Francis Berger's Blog, page 187

Change in Focus

I began this blog as part of a rather unoriginal and weak "marketing strategy" for my self-published novel The City of Earthly Desire.  Possessing no real experience or talent in marketing and advertising and having no desire to dump thousands of dollars into a risky campaign that might never bear fruit, I generally followed the online marketing methods suggested by others. 

After a year of dabbling with book blog tours, review solicitations, book sites, author pages, and this blog, I have come to the realization that, for the most part, these activities do little to increase awareness of writers and their works.  Sure, there are some who have succeeded, but for the vast majority of authors looking for a little recognition, these pursuits and strategies are a waste of time. 

I was skeptical about my chances of getting noticed right from the start; the world has been flooded by an unimaginable deluge of self-published books and aspiring writers.  Regardless, I wanted to give a couple of things a try for the sake of experience and chance.  Well, I gained the experience and took the chance, and that's that.  I have not participated in any active marketing for months and I doubt I will do much in the future.  In terms of gaining recognition, I have decided the only way for me to get any is through more traditional means; therefore, I am focusing my energy on trying to get someone "on the inside" to take notice of my book. (Fat chance.)

In light of all of this, I began to question the purpose and existence of this blog which, on average, receives about two hits a day.  My initial impulse was to abandon it.  Because I viewed it as part of a "marketing strategy", I constrained the blog to bookish topics and my lame experiences as a self-published writer.  I purposely kept the focus of the blog narrow, the tone politically neutral,  and I avoided issues I truly cared about for fear of isolating, insulting, or alienating potential readers.  My posts were inconsistent and monochrome to say the least.  After a while I realized how counterproductive and contradictory the blog was in terms of a marketing tool: Here!  Read some really bland, poorly written posts that I hope will encourage you to read my exciting, well-written novel! 

So, what to do?  I have decided to continue this blog by shifting its focus away from being a marketing tool to being more of a venue for my thoughts and opinions regarding topics that are important to me as a writer and as a human being.  An open journal, more or less. From now on I will treat this blog as a means to keep the expressive juices flowing by focusing on issues and ideas I think important or intriguing.  I imagine the posts will invariably range from rough little rants to polished essays. 

Whatever happens, I am certain this change will inspire me to become a more creative and more consistent blogger in the future.

3 Wishes - The New Stephen Vizinczey Novel!

Stephen Vizinczey recently made an announcement - he has completed his novel 3 Wishes .    For the first time in many years, I am excited about the release of a book.

3 Wishes is a big deal. Here is why:

- Vizinczey is one of the world's greatest living writers. (In my mind, he is THE greatest living writer in the world today.)

- his last novel, the masterpiece An Innocent Millionaire , appeared in 1983.

- the release of 3 Wishes will finally break the thirty year silence since An Innocent Millionaire .

Why did it take thirty years to complete 3 Wishes ?  Vizinczey states it took him that long to "get it right."

Do yourself a favor and get the novel when it hits the shelves.  Though I have not read it yet, I have complete confidence that it will be great. 

Read the announcement on Stephen's blog by clicking here.

Music For A Snowy Night

It is currently -13 Celsius in Oak Ridges, Ontario and the snow has been falling since early morning.  Forecasters estimate 15 - 20 centimeters will accumulate before the storm ends in the morning.  We are pretty much guaranteed a white Christmas in this part of the world this year, which makes me happy.  Here's some music made for a snowy night.  For those of you living in warmer climates, just close your eyes and imagine going on a sleigh ride . . .

Another Beautiful Time-Lapse Video of Budapest

The more time passes, the more I realize how fortunate I am to have once called this magnificent city my home. Video courtesy of Norbert Nemeth. 

Self-Promotion Sucks - or, Why I Won't Self-Promote My Book To The Masses Anymore

For the past year or so I've been picking away at various marketing and self-promotion strategies for The City Of Earthly Desire.  I participated in a blog tour, offered giveaways on Goodreads, submitted free copies to a few book bloggers and readers, and offered free e-books through Amazon. I very much doubt I will do anymore of these kinds of promotional activities in the future.  Why?  The answer is simple - none of them really worked in terms of building any kind of audience for the novel. To be honest, I was neither surprised nor disappointed by this.  Deep-down I knew these strategies would lead to little, but I gave them a try all the same simply because I was curious.

Now, before I go any further I must stress that the amount of energy and money I've invested in marketing and promoting The City Of Earthly Desire has been tepid at best, so I never expected to build much of an audience in the first place.  The promotional activities in which I did participate were positive overall in terms reviewer responses.  Perhaps, some might say, if I were to invest more time, money, and energy into promotion I would succeed in building up a "platform." (I really despise that term whenever it used).  Perhaps.  But I doubt it. 

