Keeping It Real
I recently took a workshop on marketing your wares as a writer. As writers, we've been told that we need to play our part in selling our books – that publishers expect writers to promote their own work. Of course. I get it. And this isn't exactly new news. Everyone in the arts is expected to get out there and promote themselves. I've always agreed that a writer should get behind their work and do what they can to sell their books. Well, why not? We have to. However, lately I've been thinking about this whole thing and I feel like I don't want to spend all my time marketing/promoting instead of writing. A little bit of promo work suits me just fine. But too much, and I'll start to lose my focus. I want to write. The business side of writing is important. I do do it. I send out my work in hopes of publication. I promote events that I'll be reading at... but I can't turn into a marketing machine. It just doesn't feel right for me. I'd rather