Not even three weeks and I'm already exhausted. Facebook posts, facebook page, twitter account, various "writers' groups", this blog... Trying to get my book out there is like a full-time job.
Which, I suppose, is why agents and publishers do still make a living. It's also probably slightly less humiliating selling someone else than selling yourself.
So I need a break. I have run out of ideas and inspiration. I have run out of shameless chutzpah. I have run out of the positive vibes needed when you realize sales have flat-lined and your Amazon rank has plummeted to below sea level.
So.... I'm going on vacation. One week in Brazil full of NOT checking Amazon. NOT tweeting. NOT re-posting news items on Kindle and the advent of the e-book revolution.
One whole week of NOT being a failed writer, but instead focusing on being a failed beach bum.
Heaven.
Hi Isa! I hope you are *not* reading this right now as you are supposed to be on that vacation. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHard work, indeed. Hard work to get notice for the book -- hard work to have written it in the first place. You have my deepest respect for putting yourself out there in this way.
Suggestions for pushing the boundaries on getting notice for the book? I really don't have any except to keep doing what you are doing.
As for reviewing, I feel a bit stuck, too. I would like an e-reader to read the book because my best reading is done in bed, or on the Métro with an actual book (or, I am guessing, a reader) in my hands. I don't have a smartphone, I don't have a laptop or iPad. I know that I can download it to the desktop, but I have found that I just can't do novel-reading comfortably in that format -- and I've tried. We're very technologically and financially challenged in the Alien Parisienne household -- and you even have your book priced SO reasonably!! (Yeah, we're THAT challenged.)
Why not go with the option for folks like me to get a print copy in their hands via somewhere like Lulu or one of the other sources for self-publishing print books? Does it just become too expensive that way? Not a good enough margin? I'm curious about it for a lot of reasons, and the primary one at the moment is because I would save up to get a print copy of your book if I could. :)
In the meantime, something I am thinking about is at least doing interviews with some people who have accomplished creative projects. Maybe in lieu of doing an actual review right now, I could interview you about the process of writing & what you learned.
And maybe I *could* try to read on the desktop again...
Keep in touch & I would love to help out as I can.
Hope all is VERY relaxing in Brasilia!!