I'm working on prepping my novella, BROKE DOWN ON THE ROAD TO GLORY, for publication. Much fun. Compiling all the chapters into a single file. Setting all the margins and borders and stuff. Converting a pile of words I've written into a "book." The dreams made real.
Now I just have do one last proof read, decide on a cover, update my bio, and send the files off to the printers for a proof. Oh boy!
My first self-published book, a collection of short stories rapidly assembled to serve as a present for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, sold a whopping 36 copies. I consider that a success.
Now I'm preparing to self publish my new novella, BROKE DOWN ON THE ROAD TO GLORY. How will I measure its success? I have set what I think are some realistic goals.
I want to sell 100 copies. That's a nice round number and only about three times the sales of my first book.
I want to get the book into a least one bricks and mortar bookstore. With all the independent book stores here in San Francisco that shouldn't be impossible to achieve.
I want to get at least one review of the book, favorable or not, into print or on the web. Perhaps I'm naive, but that doesn't seem like it should be too hard.
So that's how I'm going to measure success. Nothing earth-shattering. Humble beginnings and all that.
And if I fail, then I fail, but the failure will be my own. I don't have to apologize to any publisher or agent or anyone.
"Why do you write?" asked character one.
"To impress people." answered character two.
That little interchange is from THE CASE OF THE GILDED FLY by Edmund Crispin. I'm embarrassed to admit that I could be character two. Much of what I've written over the last few years has been assembled solely to impress people. Who am I trying to impress? Agents and publishers. Strangers whose attention is fought for by the huddled masses yearning to be published.
So what can I do about it? If I want to be published, to have the public read my books, I must play the game. I must persuade them that vast numbers of people will want to read my books. Of course I must first write the book that I believe will interest those vast numbers, and that hasn't happened yet. I've just been going through the motions because it's what I believed I was supposed to do.
So I'm not going to do it anymore. I'm going back to writing what I want to write. Maybe someday I'll have something that people will want to read. Until then I'll just inflict my works on family and friends, at least till they stop summing up my work as, "interesting."
