When it comes to writing, there is a beauty in the unselfconscious mind. We allow our words to flow freely onto the page, we explore worlds and we try to disconnect from the audience. We are fully immersed in the writing process and business is a word we don’t even comprehend…during the writing process. Then we finish our books, our works of art, and have to begin to explore the business side. I have often heard from writers about the terror this stage of the game produces. Fixations on things like book sales, Amazon rankings and media coverage can suck all of the joy and energy out of that which you once dreamed about: being a writer.
I read an interesting piece on a blog the other day, ironically it was on a blog about acting! In the essay he writes that essentially you have to let go of the end result in order to succeed.
We need to have a direction we want to move in. But we must detach from the results. If we don’t detach from the results we will be locked in misery and thought. Also, detaching from the results opens us up to a possibility much grander than what our minds can imagine. We need to plant seeds and let them do their magic under the soil.
We often use the planting seed analogy when talking about publicity. We reach far and wide, send out messages and information to all appropriate outlets and often times the results far exceed our expectations. But these seeds also take time to come to fruition. You can’t send someone a book and have them read it, react the way you want and then cover it in a short period of time. However, often these seeds bloom in ways we never even dreamed. One person reads a book that we have sent them and it registers in an impossibly enlightening way. The right book at the right time. But if you, as the writer, spend your time obsessing over Amazon rankings or trying to beat the competition, you lose sight of that goal. To find readers and have them connect with your work, to open up a world inside the pages of a novel or memoir or non-fiction guide and have people understand and appreciate what you have created. In order to change lives and leave an impact, to honor your work as a writer, you have to detach from the results because it will only leave you self-conscious and stalled when completing future work. As Deepak Chopra (bestselling author and guru) says,
You do not want to dig up the seeds of your desires to see if they are growing, or get rigidly attached to the way in which they will unfold. You simply want to release them.
The debates are heating up as the dog days of summer come to an end and we prepare for the literary fest that fall brings. Here are some interesting tidbits that I have gathered from the literary world…
I am always curious to see how many books are covered in the major magazines. I was actually quite impressed with the number of books that were either reviewed or briefly noted. It is also interesting to see which titles appear in more than one publication.
Redbook
The Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass
Ape House by Sara Gruen
Are You My Guru by Wendy Shanker
Presenting Tallulah by Tori Spelling
Elle Magazine
Let’s Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell
Juliet by Anne Fortier (front of book and elle.com)
The Wave by Susan Casey
Quiet as They Come by Angie Chau
The Book of the Dead by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson
Gold Boy, Emerald Girl by Yiyun Li
Room by Emma Donoghue
Strangers at the Feast by Jennifer Vanderbes
Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez
At the Dark End of the Street by Danielle McGuire (article)
Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi
Some Sing, Some Cry, Ntozake Shange
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine
Brain Storm by Rebecca Jordan-Young
Vanity Fair
Nicholas Sparks profiled
Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez
Dogfight, a Love Story by Matt Burgess
Vida by Patricia Engel
All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang
The Honor Code by Kwame Anthony Appiah
Big Girls Don’t Cry by Rebecca Traister
Check, Please by AJ Stern
The Daily Show’s Earth by Jon Stewart
The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi (in brief)
Empire of Dreams by Scott Eyman (in brief)
A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay (in brief)
The Odious Ogre by Norton Juster ( in brief)
Time For Dinner by Stang and Rosenstrach (in brief)
Dreaming in Chinese by Deborah Fallows (in brief)
Sarah: The LIfe of Sarah Bernhardt (in brief)
Working Together by Michael Eisner (in brief)
The Temptress by Paul Spicer (in brief)
My Bright Midnight by Josh Russell (in brief)
The Elephant’s Journey by Jose Saramago (in brief)
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray (in brief)
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
O, The Oprah Magazine
Juliet by Anne Fortier
I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
Designated Fat Girl by Jennifer Joyner
Hollywood by Larry McMurtry
The Lady Matador’s Hotel by Cristina Garcia
A Curable Romantic by Joseph Skibell
Bitter in the Mouth by Monique Truong
Ape House by Sara Gruen
Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay
Book of Days by Emily Fox Gordon
Getting to Happy by Terry McMillan
The Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Dreaming in Chinese by Deborah Fallows
Room by Emma Donaghue
The Wave by Susan Casey
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
(Books that Made a Difference to news anchor Brian Williams)
Isaac’s Storm
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
No Ordinary Time
The Promise by Jonathan Alter
The Great Bridge by McCullough
Medal of Honor
Personal History
Taking Charge and Reaching for Glory by Beschloss
GLAMOUR MAGAZINE
Rock What You’ve Got by Katherine Schwarzenegger
(7 Best Literary Heroines of All Time)
Little Women
Jane Eyre
Harry Potter
Sula
Pride and Prejudice
Eva Luna
Lysistrata
Entertainment Weekly
(This is a weekly magazine but still wanted to include the titles featured this week)
Juliet by Anne Fortier
Mentor by Tom Grimes
The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard
Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem
Parallel Play by Tim Page
The Self Suffient-Ishe Bible by Andy & Dave Hamilton
The Sisters Sinai by Janet Soskice
That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
Where the Money Went by Kevin Canty
Good Housekeeping
Juliet by Anne Fortier
Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Ape House by Sara Gruen
A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay
Vogue
Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt by Robert Gottlieb
Gold Boy, Emerald Girl by Yiyun Li
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Cosmopolitan
Men of Fire: Anthology by Susan Lyons, Rachelle Chase, and Jodi Lynn Copeland
Ron Charles, Washington Post Book World fiction editor and weekly critic takes to YouTube to review Mona Simpson’s latest release, MY HOLLYWOOD. Charles reviewed this title for the paper but experiments with a video rendition of his review. He does so with humor and a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the changing face of book reviews.
