One of the key characteristics…

One of the key characteristics I have tried to personify as a writer, at least in my self-styled serious writing, is the willingness to embrace honesty. How that meshes with the expectations of book promotion is a little ambiguous to me.  I believe that most advertising is fated to be less than straightforward. Even as I promote my novel, Like a Child to Home, I try and maintain some ethical balance. Mine is a small novel. It has a few flaws which I hope will not detract from the content. Principally, it tells a series of stories about people who, I believe are as candidly portrayed as I could manage and still tell an engaging and enlightening tale.

Today, 10 days into a most unpleasant flu, I received a call from a little bookstore asking that my token 3 copies be picked up as there had been no sales. The store had been kind enough to accept my meagre consignment a few months ago. My promotional efforts have been weak and had failed to even mention this store on my website. I assume, however, that that oversight had little to do with the lack of sales.

Today is also the day that my one foray into a bookstore in the Lower Mainland comes to a scheduled end.  Sales were slightly better there and, as far as I know, one lonely book remains.

On the upside today, I had a heartening author/reader moment a few hours ago. I had awkwardly made my feverish way to the General Store to pick up a few provisions.  A friend riding by hailed me and expressed his satisfaction in reading my book. These sorts of impromptu encounters happen often in this small community.

To paraphrase my friend, the sometimes difficult content of Like a Child to Home served as a point-counterpoint to his less conflicted work experience and he offered an appreciation, not only for his professional experience, but for the challenges that were, he assumed, mine, as portrayed in my fictional aperitif.