After two years writing full-time, I came across an interesting revelation.
The loudest voices aren’t always right, or the best, or even the majority.
I KNOW, MINDBLOWING, RIGHT?
But now I want to stretch that a bit further when it comes to book marketing and promotion. One of the biggest game-changers for me–the one that changed “I can buy maybe one cup of coffee every two months with my royalties” to “I can pay off credit card debt and buy groceries,”–was simply stumbling upon people who weren’t shy enough to talk about my work.
“I don’t know how much of a difference it’ll make,” I’ve been told more than once. Wol, who runs The Tome and Tankard Inn, told me after she read my book Jaeth’s Eye that promoting indies (which she had only started at the time) is going to feel like screaming into the void, but she’s going to damn well try. (She now runs a very popular blog pairing up cocktails with reviews).
If you believe in someone’s work, even if you don’t think it’s going to make a difference, say something. Send authors encouraging messages, tell them how much their work meant to you. Because chances are, they don’t read very much of those, and chances are all they’re seeing are the loud voices proclaiming their way, and only theirs, is correct. Our reading habits vary and so are the things we enjoy, but promotion often runs in a vacuum, and many people are afraid to talk about the things they love if no one else is for fear that they’re going to get called out. Meanwhile, other people aren’t so afraid of what other people think, and so you’re only going to hear from them. And you’re going to think they’re right, they’re going to think they’re right, and so the goddamned ship runs sideways. “Look at the actual readers, not the loudmouths,” a dear friend so often tells me. So many actual readers are silent, holding their love in like a precious jewel.
The efforts of a handful of people has made all the difference for me. None of these people are from big blogs, or even have blogs in the first place. The private messages, their genuine excitement and interest, their encouragement, their shameless promotion, their public screaming of death threats…it all keeps me going. I don’t have much to give in return, but if you’re one of these people, understand that your kind thoughts are emblazoned in my memory and that yes, you made a difference in why I’m writing the way I am now. You made the difference in my career. I will be forever grateful to you.
Little voices, with enough passion, can do great things, too.