Seth Godin, entrepreneur, author, public speaker and media expert, has made a decision of great significance and it is geared toward the publishing industry. He has decided that Linchpin, his 12th book, will be the last book he publishes traditionally. Here is an excerpt from his blog where he explains his decision,
Authors need publishers because they need a customer. Readers have been separated from authors by many levels–stores, distributors, media outlets, printers, publishers–there were lots of layers for many generations, and the editor with a checkbook made the process palatable to the writer. For ten years, I had a publisher as a client (with some fun self-published adventuresalong the way). Twelve bestsellers later, I’ve thought hard about what it means to have a traditional publisher.
Traditional book publishers use techniques perfected a hundred years ago to help authors reach unknown readers, using a stable technology (books) and an antique and expensive distribution system.
The thing is–now I know who my readers are. Adding layers or faux scarcity doesn’t help me or you. As the medium changes, publishers are on the defensive…. I honestly can’t think of a single traditional book publisher who has led the development of a successful marketplace/marketing innovation in the last decade. The question asked by the corporate suits always seems to be, “how is this change in the marketplace going to hurt our core business?” To be succinct: I’m not sure that I serve my audience (you) by worrying about how a new approach is going to help or hurt Barnes & Noble.
My audience does things like buy five or ten copies at a time and distribute them to friends and co-workers. They (you) forward blog posts and PDFs. They join online discussion forums. None of these things are supported by the core of the current corporate publishing model.
Since February, I’ve shared my thoughts about the future of publishing in both public forums and in private brainstorming sessions with various friends in top jobs in the publishing industry. Other than one or two insightful mavericks, most of them looked at me like I was nuts for being an optimist. One CEO worked as hard as she could to restrain herself, but failed and almost threw me out of her office by the end. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t heartbroken at the fear I saw.
All a long way of saying that as the methods for spreading ideas and engaging with people keep changing, I can’t think of a good reason to be on the defensive. It’s been years since I woke up in the morning saying, “I need to write a book, I wonder what it should be about.” Instead, my mission is to figure out who the audience is, and take them where they want and need to go, in whatever format works, even if it’s not a traditionally published book.
So Seth Godin, a man famous for predicting trends, analyzing market strategy and understanding the psyche of the modern American reader/buyer/seller is taking a formative stand and bravely going in a new direction with his work.
Whether you are trying to get an agent, a publisher or an article published, the key to a successful writing career is writing to sell. You want to sell your novel, memoir or article and you don’t have a lot of space or time in which to do that. You have to grab your readers from the opening page, even still, the opening paragraph. This same practice holds true when pitching yourself to media outlets. You want as much exposure as you can get, thereby guaranteeing that your media presence is significant and consistent enough to warrant attention from book buyers. When publicizing your book you need to think outside of the book review pages and see if you can generate interest in areas that either pertain to your background, the subject matter of your book, or both. When doing this you need to sell yourself and your idea to editors and producers in the shortest amount of time. You need to hook on to something relevant in the current news media cycle and explain why you would make the perfect expert to weigh in on that particular topic. Here are some tips for generating a strong approach when contacting media.
Know your facts. Start your research early and be consistent. Look for key facts that relate to the subject you are pitching. Editors and producers want to know about recent studies. If you have written a novel that deals with eating disorders, they don’t want to know about your character’s journey (yet), they want to know that 1 in 5 women struggle with an eating disorder (according to the National Institute of Mental Health).
The more the merrier. Give editors and producers plenty of material to work with. The more ideas you can generate, the easier their job is to assign a story or pursue a lead. Each idea should be topical, interesting and current. Stay on top of the news and keep those ideas coming.
Have an opinion. Be vocal about issues that relate to your story. Whether or not your opinion is the popular one, it will get people talking. Speak out and speak often. Raise questions, interact with your readers and bring these ideas into the public forum.
Find trends. Don’t panic if you see that another author has written a book with similar themes. Use this as a sign that society is gravitating towards the subject matter you have already explored. Join together and pitch trend pieces to magazines and newspapers. There is a reason that your story is playing out in different venues, there is a social outcry for it and you and your fellow authors are there to fill that need.