At the risk of sounding cynical, part of the reason I won't do any more of the suggested strategies for self-published writers is this: The marketing and promotion of self-published books is a mini-industry of its own full of opportunists who claim to be in the business of getting writers noticed.  They deliver on their promises of featuring writers, writing reviews, and issuing press releases on blogs all over the web, but more often than not, these strategies utterly fail to achieve what they are set out to do - build an audience for a book. 

The purpose of this post is not slag the marketers and bloggers who turn a few bucks trying to help writers get noticed. It is true that there are many writers out there who became successful through the means I described above.  I am not envious of the writers who have found success through these means.  I am truly happy for them and I wish I could be more tenacious when it comes to marketing and self-promotion, but I can't.  

The truth of the matter is this: I learned that I hate, I mean really hate, marketing and promoting.  Period.  End of story.  Even the little time I spent trying to get the word out seems like a waste; it took away precious time from what I really love to do, which is write.  If I do any promoting from here on, it will be aimed at people or services who really can help build an audience for the novel, not simply offer pointless web-presence and empty reviews to hopeful writers trying to build a name for themselves in an utterly oversaturated market.  I will keep my book out there on Goodreads and the rest of it, and I will continue to plug away at this blog, but I very much doubt I will offer anymore mass freebies or go on any future blog tours. From here onwards, I'll look for more meaningful ways to get the word out.
 
 

Blind Spots - or, The Limits of Self-Editing

I am not usually one for giving advice, especially to fellow independent writers, aspiring or otherwise, but if I were to make one recommendation to any author contemplating self-publishing a manuscript it would be this: if you can afford it, hire a professional proofreader or editor. 

If you can't afford or choose not to pay for the services of a professional, get as many people to proofread your manuscript as possible. The reason? Having others read over your manuscript will reveal the blind spots you are oblivious to in your own self-editing. 

How do these blind spots develop?  It's very simple.  Writers work with their manuscripts so intimately and intensely that, after a while, they read the text in their heads rather than the text on the page.  To this day, I am blind to some of the of the errors in my manuscript and only become aware of them when someone else points them out.  They are usually small errors and typos like missing or repeated words, but they are errors all the same. 

Don't deny the existence of blind spots - get as many proofreaders as you can before you place your book on the market.   

An Interesting Look At Budapest

This is a video of Budapest shot from what I believe is a remote control helicopter.  Interesting perspectives of some of the places that make an appearance in the novel, The City of Earthly Desire.  Enjoy!

New Cover.

Time For a New Cover

In the next week or so, The City Of Earthly Desire will have a new cover.  I don't know what prompted me to want to change it.  One morning I woke up, looked at the cover, and felt it was time for another take.

The current cover is an image by the Austrian artist Egon Schiele.  I thought it encapsulated many of the books ideas and themes and some of its subject matter - painting, art, sexuality, the difference between art and smut, etc.  

At the time, I also believed I had to include some sort of "erotic" image on the cover to make readers aware that the book does deal with sexual themes.  I chose a painted nude because I believed it projected that message without sinking to the level of most erotic and romance novel covers that employ bodice-ripping images to lure their readers.

In retrospect, I am not sure if my choice of cover was all that great and I don't know how people saw it or reacted to it.  In any event,  I'm going to try something else in the very near future - something that strays from the erotic.  Something a little more . . .   Stay tuned.  

Giveaway Contest Ends Nov. 12

One copy of The City of Earthly Desire available in giveaway on Goodreads until November 12.  Enter today!   .goodreadsGiveawayWidget { color: #555; font-family: georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; background: white; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget img { padding: 0 !important; margin: 0 !important; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget a { padding: 0 !important; margin: 0; color: #660; text-decoration: none; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget a:visted { color: #660; text-decoration: none; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget a:hover { color: #660; text-decoration: underline !important; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget p { margin: 0 0 .5em !important; padding: 0; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink { display: block; width: 150px; margin: 10px auto 0 !important; padding: 0px 5px !important; text-align: center; line-height: 1.8em; color: #222; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; border: 1px solid #6A6454; border-radius: 5px; font-family:arial,verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-image:url(https://www.goodreads.com/images/layo... background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color:#BBB596; outline: 0; white-space: nowrap; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink:hover { background-image:url(https://www.goodreads.com/images/layo... color: black; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; } Goodreads Book Giveaway The City of Earthly Desire by Francis Berger

Giveaway ends November 12, 2013.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win