Interlude: A Rant…
So I only got one post in about SXSW. I’ll be laying down a complete wrap up in the next day or so. In the meantime, this crap really pisses me off.
I’m a year away from publishing my first book and I’ve already heard enough complaining from writers that No One Pays Attention to Their Books (Boo) and No One Reads Anymore (Fuckin’) And that Publishing is A Business That Only Spends Promotion Money on Sure Things and Why Can’t I Get a 20 City Tour By Bitching and Moaning and Acting Like It’s My Birthright as One of 4000 Published Novelists This Year (Hoo) to make me want to cut off my ears and feed them to a hyena. These crybabies should petition Alcoholics Anonymous to start their own “A” because they are addicts. They can’t live without feeling underappreciated, victimized and helpless. That it cycles through their souls every 2 to 3 years instead of constantly doesn’t make it any less of a pathology.
You want more readers, fans, admirers? Quit complaining and GO FIND THEM. It’s not impossible. It just takes work. And god forbid you work at something related to your career as a professional writer other than your precious time logged at the laptop.
Let’s start with the blantantly obvious (and bravo to Jessa Crispin for pointing this out first)…Your readers– past, present and future–are busy people with families, careers and lives. They have a zillion forms of entertainment to choose from other than your book. You wanna get to the top of their reading pile? Why not put a little godamn effort into getting out there and promoting yourself? Musicians go on tour. Actors do junkets for their shows, artists drink crappy wine and make small talk at galleries. It is the height of arrogance that writers think they somehow get a bye from all of this because it either makes them uncomfortable or because their art is practiced in solitude.
You don’t. Get over it.
How to develop a following:
1) The Internet. Get a website, professionally designed and update it regularly. Your readings from last May are not only useless information but insulting to readers who want to know what you are doing now. Create a signup box for an email mailing list. Let me as a fan get on it and send me an email once a month letting me know what’s going on. Doesn’t have to be literature or privacy violating, just friendly. Don’t know how to make social chit cat in an email? Too bad. Learn. Wait two years until your next book comes out and I’ve not only forgotten your first effort. I’ve probably forgotten your name.
2) Find friendly rooms and speak in front of them. Do not wait for your publicist to create a royal procession of a tour for you where you can simply stroll, crown on head, from one admiring crowd to another. It doesn’t happen that way. You belong to a ski club? Ask that they throw you a book party. Same with your church/synagogue/mosque/temple, your college alumni association, your hometown boosters. Be generous and forthcoming with your time. Offer to write a little article for their newsletter. Remember you’re trying to get a book noticed and you’re not Mitch Albom. It takes work.
3) Channel your inner creativity. Why do writers, the most creative of people, suddenly get struck dumb when it comes to promotion? A blanket mailing of your book to reviewers is not only uncreative but largely a waste of time. It’s the equivalent of a cold sales call. And we know how often those work. Plus, there’s no guarentee you’re going to get a good review. Is “do not read this book” in a major daily newspaper better than speaking in front of several small groups who want to hear you anyway?
4) Don’t berate naysayers. As a book critic, I still get angry email from writers whose books I didn’t like. This is both unprofessional and childish. People will not like your book, no matter how much you do. That’s life. Move on.
5) Please don’t complain that you really want to stop promoting and get back to writing. The tourtured artist thing is not cute. It never was. Your audiences are not your therapists. Your job, for a minimum of three months after your pub. date is promotion. Tell your friends and family. They’ll understand. Do not tell me as a reader that it’s a big pain in the rump. It makes me want to slap the ungratefulness right out of you.
6) Recognize that your book is not for everyone and accept who it is for. Your WW II memoir is not for teenagers. Your mothers and daughters novel is probably not for middle-aged men. Sorry. Pick the low hanging fruit and stop thinking you deserve nationwide acclaim from the right out of the chute. It will come later if you build up your base first. Or it might not. That’s ok too. Remember YOU GET TO LIVE OUT A DREAM. How many people can say that?
7) Publishing has always been a business, even when everyone wore tweed jackets and got drunk together. Quit living in the past. You weren’t around for any of it and neither were your readers.
8) Work. Writing a book is only the first part. Now you’re on the sales staff. It’s a hard lesson to learn, agreed. Now stop complaining and get on with it. No one is going to make you a successful writer but you. It teaches us humility, something the author of this article desperately needs. If our expectations for our profession are this rediculously inflated, perhaps we all need it too.
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42 Replies to “Interlude: A Rant…”
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Kevin, this is brilliant. What’s that Chinese proverb–don’t say ‘this is impossible’ to the person who is going ahead and doing the impossible. Every time I’ve heard no, it just makes me forge ahead to get to the yes I know is there.
Thanks for the rant.
Kevin, this is brilliant. What’s that Chinese proverb–don’t say ‘this is impossible’ to the person who is going ahead and doing the impossible. Every time I’ve heard no, it just makes me forge ahead to get to the yes I know is there.
