Book Marketing (Fiction)

May I say that marketing my novel has been a harrowing experience - a bone-chilling, stomach-upsetting, and headache-inducing venture? Even worse, it takes time away from writing. Probably many writers today feel this way (maybe not so strongly). 

Sure, I would prefer to live in the world of my imagination than in the realm of social media, marketing research, and things like blog tours. (Remember when the word Blog would have just been confused with The Blob? Not that I'm really that old - just feels like it today.)

Worse than that: did you know that non-fiction is published (traditionally) at a far greater rate than fiction? Why? Strategic non-fiction sells, so publishing houses are taking less risk with it than they would be with fiction. 

Of course, when fiction hits, it hits big and keeps hitting. Contemporary (American) society is so brand-oriented, that once established, an author may even put his/her name to someone else's writing and keep selling.

To get to my point: people read non-fiction because they want to walk away feeling smarter than they felt before they read the book.

This is ironic because storytelling as a means to educate is in our genes. It's the way we have, as a species, learned to cope with the riddles of life, pass on our principles, and make way to create a more cohesive society. 

Reading well crafted fiction provides a means to learn new things, foster empathy, and create archetypes, which then may affect our subconscious minds and help us grow into something much grander than what we are. 

Over the course of my series The Search for Intelligent Life on Earth, I propose a more meaningful approach to the very transitory nature of life on our planet, a more spiritual version of what love and human relationships can be, and a more adult (or emotionally mature) interaction between lovers. 

In other words, my desire through this series is to provide a new interpretation of who we are.

And, yet, lofty ideals aside, I am left with the need to market. I am an "unbranded" writer, so readers are also wary to take a risk. There are so many books out there these days, you could lock yourself in the proverbial broom closet (equipped with a recliner and reading lamp) and spend the rest of your life reading - and still make little headway. 

I don't have the answers when it comes to this particular riddle, but I hope that my writing will stand the test of time, that my characters will embed themselves in the minds of my readers, and that the lives of others will be enhanced by my stories. 

Comments are always welcome. I am available at My Website.

How long have you been writing that?

Some of my readers know that it took me about twenty+ years to finish my first novel - not that I was writing every day (nor, dare I admit, even every year!) during that time, but still, it took a while. During those years, I kept thinking I would eventually send it out to publishing companies and agents, but I never seemed to find the free time to get it out to more than a handful of people. 

As many writers know, the business end of things (publishing, marketing, and such) is challenging for the introverted, artistic type - the tortured, introverted, artistic type. Okay, just kidding there. I wasn't tortured - except when it came to query letters and varying length synopses.

So, I kept editing instead - a good thing since writing styles changed over the course of those decades.

Here are a few tips for anyone out there who's taking as long as I did. They might save you some grief.

1. I'm sure you've heard not to get too attached to the words you've already written. That one took me a while to integrate into my psyche, especially when they'd been there for so long. Grow detached and change them. 

2. Get beta readers throughout the period, not just right at the end, or just somewhere in the beginning, of your journey. This applies especially any time you change POV. Just make sure they are trustworthy people.

3. I once had a long essay of mine with very specific and unusual ideas and references stolen (reprinted without my permission and taken out of state). Several years later, while I happened to be walking through the many shelves of books in a store (remember those days?), I saw an expanded version of it.  Hence, I was wary and hesitant to provide people with copies of my novel for a long time. If you are equally concerned, just take precautions such as sharing with more than one person, keeping old copies of your work, officially copyrighting the material, and/or sending a copy to yourself through the US mail (don't open it!). 

4. Remind yourself of what you've written before (has it been several months?) as you start again. Otherwise, it takes patience going through and ensuring you've not accidentally changed names, events, and dates. It's also helping me to write a few books at once now because they are interrelated and easier to correlate this way (for me). They are books 2, 3, and 4 in the The Search for Intelligent Life on Earth series, as well as a couple of novellas. 

5. I had multiple files/folders of chapters, which then needed to be formatted to match. Now I use the same document even if I skip around in the chapters. I find it easier and a time saver. 

6. Don't get discouraged. Remember that the ultimate goal is to feel good about your work, share something with the world, and daydream a little (in other words, have fun). 

Editing Your Edits

“Twelve by Fourteen Square Feet” or the Importance of Editing your Edits

Do you know what 12x14 square feet is? No, probably not, since it makes no sense. 12x14 is a rectangle, not a square, and the subject of today’s monologue from One Writer’s Foibles.

Originally, the two protagonists in my novel, Mark and Jacques, were living in a 12 x 12 studio – I cleverly figured out at some point that the space was too small. It would be hard to have as much action going on in it as I needed, so as the writer/creator of the story, I changed it. However, I forgot to take out the “square.” My choices? Delay the book another couple of weeks and correct it, or decide to live with imperfection.

A difficult choice for a perfectionist with a deadline.

I also noticed a rogue apostrophe, some commas where I would prefer periods, and periods where I meant commas, and the word “sleep” instead of “asleep” – despite reading that sentence maybe 150 times in the last month. But my eyes were no longer seeing the words on the page.

At one point I read a section of the book, put it down, and thought, I have to rewrite the whole book. Why? I was “reading” so quickly (meaning: my eyes pretended to see what was in front of me while my mind went through the scene), that I decided the whole scene happened too quickly and the pace was all wrong. I had someone else read it aloud to me the next day, and it was fine. 

Conclusions:

1) Remember to edit your edits. If you brazenly make a change, go back and study the words around it to make sure the change was done properly. Then get someone else to take a look.

2) Get an additional beta reader at the last minute before you approve the final draft. Alternative: read it one word at a time, covering up the right side of the sentence with a ruler (but I’m not convinced even this will work).

3) Don't overanalyze. 

If you don’t do these things, you could be stuck in a room that's 12x14 square feet!