Moving on…
My publisher Penmore Press and I are still in the throes of PR and marketing for my new book, Rembrandt’s Angel. Like all my books, this will an ongoing effort for years to come. Traditionally or indie published, or any of the combinations in between, this is the average writer’s task now. While most publishers can do a lot to help, it’s increasingly on the author to promote her or his book. Only King and other superstars of the writing world get the VIP treatment—paid trailers on TV, full-page ads in the NY Times, and so forth.
That’s the way of the current writing world. PR and marketing represent the worst part of the job because many writers, myself included, don’t do it well or with much enthusiasm. We’d rather be writing! But, like correcting papers if you’re a teacher, practicing scales and arpeggios if you’re a pianist, or debugging code if you’re a programmer, there are things about the writing life that aren’t nearly as fun as writing.
Editing is another onerous task. It’s usually shorter than the PR and marketing one, though. You don’t have to keep doing it. In fact, you don’t have to do it at all, right? Wrong! Sure, you can hire an editor if you’re indie, and your publisher will pay for one if you’re going the traditional route. But you should always have a clean manuscript for your beta-readers, queries to agents, and editors. You need one to even get your foot in the door with any traditional publisher.
I do these tasks because they’re necessary to have fun writing and entertaining people with what I write. The teacher grades papers to have fun teaching and enjoying the rewards of seeing that look of comprehension among her or his students. The pianist does her or his exercises and warmups to enjoy playing a fine piece of classical music (or jazz, or a Billy Joel song). And the programmer delights in seeing her or his graphics playing on the screen after all that debugging. Some do it all over and over again and move on to the next lesson, piano piece, and code challenge. In my case, the next book.
That’s a long segue to discussing my next writing projects. First up is a post-apocalyptic thriller that’s finished except for the editing (copy editing in my case—I content edit as I go). I hope to send the edited manuscript soon to my beta-readers. I’m also working on a new YA sci-fi novel that greatly expands on an early short story, “Marcello and Me,” found in the speculative fiction collection Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape; that story won a prize in one of the few contests I’ve entered (it was free, of course—money spent on entering contests only makes the organizers rich and is better spent on PR and marketing, if spent wisely). I’ve temporarily shelved that, but I’ll eventually get back to it. (I’m also preparing a Pasodobles, Volume Two.)
I’d like to turn the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” into a trilogy. I had a good start on that before Rembrandt’s Angel approached publication and the corresponding PR and marketing began to take more of my time. The project least developed is a sequel to Soldiers of God—I want to explore the character of the priest a wee bit more. I’ll get back to you on both of these.
Some writers stick with one project until it’s done. While I admire their perseverance, I can’t do that. Like I said, I have too much fun writing and thinking about how to entertain you. That affects my reading life too. I was reading the non-fiction book Shattered and The Three-Body Problem (a sci-fi Hugo winner by a Chinese author) together. Not at the same time, of course, but alternating day by day, even hour by hour. I need variety in my reading and writing. (I finished Shattered and wrote a review—the book is now in my list “Steve’s Bookshelf”—the Hugo winner still occupies me, but I finished a semi-cozy mystery meanwhile and am currently reviewing a book for Bookpleasures.)
We all have fun in our own ways. As far as reading and writing go, mine are a bit nerdy, I’ll admit, but I must move on.
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There’s a big book Summer/Winter Smashwords site-wide promo from July 1 – 31. You have be a member to receive the email catalog. Join Smashwords—it’s free, and it provides a large universe of reading entertainment. Almost of my ebooks are sale with price reductions from 25 – 50 %. That includes the first four books in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series.” Load your e-reader up for summer (northern hemisphere) or winter (southern hemisphere).
In libris libertas…
