Chain of Fools

(Sell, sell, sell! Part 2)

To continue re: the myriad people who bring books to market – the holy fools, the true believers, the hard working folks that every writer should know about and be grateful for – here are a few more things to think about vis-à-vis book promotion. The chain is a chain of transactions with your hard-won novel/memoir/short story collection/volume of poems at its center, and according to Karen Maeda Allman, who runs events at the Elliott Bay Book Company it is an ecosystem of sorts.

I love this analogy – and the implication that each part of the ecosystem impacts the other parts. I’ve been on the West Coast three days and I’ve definitely drunk some of the Cool Aid (okay, it is a green drink with wheat grass and kale) – but it seems apt. The arts are hardier than given credit for, the literary community is indeed an ecosystem in the midst of a massive sea change.

In yesterday’s post, I discussed the beginning of the book to market process, and the various professionals that make that possible. Using Maeda Allman’s ecosystem model, here are the other funny creatures living on Imagination Island with you: everybody you’ve ever known. Yes. If you want to sell your book, you need to LET EVERYONE YOU KNOW know about its happy arrival, and then you need to find ways to get it in front of them, via readings, signings, presentations to book groups, etc.

This is a system that privileges extroverts, obviously – but her final point was this: hand selling is the most crucial part of boosting sales. You, in person, pen in hand. Bookstore employees who like the book and recommend it. Your mom. (Hi, Mom! No, you can’t give me back all those copies of Crazyhorse 63 you bought because I had a story in it…)

What I think about in terms of ecosystems is –from my not super nature/science-ey vantage point – being nice to people. It seems challenging sometimes, in the grip of your own ambitions, to remember that that every link in the chain: publisher, publishing interns, admins and publicity staff, distributors, sales reps, booksellers – they are all dealing with their own particular stresses and the pressure of doing a low-paid job in an uncertain environment because they LOVE it. I particularly enjoyed the comments from panelist Jonathan Evison (as evidenced by pork pie hat, a DIY guy with punk rock roots – huzzah!): “…After you do a reading, take the event manager next door to the Cheesecake Factory and get her drunk.”

Yeah. Treat those event ladies right.

Also, keep your email list up to date. You’re going to need it.

And PS: check out this very cool nonprofit writer collective: http://seattle7writers.org/

Onward to a panel on how all of this bizness plays out in digital terms…