Am I the only one who doesn't have a mammoth family? I have my mom and my sister and a cousin who apparently didn't buy my book because she didn't want her kids to see the cover. (What?!...flimsy.)
I've talked about the frustration of Blog Snobbery. Where someone constantly touts themselves but never visits other websites or blogs.
But what about the more painful kind of "snobbery"? The, "I'm too good to buy your book", snobbery.
I recently received my monthly statement (though it is being redone I believe) for From The Ruins and had to fight disappointment when I learned that I still hadn't run out my advance. Considering the advance money only covered a minimum payment on a credit card, I assumed it would be paid back the first week of my release. After all, there were tons of people that swore they couldn't wait to buy my book when it came out.
I was wrong.
When I received the May statement, I called a few "friends" and acquaintances questioning their lack of purchasing power. The majority swore again that they would "make it up" to me.
I stared at the June spreadsheet for a while like I had done in May and counted how many acquaintances I have...that are lying their asses off.
LOL!!
With the amount of promises I received...the advance would have been paid out THAT DAY. Release day! But it wasn't. I ranted, I raved, I had a bunch of people saying they bought it and my company is stealing from me.
Nice try.
The real problem is...I don't have "best friends" up the wazoo and I don't have family members outside of my mom and sis really. So everyone I depended on were friends of Dan's or Internet friends. Acquaintances that really could careless if they have broken a promise to me.
I used to be annoyed. But now that my focus is broadening, I'm okay with the knowledge that I don't have a 50 person group of friends and relatives that will push the sales of my book along. I'm okay with the knowledge that I'm going to have to depend strictly on talent, a publishing house's marketing as well as my own, and strangers who love my writing, to make it to the top.
I guess at least I'll know how I got there. Right?....right?
Unfortunately, it makes more work for me. ::Sighs:: There are times when I wish I had more family. ::grins::
Best,
Allure
3 comments:
You don't need a large family. It's dependable people you need. I got a country-full of relatives, but, only a few I could count on my fingers on one hand who are dependable. I count myself lucky to have those few.
But you need to put a "buy link" of your published books in your blog's side bar for people like me who would like to have a little nosey about your work but do not have a link to go to :(
I was just about to leave the same comment. We need a link!
You're both totally right. I didn't even think about it. Of course...I don't know how to do it either. How ridiculous is that? Lmao!
I'll figure it out and do it for my next release for sure!
Thanks for the advice!
Allure
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