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Blogs by Russell A Vassallo
Inside Story 5/6/2016 4:45:40 AM
I never intended marketing my own books. It was just something I backed into after we learned how the writing industry really works. The big publishers will not waste time on an unknown author. The Best Seller's List is a fraud as well. And smaller publishers want money upfront and a percentage of everything they do. And there are those charlatans who prey like raptors on your dreams of writing the Great American Novel.
We tried the bookstores and do sell in a very few. We have some online presence but are not willing to abandon personal contact. And yes, it's a lot of hardship and work to haul off every weekend for a festival when the weather is right and we could be horseback riding or traveling. But then there are the compensations: the people we meet, the new places we visit, those in need of advice or help, those with a dream to write a book. There are intangibles involved in writing that one cannot compensate for.
Would I want to write a book that sells three or four hundred thousand copies? Yes! But not if it costs me the human equation of meeting my readers face-to-face. If I had to give that up just to be a success, I'd rather not.
I did not come to that revelation immediately. The seed was sown when I burned one hundred copies of "Tears and Tales" because the book wasn't selling in the numbers I thought it should. I was judging success based on numbers and on finances. The process took a long time to unfold. I recalled how I'd helped cancer patients by telling them of my dreams. How something I wanted to do gave them hope to struggle on. No, not all of them survived. Some didn't make it. That was their kismet. Those that did became the nucleus of why I continued writing, continued struggling.
And then there are the readers, those who write fan letters, or send comments, or buy additional books for their family and friends. There are those who are driven by desire to help me succeed. That generosity of spirit is what drives me to continue. It is why I sit in a cold basement pounding out newsletters so perhaps I bring a smile to someone. It is the praise i did not receive from a harsh parent who saw nothing positive in what I did. Now I have a "public", small though it is, and they appreciate the dream and the man.
Every time we attend a festival or book event, my prayer is always the same. "Lord, let us do well selling our books today. But if it is not Your Will, then send me someone to help." So far, there has always been someone who needed that help.
