The Real Argument Against Self-Publishing (sort of)
Why you really shouldn't self-publish:
It is a full-time job.
CreateSpace produces the book (… Love Like a Dog), but I have to build a marketing plan. Sure, I've pruchased the press-release packet they provide. But no book comes into the world kicking and crowing because of a press release.
Marketing starts with: what is your "target goal?" Mine is to get my book read by pit bull owners and rescue shelters. It's a novel about a pit bull rescue that changes a family.
Know your motive: I came to write it because, years ago, I started volunteering at talented film maker are going to film the stories of people who have rescued dogs, especially pit bulls. If Love Like a Dog's rescue story has relevance it is because it is shared by the greater world. Yes! Unite! Join! This way, the chorus of voices will grow a bigger song, better, broader, and more complex and shared and fun.
Just that getting this organized involves:
Finding the film-maker
Setting up a "call for rescue stories " email address
Creating flyers for vets offices and pet supply stores
Lining up interviews (an average or 3-6 calls/emails per story, a bunch of which fall through when the person finds out they have to go somewhere to be filmed)
Selecting a date & site (and an alternate date/site
Reminder calls
Objects to bring to the event: (which we hold outside the entrance to Montrose Beach Harbor)
List:
(Ugly old) folding Table
Tablecloth (elegant disguise)
Large scotch tape dispenser to attach flyers of the book & story sharing to the tablecloth
(Promotion! Visibility!)
Books (one donated to each rescue story-teller)
Easel; (to display a book upright)
Plexiglass Flyer holder: (why do they cost so much– $8 minimum!!!)
Rope Tugs with little tag: (to give away; note it took hours to prep these)
(the tag says: Let a Dog Tug @ your heart
Nothing says Love like a dog.
Share your story at:
Lovelikeadog.net
Dog treats (to entice stray dog owners & help dogs stay still 7 concentrated)
Icebox & ice: (it's July in the Midwest; water & root beer & some goodies)
People food & blanket to sit on:
(Chips & salsa & more, because it's my student's birthday)
Raffle Box: (for dog owners with a spirit-of- gambling
Folding Chairs: (so the interview subject can sit down & help their dog sit, too)
Film-Equipment: (provided by the film-maker)
What Happens:
On the day of filming, none one of the ten people scheduled shows up. It's well, almost exactly like the publication ratio of to non-fiction (one book of fiction is published for every ten books of non-fiction, if you remember). One person calls to re-schedule.
Another lonely moment.
What You can't Plan On: But, but, but because Thomas Wolfe is right and magic is always ready to happen, we start talking to any stranger with a dog, asking for their stories, and these people leaving the beach with their wet, tired, happy dogs, say, "Sure I'll talk! And we get seven interviews in the next couple of hours. Carpe Diem! Oh we seized the day.
