Connie Briscoe Presents–
Author Annette Fix

Annette Fix, former exotic dancer and now author, has penned her memoir, The Break-Up Diet, in which she talks about how she survived being dumped by her live-in boyfriend, when she thought she was going to live with him “happily- ever-after.” The Break-Up Diet is self-published, and Annette has devised some really creative ways to promote herself and her book, which she shares generously here.

Connie Briscoe: You seem to wear many caps: fiction and nonfiction author, spoken-word performer, publicist, senior editor for a popular website on writing, and last but certainly not least, a mom. How do you find the time and energy to do so much?

Annette Fix: I love everything about what I do. I think that makes a huge difference in my attitude when I wake up and start each new day. I just wish there were more hours in a day to do it all! I’m fortunate that my son is older now and very close to testing his wings. It was harder to juggle everything when I was working, home-schooling, and trying to carve out time to write. Although I seem to keep adding more on my to-do list!

CB: I understand that. There’s an interesting story behind your memoir The Break-Up Diet. Tell us what it is about and why you decided to write it.

Annette Fix: I was initially working on a feature film screenplay with a producer who had a picture deal with Disney. Then my live-in boyfriend dumped me off the back of the happily-ever-after horse. It turned me into a complete wreck, and I started journaling about the break-up. One of my girlfriends suggested I write it as a book. I backed out of the film project and began writing The Break-Up Diet. It started as therapy and I had no idea if it would end up being a 900-page diatribe of horrible relationship experiences, but it turned out to be my own real-life fairytale.

CB: You indicate that you found an agent but still struggled with landing a publisher. Why do you think that was?

Annette Fix: My agent was shopping my memoir as fiction because my voice and the content of the story are very “chick-litty.” The biggest problem was that the chick-lit market was saturated, and the editors didn’t feel my story was strong enough to compete. But I believe the actual strength of the story is that the happily-ever-after ending is true, and my message is that it really can happen.

CB: So you decided to publish The Break-Up Diet yourself and spent a year learning the ropes. Tell us a bit about that time.

Annette Fix: When I first considered self-publishing, I looked into a few of the major subsidy publishers such as Author House and iUniverse. But I ultimately decided their business model wasn’t right for me. So I established my own indie (independent) press and went step-by-step through the production process. It was a crash-course, and I made a lot of financial missteps along the way but I’m very happy with the final product. I think the best part of the process was being in the position to call my own shots about how the cover and interior would look, how it would be marketed, and so on.

CB: You’ve also been very creative as far as promoting the book with forums, blogs and other ideas. Tell us more about some of the things you’ve done to promote the book.

Annette Fix: I’ve tried to think of every possible way to incorporate marketing ideas I’ve read about. I wanted to find ways to create fun things on my site to connect with readers, some things that would also help promote the book.

I’m not quite finished implementing everything I have planned, but so far, on the book website for The Break-Up Diet, I’ve posted excerpts of the book, an audio clip of me reading from the book, a video welcome—which will soon be replaced by a hilarious book trailer—a blog—which I really should keep up more than I do—a MySpace page, and reading questions for book groups. I also created a forum called My Break-Up Story, where women can read and share—and have the last word telling their break-up and dating stories. I think that will really be a blast when more women find out about it.

I plan to create a fun, Cosmo-like “How do you know if you’re on the break-up diet?” quiz. And I’m currently working on a free down-loadable companion e-book that has tips and distractions to help women get over a tough break-up. I’ll be encouraging readers to pass it along to their friends who need it.

CB: The free companion e-book sounds like it will be a hit. Which of the promotional ideas have worked best for you? Which have been least effective?

Annette Fix: You’ll have to check back with me on this one. I think it’s still a little too early to tell. My book just launched on Valentine’s Day. I’m still working to get the word out. That’s the biggest limitation of self-publishing—not having brick and mortar bookstore distribution. But the benefit is that I can do a slow build. I don’t need to have a bestseller in three months, dodging the threat of the book being remaindered or listed as out of print. I have a pretty good rapport with my publisher, so she’s not going to pull the plug anytime soon.

CB: Anything else that you’ve learned when it comes to promoting a book that you think would be helpful to authors?

Annette Fix: Find any angle you can to tie your book to something intriguing and/or newsworthy, something in your story that you can use as a media hook. Tap into your local and regional opportunities to get your face and book out there: media, libraries, bookstores, social groups, fairs. Take advantage of every online resource to reach readers: high-traffic blogs whose readers are your demographic, Internet radio shows, social networking. There is more that can be done than there is time in a day to do. I highly recommend reading Plug Your Book by Steve Weber as a great resource for promotion ideas.

CB: Tell us something about yourself that would surprise most people.

Annette Fix: I’ve been on the wrong end of a gun a couple times. The first time was an attempted kidnapping by a gang member. The second time was a murderer who had brain matter splattered on his shirt from the two people he had just killed. A bit of advice I’d like to give to women who find themselves in a seemingly no-win situation—never underestimate your abilities. Your mind is your greatest weapon.

CB: Good grief, that sounds awful. Glad everything worked out in the end and you’re here safe and sound. What’s next for you?

Annette Fix: Right now, I have a lot on my plate with the writing website WOW-Women On Writing (more about that here on Page One). I’m trying to balance it with my book marketing. I have a few writing projects on the back burner but before I get to those I think I’ll see about resurrecting a deal I was working on to adapt my memoir to a cable television series. And I’ll continue singin’ my theme song: “There never seems to be enough time in a day. . .”