The Hard Part

If only I were two people.

One of me would do all the plotting, writing, editing, rewriting, coming up with new ideas, putting it all in a readable story format.

The other would do all the marketing.

Because goshdarnit, that marketing thing can be a royal pain in the glutes.

It's not that it's so much more work, really. It's just a lot less fun. When I'm writing I can get lost in the story and the flow of the plot and my growing sympathy with the characters. When I'm marketing I have to keep kicking myself, goading myself, telling myself this is NECESSARY AND MUST BE DONE. It's not something with a flow to which I can lose myself. It's a world of hurdles, of new lessons learned, of trial and error and error.

And yes, I said error twice.

That's why dividing the work load between two of me would be nice. The part of me that does all the writing could just work away unimpeded and unflustered by the marketing aspect, letting the other part slave and grumble and puzzle and push.

I saw a Twitter update not long ago that said aspiring writers probably would be better off getting degrees in marketing rather than English or journalism. I suspect that's accurate. It's easier (in my opinion) to teach oneself how to write than to dive headfirst into the marketing world and tread water while hoping the magnum opus you're using as a floatation device doesn't give out.

Thank God for kind folks out there who've been down this road and are willing to show a new guy some of the ropes. If one good thing comes out of my marketing dabblings, I'll have met some great people.

Onward and upward!

Relearning The Basics

Discovering all those little secrets about publicizing one's book or blog is awesome once the results begin.

A month ago, I had no idea about how to publicize a blog or an ebook. Now, thanks to the little proverbial diamonds of advice scattered amid the rough known lovingly as "Google", I have actually begun to make strides. It's pretty dang exciting.

Now I can proudly say that I have advanced from having no idea to having an inkling of a notion. Ebook publishing is still in its infancy, so most of the advice has come from the blogs of ebook writers who've been around this block before. Thank God for information volunteers!

When I was first getting into writing, ebooks were barely a concept, and "conventional" publishing was the only way to go. In my search for information, I purchased a plethora of books from Writer's Digest Book Club, devoured them, and learned like mad. Information was easily obtained and seemingly everywhere. But now that I've ventured into the ebook realm, information is scarce. For the most part, the things I learned about publishing previously barely apply to ebooks. I'm learning all over again.

D'oh.

But now that I'm applying all this cool stuff I've learned, things are starting to look up.

I might be able to master this thing after all!

Ebooks: Fad Or Future?

When people I talk to finally figure out exactly what ebooks are, they look at me askance.

Given the quick publication time and that ebooks are actually digital files instead of, well, books, they question that publishing an ebook is really publishing at all. One individual even called it "cheating".

Is ebook writing/publishing cheating, or a legitimate venue for authors? Is it just some passing craze, or an actual revolution in the way we read and inform or entertain ourselves?

I've been mulling this over for some time, and here's my thought on the matter.

The goal of publication is to be read and/or make money. Publication is not strictly relegated by definition to paper books with covers and bindings. Publication is a means by which you make your work available to the public. Ebooks accomplish the same thing, only through a different medium. The absence of paper doesn't make ebooks a form of corner-cutting or system-bucking.

Ebooks are here, and they're here to stay. Amazon and Barnes & Noble are recognizing this fact, not only selling ebooks but even devices on which to read them -- the Kindle and the Nook. More and more readers are discovering ebooks and loving that they can carry an entire library in their pocket or purse. Titles that cost $20 to $30 on the shelf can be purchased as an ebook for a fraction of that price. In times of economic pinch, buying a new book to read has become less costly.

Does this mean ebooks will overwhelm paper books to the point of extinction? I highly doubt it. Many people still prefer reading print rather than pixels -- myself included -- and let's face it: Nothing beats the feel and smell of a brand new book fresh off the bookstore shelf. What I see in the future is a happy coexistence between the two media. At this point, people just have to adjust.

And adjust they will. People laughed at Henry Ford's loud, obnoxious horseless carriage. Now everybody owns an automobile. Today, folks sneer at or suspiciously eye the ebook. Soon enough, society will accept it as normal and legitimate.

I intend to hop aboard the ebook train while I can, before the crowds and the long lines. I see a bright, profitable future for ebooks, and I want to be in it.

Maybe I'm cheating by cutting to the front.

Conflict of Interests

By and large, I tend to read nonfiction far more often than fiction, especially in recent years. When I was a boy (and on through my early twenties), I devoured fiction of nearly every kind, mostly thrillers and fantasy, with a smattering of mysteries. I was up on most classic fiction -- heck, I even read War and Peace three times. But now that I'm older and my priorities have shifted, I'm far more apt to read nonfiction.

This in itself isn't strange. What's strange is that, while consistently reading nonfiction of late, I continue to write fiction. They say you're supposed to read what you write. If you write scifi, read scifi. If you write chicklit, read chicklit. If you write about cosmic marshmallow unicorns jumping through holes in the universe, read about cosmic marshmallow unicorns jumping through holes in the universe.

I have ignored this cardinal rule.

Well then, why don't I write nonfiction?

Here's the trick with nonfiction: In order to market and sell most nonfiction, the writer should have what is known as a "platform". For example, if I were to write about tumors in parakeets, I would be able to sell the book if I were a vet or ornithologist who lived with the parakeets in the spirit of Jane Goodall and made their tumors my object of study for ten years or so.

But I haven't, so I couldn't sell a book like that.

The nonfiction books I want to write would require a career in politics, a degree in history, and/or a position of theological eminence. I have none of these. I am not Sarah Palin, Stephen Ambrose, or Joel Osteen. Thus, were I to write such books, I would be unable to market them with much credibility.

So fiction remains.

Not that I resent being relegated by circumstance to the creation and sale of fiction. While I may not spend much time reading it of late, I do enjoy writing it. It's an escape from the real world that, to be honest, nonfiction does not provide.

I like escaping reality on occasion.

Making a career out of it wouldn't be so bad.

Back In The Saddle . . .

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. -- Ernest Hemingway

Writing can't be a feasible aspect in one's life unless it takes a certain amount of priority. Thus it was, when I was single, I could write until the keys threatened to rattle off my keyboard and no amount of Visine could hide the fact that I was staring at a computer screen for hours every day.

But then I got married and had kids. Writing gradually moved further and further to the bottom of my "Important Things To Do" list. Pretty soon it felt as though writing was something I did in a previous life, something I vaguely remembered doing. I rarely attended writers group meetings -- I still rarely attend, thanks to having two young boys and a pregnant wife.

But now that I've made the step into the publication world, that priority has shifted a little closer to where it was in my bachelor days.

However, there's one little problem. Now that I've been out of the game for so long, I simply sit and stare at the blank page on my word processor, watching the little cursor endlessly blink. This is tough. I need to get back into writing mode.

Of course, I find little excuses here and there. I have to work on my author's website. My publisher needs input on the cover art of my upcoming novella. A diaper needs changing. A book needs reading. Facebook needs updating. The lawn needs mowing . . .

And the little cursor continues to blink, waiting for me to write something . . . ANYTHING!

It's time to relearn how to lose myself in the world of fiction writing. Practice makes perfect.

Dude . . . I swear that cursor just skipped a blink.