Life During the Golden Age of Self-Promotion
Whether we like it or not, the only three Western art forms still at their peak vitality are real estate, finance banking, and--most of all--self-promotion. I personally hate promoting myself and my books, but liking it is optional; doing it is what matters. So for more than two months prior to the publication of my fourth novel, The Same River Twice, I, aided by my tireless publicist at Knopf, have become a self-promoting machine I barely recognize. The situation is so different from when I published my first novel (in 1981)that I don't know whether to laugh or weep. Back then, self-promotion was considered both unseemly and unnecessary. You had publicists to do all that for you, but now you are expected (and I do, I do) to enter into a 24-hour-a-day partnership with the publicity machine as part of being a writer. As I look ahead at my calendar, I begin to wonder when I will be allowed to start writing again. Normally I would be well into the next book by now, but there's a job to be done so . . . I do it. And this is part of today's contribution:
http://tiny.cc/TheSameRiverTwice-RH
Cheers.
http://tiny.cc/TheSameRiverTwice-RH
Cheers.
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John
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May 08, 2010 12:59PM
Ted, thanks for this, & my compliments & sympathies. Still love to see a copy for possible review, whenever they're available.
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Brent,Yes, I try not to think too much about the state of U.S. publishing. 34% fewer books were sold in this country over the last 12 months than over the the previous 12. Big publishers are aiming to publish a full 50% fewer books as soon as they can get it down to that number. The problem is that, like any art, literature is emphatically NOT democratic, and many people who blog or post on, say, Amazon simply don't have the right to an opinion. Too bad, but that's just one of the million things wrong with misapplying the concept of "democracy." None of this, of course has anything to do with you, or any of a dozen other very insightful bloggers; but "freedom of expression" (again misunderstood) makes no distinction between the gifted and the ignorant.
Anyway, my policy is that anything I post publicly on the Internet may be quoted or referred to or whatever, while any of my "real" writing, all of which is copyrighted, is off limits. Just as in the real world, legal action follows copyright violation.
Which is to say thank you so much for your generous interest in my (and other people's) work. If we had even 100 more people as genuinely excited by literature and as generous in sharing their enthusiasm, U.S. publishing might not be in the nosedive it is. So, within the (pretty obvious)copyright limitations mentioned above, please feel free to comment on or quote anything of mine on the Internet or comment on my books.
I hope you're doing great, and, again, we are all blessed by your rare and generous nature.
All the very best,
Ted
Ted, I've got to extend my thanks as well -- & my respects -- for the time & thought you gave to this exchange.
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