I'm a Writer, Not a Marketer

I haven't updated my site in forever.  This is because I was feeling discouraged and uncertain about the future.

I'm still uncertain about the future, but I'm less discouraged. 

Basically, I got caught up in envy and resentment.  Why do so many books that suck sell better than mine, which do not suck?  Why don't I have a hit?  Why do the most annoying people on earth have tens of thousands of twitter followers who retweet their every word?  Why do people fawn over books that suck? Boo hoo!  Poor me!  Etcetera!

My writing career is kind of on a knife edge right now.  I believe TESSA MASTERSON WILL GO TO PROM has outperformed (very low) expectations. It's currently available in 271 library systems.  Otherwise, it's not really selling.  Bookstores aren't stocking it, so the only way to get it is to order it. Which you're probably not going to do if you don't know it exists. 

Good news: it's getting a paperback edition with a cool cover.  No idea if this one will get stocked in the brick n' mortar stores, but they're always more likely to stock a paperback.And recognition of its awesomeness will probably continue, which may build some momentum.

But, I mean, really, I'm awfully sick of caring about this stuff.  I'm sick of trying to figure out how to market myself on social media. I'm sick of always second-guessing myself--is there something else I should have done?  Is that tipping point where a book catches fire just one annoying self-promotional tweet away? This kind of thinking (which is fed by the millions of annoying "here's what every writer MUST do" blog posts that I have now stopped reading) is freaking exhausting.

I've got to focus on the writing.  Emily and I had a really nice conversation with a bunch of folks who read the book (okay, okay, they were my coworkers) last week, and it felt great. 

And writing feels great.  Trish and I recently finished revisions on ESCAPE FROM ASSLAND, coming next year from Egmont.  It's freaking awesome.  I've got 2 novels in the can that I'm really proud of, and I'm working on three more. I'm excited about all of them and always look forward to finding time to work on them.

So somebody else is going to have to worry about selling them for a while. I've got to worry about writing. Oh, I know, I've seen the blog posts: all writers must be marketers or face obscurity!  But I'd rather be an obscure and happy  and successful writer (by which I mean one who enjoys and is proud of his work) than a miserable failed marketer. 

What does this mean?  I have no idea.  I guess it just means I'm going to be trying to focus on things that don't depress me or turn me into an angry, resentful little troll (I mean, moreso than usual).  There may be other implications.  I don't know what they are yet.