Marketing
I will get the first copies of the new book this week.
The big D.
It's my 12th book, and the new way to get the word out about it is a whole lot different than the old way!
Here's a little secret for you.
The publishers never do a whole lot unless you're Stephen King or John Grisham, and they aren't the guys who need it.
Whatever.
I don't much care.
Sure you'd like to get it into as many hands as possible, but, and I was talking about this the other day, most people don't want to pay for art anymore.
They think it should all be out there for free.
Music, newspapers, books...all free!
Like I've said, I've made peace with it.
The writing is about the journey. Yet, I couldn't help but think about the early days.
My first publisher sent out a post card to 200 people that I'd provided the addresses for.
I had to call people and ask them their address so the could get the post card. I wonder if anyone actually bought a book off that card.
Then I did a lot of signings. Some were actually very good. Others were lonely affairs. If the host group allowed me to talk I had a lot more fun, and in those days I was invited to book clubs after everyone read the book.
Good questions came from those events.
I always came home with baked goods!
There were a lot of articles written and I appeared on radio shows all across the country.
Fun.
I signed books in Chicago, Boston and New York.
Some of those signed copies later showed up on the Internet.
Weird.
And here we are now.
I used to lose sleep over it.
Now I move on to the next thing I want to write about, but don't get me wrong, there's a piece of me that wants the reader to enjoy it.
I've just always felt uncomfortable talking about it.
"What're your books about?" I sometimes get asked.
"Look 'em up," I say.
"How much you get paid?" Is ALWAYS the next question.
In what other walk of life is that a question?
"Well, it took me about 6 months to write it. At least 2 hours every Saturday and about 5 hours every week thinking about it, jotting down notes, rewriting. I'd say about $4 an hour."
No one knows what to say to that.
It's pretty true.
And then they read it in the matter of a few days and send you a message:
"When will you finish the next one?"
Which is all good, believe me!
I can know get the word out with a Facebook post, or a tweet.
And then just hope...
...that someone gets it the way you write it.
"I laughed and cried. I just loved it," one woman said to em.
How much is that worth?
Way more than minimum!
The big D.
It's my 12th book, and the new way to get the word out about it is a whole lot different than the old way!
Here's a little secret for you.
The publishers never do a whole lot unless you're Stephen King or John Grisham, and they aren't the guys who need it.
Whatever.
I don't much care.
Sure you'd like to get it into as many hands as possible, but, and I was talking about this the other day, most people don't want to pay for art anymore.
They think it should all be out there for free.
Music, newspapers, books...all free!
Like I've said, I've made peace with it.
The writing is about the journey. Yet, I couldn't help but think about the early days.
My first publisher sent out a post card to 200 people that I'd provided the addresses for.
I had to call people and ask them their address so the could get the post card. I wonder if anyone actually bought a book off that card.
Then I did a lot of signings. Some were actually very good. Others were lonely affairs. If the host group allowed me to talk I had a lot more fun, and in those days I was invited to book clubs after everyone read the book.
Good questions came from those events.
I always came home with baked goods!
There were a lot of articles written and I appeared on radio shows all across the country.
Fun.
I signed books in Chicago, Boston and New York.
Some of those signed copies later showed up on the Internet.
Weird.
And here we are now.
I used to lose sleep over it.
Now I move on to the next thing I want to write about, but don't get me wrong, there's a piece of me that wants the reader to enjoy it.
I've just always felt uncomfortable talking about it.
"What're your books about?" I sometimes get asked.
"Look 'em up," I say.
"How much you get paid?" Is ALWAYS the next question.
In what other walk of life is that a question?
"Well, it took me about 6 months to write it. At least 2 hours every Saturday and about 5 hours every week thinking about it, jotting down notes, rewriting. I'd say about $4 an hour."
No one knows what to say to that.
It's pretty true.
And then they read it in the matter of a few days and send you a message:
"When will you finish the next one?"
Which is all good, believe me!
I can know get the word out with a Facebook post, or a tweet.
And then just hope...
...that someone gets it the way you write it.
"I laughed and cried. I just loved it," one woman said to em.
How much is that worth?
Way more than minimum!
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