How to Overcome the Sophomore Novel Slump: 5 Ways
Know your quality-writing speed and stick to it. Though it took six months to write and edit my debut, The Outcast, I often worked eight-hour weekdays. I had an agent’s interest in the manuscript; this, combined with the fact that I was expecting our first child, let me know that I needed to strike while the writing iron was hot. My daughter was twelve weeks old when I began crafting the first draft of my sophomore novel, The Midwife, and I simply could not write full-time now that I was also a full-time mom.
1. Know your quality-writing speed and stick to it. Though it took six months to write and edit my debut, The Outcast, I often worked eight-hour weekdays. I had an agent’s interest in the manuscript; this, combined with the fact that I was expecting our first child, let me know that I needed to strike while the writing iron was hot. My daughter was twelve weeks old when I began crafting the first draft of my sophomore novel, The Midwife, and I simply could not write full-time now that I was also a full-time mom.
My publisher, Tyndale House, kindly agreed and The Midwife’s deadline was set for June 1. The Outcast was scheduled to release on July 1. I cannot emphasize enough how dearly that year was needed. While I was finding my footing as a debut author, I was also finding my footing as a debut mom. It was certainly not always easy, but with my husband’s help watching our daughter, I turned in The Midwife a few days before my deadline. Publishers are far more willing to accept quality material over quantity, so know your quality-writing speed and stick to it. As we all know, slow and steady wins the race! (Just look at author Donna Tartt.)
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2. Set the month before your sophomore release aside to work on marketing. Having a month between The Midwife’s deadline and The Outcast’s launch provided just the right amount of time for me to switch into marketing gear. From June 1 to July 1, I worked at writing guest posts—such as “How I Met My Agent” for Writer’s Digest blogs—finalizing book signings, and connecting with bookstores, readers, and bloggers through face-to-face interactions and social media.This timeframe worked so well, I have already set aside May 1 to June 1 to do the same for The Midwife.
3. Touch base with your previous connections. The best thing I have found about launching a sophomore novel is that—because of connecting with bookstores, readers, and bloggers during my debut—I now have a priceless support group in place, ready to receive and help promote The Midwife. Drawing upon this experience, months before your sophomore launch, check your email’s sent folder for media connections you may have forgotten about. Kindly remind them how you met and the title of your debut novel, then ask if you can send an ARC of your sophomore release. Trust me, the worst they can say is no!
4. Have confidence in your story. It might not be a good idea to mention OxiClean hawker Billy Mays, considering the scandal following his death; however, he kept our attention and sold his product because he had confidence! If you’re going to succeed in this publishing world so chockfull of new releases every month, you have to dare to be different.
Does your sophomore novel have a unique spin? If so, play off of it. At every book signing, I toted around a black-and-white picture that showed the kapped seventeen-year-old version of my Mennonite grandmother, Charlotte. I showed passersby the picture, told them a little about my background, and why I felt so compelled to write The Outcast. The Midwife’s “story behind the story” is even more personal to me—and yet, I know that I need to share it as well. Not just to sell books, but to touch readers’ lives. Which, when it comes down to it, is really what this writing journey is all about.
5. Approach your sophomore launch with as much zeal as your debut. Just as second-born children are oftentimes not birthed into the same pomp and circumstance as firstborns, sometimes it’s easy to let a sophomore novel be birthed without a large kerfuffle. Fight against this inclination!
Contact just as many media outlets, schedule just as many signings, host just as many giveaways, and write just as many guest posts. More than likely, you have shed just as much blood, sweat, and tears over your sophomore novel’s creation as your debut (if not more!). Therefore, doesn’t it deserve just as large a reception as your debut? So, go out there, dear authors, and confidently hold your spanking new “second baby” up to the world like that creepy monkey in The Lion King.
And, most of all, don’t forget to have fun!
Jolina Petersheim is the author of THE ALLIANCE(June 1, 2016, Tyndale House Publishers). She is also the bestselling author of THE OUTCAST, which Library Journal called “outstanding . . . fresh and inspirational” in a starred review and named one of the best books of 2013. She and her husband share the same unique Amish and Mennonite heritage that originated in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but they recently relocated from the mountains of Tennessee to the Driftless Region of Wisconsin, where they live on a farm with their two young daughters. Jolina blogs regularly at www.jolinapetersheim.com.
