THE Group for Authors! discussion
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Matt Drabble
Writer's Circle
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Getting the "right" readers to read my work
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Hmmm. I'm pretty sure my books will piss people off, but only if the wrong people read them. ;)
If the subject matter is deemed controversial (not my assessment, the general public's) and the author is astute enough to fan the flames, then the result is bound to be highly charged. The only question then becomes: "Am I the man for the job, and did I present a lucid case." If the answer is "no", then I can always teach!
It was meant to be humorous Dean, not offensive. I put the inflammatory stuff in the book, and am savingthe uberstormenfuhrer outrages for effort #2.
Edward wrote: "Hmmm. I'm pretty sure my books will piss people off, but only if the wrong people read them. ;)"That's one of the problems with fiction. If characters or plot don't develop to suit the fantasies of the reader, he becomes disenchanted. With no characters and no plot, only ideas, I deal with the reader in a logical not emotional way - exploding logically means sales, imploding emotionally doesn't.
Hannah wrote: "Lol. I agree. Everyone reads books differently. Although we wish for results now now now. We don't always get it. Our lives revolve around books.....others don't."Excellent point, Hannah.
Finding the right readership is obviously the hardest task of all. My editor helped me focus on getting the pace and feel right for the genre: action adventure. But the book's been out for over a year, generated almost no reviews and hardly any sales. Still, I'm confident about its prospects. Some books take time to make an impact...
To generate interest in an old book, (and after 6 months of sitting on the shelves unsold, a book is old), write a new and better book. The more books you write and get published, the better the older books will be found again...
My second novel is now in the editing stages and will be published in August. And I've just written a synopsis for the third. I'll be well on my way in no time. Still, there's nothing stale about an old book if it's well written.
It has nothing to do with growing stale as much as it has to do with decaying interest.
'Though he asked no one about it, reluctantly and with feigned indifference answered his friends' inquiries as to how the book was going, and did not even inquire of the booksellers how the book was selling, Sergey Ivanovitch was all on the alert, with strained attention, watching for the first impression his book would make in the world and in literature.'But a week passed, a second, a third, and in society no impression whatever could be detected. His friends who were specialists and savants, occasionally--unmistakably from politeness--alluded to it. The rest of his acquaintances, not interested in a book on a learned subject, did not talk of it at all. And society generally--just now especially absorbed in other things--was absolutely indifferent. In the press, too, for a whole month there was not a word about his book.' - Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Social networking of a sort went on in coffee shops and bars, though if someone followed you it usually ended badly...
Most writers/artist of that time period also had patrons that footed the bills.
Now we're given a cup and told to bail the ocean. I had a patron for a spell, a wealthy New York heiress, but she demanded too great a price in return. I couldn't go there. Shame, because it didn't cost much to keep me writing...
Why do people always assume their book is controversial? I have heard so many people on this site use that word. To me that means that people have read it and have moral or ethical problems with it...but I always see it on new books that no one has read....