Thanks for the rant.
You are totally right, Kevin, there is so much an author can do other than complain. I had a recent student in my online marketing class who did such a great job on her own coming up with a marketing plan her publisher adopted the plan and upped her print run 500%.
You are totally right, Kevin, there is so much an author can do other than complain. I had a recent student in my online marketing class who did such a great job on her own coming up with a marketing plan her publisher adopted the plan and upped her print run 500%.
Friends,
Thank you. Coming from two writers who get it, who work for the success they deserve instead of complaining about it, means a lot to me.
Friends,
Thank you. Coming from two writers who get it, who work for the success they deserve instead of complaining about it, means a lot to me.
#7, tweed with suede elbow patches.
Loved the article. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Im ready to roll my sleeves up and get busy with the promoting. (after the book is published, obviously)
xoxo
Cindy
#7, tweed with suede elbow patches.
Loved the article. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Im ready to roll my sleeves up and get busy with the promoting. (after the book is published, obviously)
xoxo
Cindy
Cindy,
Good for you. Remember, we at Readerville are all there as support and counsel.
Cindy,
Good for you. Remember, we at Readerville are all there as support and counsel.
Kevin, well-said. A fine rant. But I think you meant “live out a dream” not “leave out a dream,” though in general that is excellent advice to any fiction writer: it is probably always wise, in the final edit, to leave out a dream, if you can.
Kevin, well-said. A fine rant. But I think you meant “live out a dream” not “leave out a dream,” though in general that is excellent advice to any fiction writer: it is probably always wise, in the final edit, to leave out a dream, if you can.
Katharine, thanks for pointing that out. I’m a horrible proofreader (as if that needs mentioning now), something I’ll probably “leave” with for the rest of my life
Katharine, thanks for pointing that out. I’m a horrible proofreader (as if that needs mentioning now), something I’ll probably “leave” with for the rest of my life
A wake up call against self-defeatism. Loud and clear. I’m grateful.
A wake up call against self-defeatism. Loud and clear. I’m grateful.
I think you’re being a bit tough – the long article (you link to a sidebar, above, I think) was from the perspective of somebody who’d been a bestselling writer having trouble reconciling the reality of her career after twenty years at it, not a whine-fest of a new author who doesn’t understand why more people don’t read her books. I thought she was actually rather appreciative of her fans – after all, she said she still sees loyal, long time readers of her first book at her readings.
Sure, maybe she could get with the times and promote herself a bit better, but I took it more as an education to people outside the book world (Salon readers) – that the reality of a literary (midlist) author is not one of financial success. That unless you’re wealthy or have somebody to support you, you’re still going to have to have a day job and your writing will remain a labor of love. That’s not to say that writers shouldn’t promote themselves and have a go at it, but the economics of publishing are prohibitive for most writers if you can’t do something else to make a living. But hey, if you’re meant to do it, that won’t stop you (or the writer of the article.)
I think you’re being a bit tough – the long article (you link to a sidebar, above, I think) was from the perspective of somebody who’d been a bestselling writer having trouble reconciling the reality of her career after twenty years at it, not a whine-fest of a new author who doesn’t understand why more people don’t read her books. I thought she was actually rather appreciative of her fans – after all, she said she still sees loyal, long time readers of her first book at her readings.
Sure, maybe she could get with the times and promote herself a bit better, but I took it more as an education to people outside the book world (Salon readers) – that the reality of a literary (midlist) author is not one of financial success. That unless you’re wealthy or have somebody to support you, you’re still going to have to have a day job and your writing will remain a labor of love. That’s not to say that writers shouldn’t promote themselves and have a go at it, but the economics of publishing are prohibitive for most writers if you can’t do something else to make a living. But hey, if you’re meant to do it, that won’t stop you (or the writer of the article.)
GREAT rant, Kevin! (But do find a proofreader.) I’m sending a link to everyone who’s taken my Book Promotion 101 workshop.
GREAT rant, Kevin! (But do find a proofreader.) I’m sending a link to everyone who’s taken my Book Promotion 101 workshop.
Accepting any and all proofreading help.
Accepting any and all proofreading help.
Hey, any time you want to send something my way for proofing, I’ll be your Huckleberry.
Hey, any time you want to send something my way for proofing, I’ll be your Huckleberry.
Kevin, in point number two, you have a missing quotation mark at the end of the link to Mitch Albom’s website that causes the rest of the entry to be hyperlinked (and point number three to disappear entirely). Feel free to delete this comment once you’ve fixed the problem.
A lot of these points are important for those in other creative fields to learn, too. Self-promotion is probably the most overlooked and underused tool in our shed.
Kevin, in point number two, you have a missing quotation mark at the end of the link to Mitch Albom’s website that causes the rest of the entry to be hyperlinked (and point number three to disappear entirely). Feel free to delete this comment once you’ve fixed the problem.
