“Write Another Book!”

If You’re Not Going to Promote Your Book, Why Did You Even WRITE It?

That is a very good question!

 

I feel called out, but I am not “Anna Banana.”

 

I feel called out, especially because my dear friend Helen Schofield just said to me yesterday during a Facebook chat, “Write Another Book!”

 

Two Things About That

1. As a copy/content/features/writer, I make more money writing for other people than I do writing for myself. There are only so many hours in the day and I have a steady gig with two well-paying clients. But neither takes up so much of my time that I couldn’t write another book, if one would just suggest itself to me. (I usually wait for my Muse to tell me about what to write when it comes to book writing.)
2. I don’t enjoy promoting books nearly as much as I enjoy writing them. I wish I had more ego (not less, as Angela’s article suggests): I wish I had a burning desire that the whole world should discover me and make me as well-known as JK Rowling and other mega-gazillionaires. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?

 

But just like the numerous times I was begged to get into real estate or insurance by brokers in those fields, who said I’d be a millionaire in five years with my personality and drive, I had zero interest in pursuing either endeavor.  I’d hate showing houses and talking to people about insurance. Life is too short to say okay to a career that doesn’t float my boat.  Money has never been a driving factor in my life.

 

When I didn’t have two great clients, I promoted my books more because they were at least a (pathetically anemic) source of income. But very few writers ever get the break they need to become as well-known and beloved as Erma Bombeck, James Michener, JK Rowling or even Stephenie Meyer. People who go into writing go there because they love to write, mostly.

 

I reckon I fall under Angela’s “apathy” option. It isn’t that I don’t care that my books don’t sell, but I don’t need them to sell to make a living as a writer, and to me, writing is what I live for, not book promotion or interviews (as an introvert, I can do them and I enjoy them when I do them, but to actually go out and try to get them makes me feel like I’m trying to promote myself as the best thing since sliced bread just to gain additional notoriety. Self-promotion just isn’t my bag!).

 

Hire a Publicist?

 

I do make enough now that I could hire a publicist to promote my books. But it would have to be on a commission basis, because I’d want to make sure they were actually producing books sales, and the only way to do that would be to see how many more book sales happened as a result of their efforts, and I don’t know anyone who would work that way.

 

And anyone who did work that way (unless I was already aware of them being a great writer/promoter), I would want to watch over their shoulder for a time to make sure that what they were publishing was as up to par as anything I would publish to promote myself. So yeah, it would take a mighty special person who KNEW they could make money publicizing my books to agree to take on something like that.

 

I can think of one person I’d LOVE to have do it — she has read every one of my books and really loves my writing style, and she’s a terrific communicator) — but I’d feel awful asking her to work on commission. But maybe I could hire her and pay her five hours per month for a while to see what came of it, plus a percentage of the profits from book sales. She could set up interviews for me, too.  I’ll think more about this possibility… It’s beginning to intrigue me.