Kate Baggott's Blog: Cornfields of the Sea - Posts Tagged "self-esteem"
The Old Cover & Judgement Issue
For the past few weeks I've been concerned about my image and how I come across to the broader public. As Jo Michael's review of my book made clear, maybe I should have been thinking about the image of my book. The cover image was done by a good friend of mine according to my own creative brief and clearly, I was the mistake in that production. I don't think in images, I think in words and symbols expressed through words. I probably have gotten this essential part of book marketing wrong. People do judge books by their cover. I do it too and that does not change when the cover is an icon on a web site.
Self-image and product image aside, I've also been considering producing an actual paper copy of the book. I think it's possible that the best way to promote an eBook is to sell a "Dead Tree Edition."
Public readings and other events remain the easiest way to create awareness of any product.
On Thursday night, I attended a reading by Wendy Williams, a Canadian living in Vienna who has authored a book called The Globalisation of Love. The event was at The British Bookshop here in Frankfurt and there were about 20 people there. Since the shop is small, 20 people is a full house. After the reading, I suspect Wendy sold about 10 books at 18 EURO each (a special sale from the usual price of 19,99). Right after the reading, she had to get into her car and drive to the next stop. The sales from the Frankfurt stop might have covered the cost of gas to her next stop.
But, and this is more important, the reading was a real community event for expats in Frankfurt. I spoke to people in my own language who live in the same circumstances I do. And really, I do not think any of us will ever forget the warm and lovely Wendy Williams. If I want to build a career as a writer at a higher level than where I have been since I left grad school, would it not benefit me to work on creating that kind of feeling among various English-speaking communities in Central Europe?
I'm not saying that I will have enough money to go on a book tour of Paris, Amsterdam and Munich, but my family and I travel and there is no reason why I can't set up events in the cities we visit for other reasons.
There is a lot for me to reconsider here. Obviously, if I am not going to stay hidden in my house writing blog posts, I am going to have to make a lot of changes. Changes to my book, changes to how I think about digital/actual products and changes to myself.
Self-image and product image aside, I've also been considering producing an actual paper copy of the book. I think it's possible that the best way to promote an eBook is to sell a "Dead Tree Edition."
Public readings and other events remain the easiest way to create awareness of any product.
On Thursday night, I attended a reading by Wendy Williams, a Canadian living in Vienna who has authored a book called The Globalisation of Love. The event was at The British Bookshop here in Frankfurt and there were about 20 people there. Since the shop is small, 20 people is a full house. After the reading, I suspect Wendy sold about 10 books at 18 EURO each (a special sale from the usual price of 19,99). Right after the reading, she had to get into her car and drive to the next stop. The sales from the Frankfurt stop might have covered the cost of gas to her next stop.
But, and this is more important, the reading was a real community event for expats in Frankfurt. I spoke to people in my own language who live in the same circumstances I do. And really, I do not think any of us will ever forget the warm and lovely Wendy Williams. If I want to build a career as a writer at a higher level than where I have been since I left grad school, would it not benefit me to work on creating that kind of feeling among various English-speaking communities in Central Europe?
I'm not saying that I will have enough money to go on a book tour of Paris, Amsterdam and Munich, but my family and I travel and there is no reason why I can't set up events in the cities we visit for other reasons.
There is a lot for me to reconsider here. Obviously, if I am not going to stay hidden in my house writing blog posts, I am going to have to make a lot of changes. Changes to my book, changes to how I think about digital/actual products and changes to myself.
Cornfields of the Sea
When I was in high school, I was lucky enough to be part of a writing workshop with author Barbara Greenwood. Every member of the workshop was to write a short story for a group anthology. I thought w
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