A lot of these points are important for those in other creative fields to learn, too. Self-promotion is probably the most overlooked and underused tool in our shed.
Kevin,
Thanks for another entertaining & informative rant, which should round out the bestselling volume “That’s So Annoying! Volume 3!!” (inside joke…)
I’m not a full-time writer, but I did recently slog through a job search. Turns out many of your recommendations are transferrable across professions: promoting your work can be as important as the work itself, start with the low-hanging fruit, bitching won’t get you very far, people skills are essential, help from friends & professional contacts is always a good thing.
So yours is great advice for leaving… um, I mean living.
Kevin,
Thanks for another entertaining & informative rant, which should round out the bestselling volume “That’s So Annoying! Volume 3!!” (inside joke…)
I’m not a full-time writer, but I did recently slog through a job search. Turns out many of your recommendations are transferrable across professions: promoting your work can be as important as the work itself, start with the low-hanging fruit, bitching won’t get you very far, people skills are essential, help from friends & professional contacts is always a good thing.
So yours is great advice for leaving… um, I mean living.
I didn’t quite get the connection to the Salon article, but I will say that your points pretty much apply to just about any creative pursuit. There are now more opportunities for creators to get their work out in front of the public than ever, but they must be sought out, and sometimes created. Which can sometimes be just as fun as creating the art itself 😉
I didn’t quite get the connection to the Salon article, but I will say that your points pretty much apply to just about any creative pursuit. There are now more opportunities for creators to get their work out in front of the public than ever, but they must be sought out, and sometimes created. Which can sometimes be just as fun as creating the art itself 😉
Scott,
It’s a writer’s thing that I hope, as a musician, you’ve managed to avoid. There’s a class of writers that ruins the party for everyone by whining incessantly that The Industry is heartless and money-mongering and Doesn’t Appreciate Them while doing exactly nothing to to nuture an audience or a professional destiny. That’s what drives me crazy.
Scott,
It’s a writer’s thing that I hope, as a musician, you’ve managed to avoid. There’s a class of writers that ruins the party for everyone by whining incessantly that The Industry is heartless and money-mongering and Doesn’t Appreciate Them while doing exactly nothing to to nuture an audience or a professional destiny. That’s what drives me crazy.
Great post – rather than ramble here, check my response at http://blog.epistemographer.com/archives/000184.html
Great post – rather than ramble here, check my response at http://blog.epistemographer.com/archives/000184.html
My apologies, I somehow only ended up reading the sidebar and not the article. I picked it up at MeFi.
Oh yeah, Kevin, I agree with all of your points. There’s probably a subclass of every creative type that spends more time moaning about how the Industry is an “industry” than they do trying to find an audience. And as I’ve learned, there’s an audience for almost everything.
My apologies, I somehow only ended up reading the sidebar and not the article. I picked it up at MeFi.
Oh yeah, Kevin, I agree with all of your points. There’s probably a subclass of every creative type that spends more time moaning about how the Industry is an “industry” than they do trying to find an audience. And as I’ve learned, there’s an audience for almost everything.
Well put Scott.
Well put Scott.
Enjoyed the rant, Kevin. I wonder if many writers will find what I’ve found– that I actually like a lot of the marketing part. I can spend hours looking for people on the Internet who might be interested in my book, sending out tons of emails…I have enough fun doing this that I’m easily distracted from new writing that needs to be done.
Enjoyed the rant, Kevin. I wonder if many writers will find what I’ve found– that I actually like a lot of the marketing part. I can spend hours looking for people on the Internet who might be interested in my book, sending out tons of emails…I have enough fun doing this that I’m easily distracted from new writing that needs to be done.
I work in the marketing department of a small regional publishing house. We have these horrible list meetings where we try and analyze the successes and failures of our books after they’ve been out a year or so. The silver lining of those meetings comes when we have a book that’s sold through more than half its print run in the first six months. We can almost always trace it back to an author who is a tireless self-promoter. Those are the authors who we keep on our backlist, who we promote whenever we have a spare inch of space anywhere, and who we fight to keep publishing, always telling the financial guys, “But she or he will sell half of these books on her own!” Now, I only wish there were a tactful way to direct my less ambitious authors to your piece.
I work in the marketing department of a small regional publishing house. We have these horrible list meetings where we try and analyze the successes and failures of our books after they’ve been out a year or so. The silver lining of those meetings comes when we have a book that’s sold through more than half its print run in the first six months. We can almost always trace it back to an author who is a tireless self-promoter. Those are the authors who we keep on our backlist, who we promote whenever we have a spare inch of space anywhere, and who we fight to keep publishing, always telling the financial guys, “But she or he will sell half of these books on her own!” Now, I only wish there were a tactful way to direct my less ambitious authors to your piece.