17 Comments
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Jocelyn Jane Cox's avatar

1. Love The Weekend (and was so lucky to study with Peter Cameron not long after it came out.)

2. What I'm learning about book promotion is that even though I wrote a memoir and thought I'd written and thought it ALLL out, the promotion period is an opportunity to learn even more about your topics (and yourself). It's really a fascinating refraction process.

Cassie Mannes Murray's avatar

ME TOO. Peter Cameron forever. I love everything he writes.

It’s so true. Refraction is such a good word! It’s like a new mining! <3

Erica Stern's avatar

I also took a workshop with Peter Cameron in college!

Cassie Mannes Murray's avatar

I am so jealous of both of you @Jocelyn Jane Cox!

Lesley Wheeler's avatar

“Imagine this is a piece of visual art” is also a great prompt for a workshop discussion btw, and probably for authors in the assembly/ organization phase of poetry collections

Stephanie Weaver's avatar

You are such a gold mine!

Cassie Mannes Murray's avatar

Thanks so much, Stephanie! I really appreciate it!

Stephanie Weaver's avatar

I share almost all of your public posts either our 2026 authors group. Kate Crane has the same pub date as me and two other authors so we are planning to do a Zoom party that week together to celebrate.

Cassie Mannes Murray's avatar

Oh my gosh, that’s so fun!!! I love this kind of camaraderie! Kate (and you must be too!) is so good at building community and good will, such a cheerleader!

Haili Blassingame's avatar

Wait I love this call out for my novel, THANK YOU 😭💕also I love Kate!!!! My MFA professor Rachel Louise Snyder blurbed her memoir! I’d love a galley if you still have them!

Cassie Mannes Murray's avatar

Oh, you know you’re already on my list! I’ll email you shortly—it’s so good, legit stayed up late reading it which I don’t think has ever happened for me with a memoir!

Haili Blassingame's avatar

Yay! It’s such a great title too!!

Elizabeth Heydary's avatar

I happen upon SO MANY books. Library end caps and staff picks have been great for me the last few years. Bookmarks festival and browsing all the authors brought many new books to my attention in the last 3 years. I love the comparison of visual arts to a book, brought me back to my art history days.

Cassie Mannes Murray's avatar

Yes! It’s the best way!

Kerry Chaput's avatar

Great tips, Cassie! I feel like many authors lean on genre and tropes to sell and I want more vibes! More niche content and relatable life struggles. That’s what makes me buy books.

Cassie Mannes Murray's avatar

~vibes~ me too! I’m actually not a trope reader AT ALL. I think maybe that’s just timing of when I started my reading life and what the market thinks sells (at least mass markety). I feel like you’re so good at atmosphere too, which is so hard to get into a pitch, but if you can do it, it really works!