really encouraged me to write. Now that she's incredibly busy with 3 kids, she's still my best friend but really doesn't have time to act as a beta/cheerleader any more.