You and Lore’s books are on my TBR! I think with the election this year and so much devastating news about church abuse coming to light, they’re more important than ever. 🙏🏻
In terms of what makes me purchase books. It’s a couple of things.
When I was younger I read widely to expose myself to knowledge/information/wisdom etc…that I had no experience with.
As I’ve aged my buying has narrowed a bit. I read authors who have good explanatory power. Whether it’s about societal issues, trends, or other things. I’m still eclectic in my reading just a bit more selective these days.
As for marketing I’m with you. I feel icky when it comes to anything that feels like self promotion. I have lots of thoughts about this when it comes to fundraising in church settings. Anyone in the arts runs into a version of this. I m a musician and talking yourself up is part of the game. The common denominator I’ve seen with successful people in the Arts is that they believe very strongly in themselves. Enough that they don’t give up and they go ahead and do the icky stuff because they believe so strongly in themselves.
I don’t have a solution for you. Just some observations and encouragement to keep moving forward even when you would rather not.
Maybe this isn't the BEST way to think about it but I've just come to think of it as two different job descriptions. For one year, this is my job description, and for another year, this is my job description. I know maybe that feels like dualism, but if I try to eke marketing into my writing year, I feel distracted, and if I try to eke writing into my marketing year, I feel all left feet. So for me it's just worked better for my mental health to separate them and make the shift each year or two or three, whatever the span is.
It *honestly* helps me to also think of the "marketing" more as evidence of the work I've done. For each book, I've tried to sort of mirror the topic of the book with the way I did marketing. For Handle With Care, I tried to close the gap between people, me and my readers. For A Curious Faith, I tried to incite curiosity. For The Understory, I'm trying to invite people to just notice where they are (and also BE where I am). This helps it feel less fragmented for me, I think.
I also have had to let go of some of the romance of being a writer. I think we have these pictures of writers who are all cozied away in their offices and drinking tea or bourbon and scribbling away, and while that might be true of the writer WHILE they're writing, there has always been the pitching and selling and pandering that writers also must do. Think of Jo March in Little Women or Charles Dickens with his serial novels or George Eliot with her pseudonym—there has *always* been an underside to the writing life, but unless we pull back the curtain and tell the whole truth, we just see them as they were when they were writing the words we read. That has helped me a LOT to just be realistic about the vocation of writing. Hope this helps. In your corner, Aimee. Truly.
I gave up even trying to send out my manuscripts for the very reason that I didn’t want to even attempt marketing, pushing, speaking about, or any of that icky stuff. It may have been a cop out; I may have never gotten published anyway, but it was my choice.
I feel for you. As you know, these days there’s barely a difference between fame and notoriety.
I appreciate your honesty, Aimee. It helps me have realistic expectations for this whole book-birthing process. That analogy in itself is helpfully challenging for me as a man. I’m wondering, is the “second job” post-publishing challenge like being a single mom/dad of a newborn? There’s certainly “joy that a person has been born into the world” (John 16:21), but just as certainly there is hardship, challenge and heartache to the degree a single parent is and feels alone. Even if one has community helping — meals, respite babysitting, etc — no one is there for the sleepless nights, midnight feedings, etc. Perhaps authoring and publishing a book is inherently both “sorrowful yet always rejoicing”.
Here’s your poem, Aimee.
“In the beginning was The Word . . . “
And we all get to add to it.
That's a word!
You and Lore’s books are on my TBR! I think with the election this year and so much devastating news about church abuse coming to light, they’re more important than ever. 🙏🏻
Thank you, Jackie!
Thank you, Jackie!
In terms of what makes me purchase books. It’s a couple of things.
When I was younger I read widely to expose myself to knowledge/information/wisdom etc…that I had no experience with.
As I’ve aged my buying has narrowed a bit. I read authors who have good explanatory power. Whether it’s about societal issues, trends, or other things. I’m still eclectic in my reading just a bit more selective these days.
As for marketing I’m with you. I feel icky when it comes to anything that feels like self promotion. I have lots of thoughts about this when it comes to fundraising in church settings. Anyone in the arts runs into a version of this. I m a musician and talking yourself up is part of the game. The common denominator I’ve seen with successful people in the Arts is that they believe very strongly in themselves. Enough that they don’t give up and they go ahead and do the icky stuff because they believe so strongly in themselves.
I don’t have a solution for you. Just some observations and encouragement to keep moving forward even when you would rather not.
Thanks for the continuous encouragement, John.
Maybe this isn't the BEST way to think about it but I've just come to think of it as two different job descriptions. For one year, this is my job description, and for another year, this is my job description. I know maybe that feels like dualism, but if I try to eke marketing into my writing year, I feel distracted, and if I try to eke writing into my marketing year, I feel all left feet. So for me it's just worked better for my mental health to separate them and make the shift each year or two or three, whatever the span is.
It *honestly* helps me to also think of the "marketing" more as evidence of the work I've done. For each book, I've tried to sort of mirror the topic of the book with the way I did marketing. For Handle With Care, I tried to close the gap between people, me and my readers. For A Curious Faith, I tried to incite curiosity. For The Understory, I'm trying to invite people to just notice where they are (and also BE where I am). This helps it feel less fragmented for me, I think.
I also have had to let go of some of the romance of being a writer. I think we have these pictures of writers who are all cozied away in their offices and drinking tea or bourbon and scribbling away, and while that might be true of the writer WHILE they're writing, there has always been the pitching and selling and pandering that writers also must do. Think of Jo March in Little Women or Charles Dickens with his serial novels or George Eliot with her pseudonym—there has *always* been an underside to the writing life, but unless we pull back the curtain and tell the whole truth, we just see them as they were when they were writing the words we read. That has helped me a LOT to just be realistic about the vocation of writing. Hope this helps. In your corner, Aimee. Truly.
I love how you frame your marketing with the work, Lore.
And I do like to see other writers sharing the underside. It really does mess with the muse!
I gave up even trying to send out my manuscripts for the very reason that I didn’t want to even attempt marketing, pushing, speaking about, or any of that icky stuff. It may have been a cop out; I may have never gotten published anyway, but it was my choice.
I feel for you. As you know, these days there’s barely a difference between fame and notoriety.
It is a counting the cost thing, for sure.
I appreciate your honesty, Aimee. It helps me have realistic expectations for this whole book-birthing process. That analogy in itself is helpfully challenging for me as a man. I’m wondering, is the “second job” post-publishing challenge like being a single mom/dad of a newborn? There’s certainly “joy that a person has been born into the world” (John 16:21), but just as certainly there is hardship, challenge and heartache to the degree a single parent is and feels alone. Even if one has community helping — meals, respite babysitting, etc — no one is there for the sleepless nights, midnight feedings, etc. Perhaps authoring and publishing a book is inherently both “sorrowful yet always rejoicing”.
Yes, all the necessary things that need to be done in proper care.