Alastair Rosie's Blog - Posts Tagged "alastair"
Why I Hate Marketing
I'm starting this Goodreads blog afresh and separate from my Wordpress blog because I feel this is one place I can pour out my musings, rant and occasionally pat myself on the back for something I did right. This is my little corner of Goodreads!
It's been nearly three weeks since The Deepening Dark was released and I'm discovering why I hate marketing so much. In two words, it sucks. It sucks up time that could be spent writing, it sucks up time that I need to spend doing other things like, eating, sleeping, and what's that weird smell coming from the kitchen sink? I must get something to clean the pipes but you get the picture.
At the moment I feel like I'm standing on a shore looking out over the water and trying to decide which way to go first. There are a few options out there and most of them seem pretty good but I'm stumbling over the one thing I need the most, clarity.
I keep thinking back to a quote attributed to my favourite actress, Jodie Foster. "If I failed I will have failed my way." Or something like that. I guess when you sit back and look at the big picture with the benefit of a few years under your belt you realise more and more that life moves to its own pace. What goes around comes around and if you make a mistake it's not the end of the world, unless you're standing outside the Pentagon after rumbling the NSA to the world press. Then you will have to do as Roger Waters sings and run like hell.
There are things I have to try and some might pan out and others will be a dead loss. One of the things I learned from my last book The Boston Slasher was not to pay anyone for publishing, end of story. No caveats, fine print or ah buts allowed. If a publisher believes in you enough to actually take your document and turn it into a book then they pay ALL the costs up front and pay you royalties once they've recouped their costs. I'm having a second look at The Boston Slasher and contemplating how to get it back from the publisher but that's a story for another day. No reputable publisher EVER asks you to pay and the same goes for agents. Never ever hand over a reading fee to an agent. Basically they only make money if you do and once they've got you on their books it's incumbent on them to make you and them loads of money. The point is that we all make mistakes and hindsight is always perfect. I screwed up by letting go of the book and allowing someone else to 'handle it' for me. They're too big to sue and I can't afford a lawyer so we swallow our pride because it's not fattening as they say and move on. Learn your lessons and don't repeat the same mistake twice, well try not to anyway. We all have off days!
So with that in mind it's onward and upward, this is a long journey and I'm not looking to get famous in five minutes. I can't afford the nervous breakdown that goes with fame!
Now back to that blocked sink.
Don't forget to check out The Deepening Dark on Smashwords too! At $1.99 or £1.74 if you're on this side of the Pond it's a steal.
It's been nearly three weeks since The Deepening Dark was released and I'm discovering why I hate marketing so much. In two words, it sucks. It sucks up time that could be spent writing, it sucks up time that I need to spend doing other things like, eating, sleeping, and what's that weird smell coming from the kitchen sink? I must get something to clean the pipes but you get the picture.
At the moment I feel like I'm standing on a shore looking out over the water and trying to decide which way to go first. There are a few options out there and most of them seem pretty good but I'm stumbling over the one thing I need the most, clarity.
I keep thinking back to a quote attributed to my favourite actress, Jodie Foster. "If I failed I will have failed my way." Or something like that. I guess when you sit back and look at the big picture with the benefit of a few years under your belt you realise more and more that life moves to its own pace. What goes around comes around and if you make a mistake it's not the end of the world, unless you're standing outside the Pentagon after rumbling the NSA to the world press. Then you will have to do as Roger Waters sings and run like hell.
There are things I have to try and some might pan out and others will be a dead loss. One of the things I learned from my last book The Boston Slasher was not to pay anyone for publishing, end of story. No caveats, fine print or ah buts allowed. If a publisher believes in you enough to actually take your document and turn it into a book then they pay ALL the costs up front and pay you royalties once they've recouped their costs. I'm having a second look at The Boston Slasher and contemplating how to get it back from the publisher but that's a story for another day. No reputable publisher EVER asks you to pay and the same goes for agents. Never ever hand over a reading fee to an agent. Basically they only make money if you do and once they've got you on their books it's incumbent on them to make you and them loads of money. The point is that we all make mistakes and hindsight is always perfect. I screwed up by letting go of the book and allowing someone else to 'handle it' for me. They're too big to sue and I can't afford a lawyer so we swallow our pride because it's not fattening as they say and move on. Learn your lessons and don't repeat the same mistake twice, well try not to anyway. We all have off days!
So with that in mind it's onward and upward, this is a long journey and I'm not looking to get famous in five minutes. I can't afford the nervous breakdown that goes with fame!
Now back to that blocked sink.
Don't forget to check out The Deepening Dark on Smashwords too! At $1.99 or £1.74 if you're on this side of the Pond it's a steal.
And while we're in marketing mode, check out Makayla Yokley's latest installment in The Violet Chronicles, Triton