Think like a journalist. You want your story to sell so make sure it’s timely and appropriate. Know the outlets you are pitching. Whether they are print, radio, television or online, familiarize yourself with their content and do a little research to locate the correct editor.
Rick Moody addresses an interesting topic on Big Think with a very compelling (and some may say controversial) argument. He states that the “superficial, not revised, carelessness” about writing straight on the screen without significant editing makes blogging a detriment to a literary writer’s work. He believes that the writers who are pressured in the direction of publishing online are not able to put out the quality work that comes from “patient revision.” I am paraphrasing a bit what Moody describes as the abbreviated attention spans that online content tends to generate, but his point is an interesting one.
To quote from Moody’s latest release, THE FOUR FINGERS OF DEATH, his character, Montese Crandell, is conducting an author signing at an “old-fashioned used-media outlet” because of the advice of his wife “who’d spend her remaining time on earth counseling me on just how to boost my product.” There is something very accurate of the advice given to Crandell by his wife, because when it comes to publicizing your work, it is no longer about the art and craft that went into writing the book, it is about selling a product. Moody is right in saying that the internet and all of the available stories, videos and news items have led to “abbreviated attention spans” and authors are fighting for the attention of the elusive reader (and book buyer) so that they can continue the art and craft of writing a book, and get paid well for it. This is why we, as publicists, say that you really do have to wear two hats (the artist’s hat and the business hat) when it comes to being a writer. But should author’s blog?
I have spoken with author’s who feel that by blogging they are giving away their work for free. But at the same time, without giving potential readers something to grab hold of and get interested in, they may never discover you in the first place. It is imperative that as an author, you maximize your exposure and pull readers in. Blogs have proven to be an excellent way to gain attention and interact with readers. This is not to say that you shouldn’t edit what you put out there, because just as easily as your work can turn a reader on, if done haphazardly and without thought, it can turn your reader off and therefore defeat the purpose entirely.
Jonathan Franzen echoes this argument in the much publicized TIME Magazine article.
Reading in its quietness and sustained concentration is the opposite of busyness. ‘We are so distracted and engulfed by the technologies we’ve created, and by the constant barrage of so-called information that comes our way, that more than ever to immerse yourself in an involving book seems socially useful,’ Franzen says. ‘The place of stillness that you have to go to write, but also to read seriously, is the point where you can actually make responsible decisions, where you can actually engage productively with an otherwise scary and unmanageable world.’
So the moral of the story, and the advice we give to authors, is BLOG…but blog responsibly and edit, edit, edit.
It has been 12 years but Dennis Lehane is returning to his most popular characters for his new novel, Moonlight Mile, which is going to be released on November 2nd.
It’s a sequel to Gone Baby, Gone and it takes place in 1997, where the once missing Amanda McCready is now sixteen and a straight A student, who wants to leave her irresponsible mother and Dorchester neighborhood, but then she goes missing again…
Amanda McCready was four years old when she vanished from a Boston suburb in 1997. Desperate pleas for help from the child’s aunt led savvy, tough-nosed investigators Kenzie and Gennaro to take on the case. The pair risked everything to find the young girl—only to orchestrate her return to a neglectful mother and a broken home.
Now Amanda is 16—and gone again. A stellar student, brilliant but aloof, she seemed destined to escape her upbringing. Yet Amanda’s aunt is once more knocking at Patrick Kenzie’s door, fearing the worst for the little girl who has blossomed into a striking, bright young woman who hasn’t been seen in two weeks.
Haunted by the past, Kenzie and Gennaro revisit the case that troubled them the most, following a 12-year trail of secrets and lies down the darkest alleys of Boston’s gritty, blue-collar streets. Assuring themselves that this time will be different, they vow to make good on their promise to find Amanda and see that she is safe. But their determination to do the right thing holds dark implications Kenzie and Gennaro aren’t prepared for . . . consequences that could cost them not only Amanda’s life, but their own.
Is there such a thing as too many bookstores? Apparently, for the residents of Westhampton Beach, NY, the answer is yes. Today The New York Times profiles the battle between two independent bookstores and the animosity that is running rampant in this small town. This all comes on the heels of a recent New York Magazine article about the rise of the independent bookstore. According to the NYTimes article, Books & Books opened its doors in July and have received a less than stellar welcoming (reportedly older women have marched into the store to yell at employees and they have even faced vandalism). The problem is, Books & Books is around the corner from The Open Book and is taking away business. But isn’t the beauty of independent bookstores that no two look or feel the same? Every independent bookstore has its’ own character and charm with varying approaches to reaching out to readers. Independent bookstores provide people with a sense of community, access to book clubs, author signings, and frequent staff picks. With so many people up in arms over the rise of the big box bookstore and the Amazon epidemic not to mention the strain that e-book devices are putting on printed matter, can we really start complaining about too many independent bookstores? Do we want to dissuade independent’s from opening their doors?
It’s a sequel to Gone Baby, Gone and it takes place in 1997, where the once missing Amanda McCready is now sixteen and a straight A student, who wants to leave her irresponsible mother and Dorchester neighborhood, but then she goes missing again…