This All Seemed to Make Sense at the Time
Well, quite clearly, that isn’t a photo of me. But it seems to convey the way I feel about what I wrote and posted on my blog in September 2011. Let’s see what stupid thing I wrote.
BTW, that isn’t the original headline, either. What a shock, right? 🙂
I recently had a discussion with a friend on Facebook about fame and whether a person could avoid becoming famous. He seemed to think that if one was talented, that fame would necessarily follow. I contend that this isn’t the case.
We’ve agreed to disagree on this subject. However, here’s my position, for what it’s worth.
How does a person go about becoming famous? Talent alone? Of course not. Talent alone will get you nowhere fast. You have to take action and let people know about your talent.
Case in point (and at the risk of sounding a bit full of myself): me. I’ve written two novels that managed to hit the Kindle Top 100 on Amazon and Amazon UK. And my first novel became a New York Times bestseller last March. Did this just happen by itself? And was it because of amazing talent or shrewd marketing? Both? Am I really that good (at writing or storytelling or marketing) or am I just lucky?
Regardless of the reason for my success, I was the one to make it possible by publishing my book, i.e., I chose to make it happen.
Let’s roll the clock back to 2009. My career was (in so many words) dead in the water. My publisher had gone bye-bye, and I had an out-of-print novel. I could have waited and waited for someone to agree to republish it (which was a highly unlikely scenario, to say the least), but I chose to self-publish it, instead. I self-published it as an ebook (after reading about that on Joe Konrath’s blog — thank you, Joe!), then published the print version. Then I chose to market the book like gangbusters. Then I chose to price the ebook super-competitively. Then I began to really sell some ebooks. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was selling ebooks like hotcakes.
Now, bear in mind that all that time, I was dealing with a chronic condition that didn’t have an adequate treatment. One that made typing a genuine chore. Nonetheless, the doctors encouraged me to keep typing for rehabilitative purposes, even though there were no guarantees that my condition would improve. They’d tell me things like, “Don’t lose faith,” and “Don’t lose hope.” It’s hard to hang onto these things after a while. And I could have given up anytime. But I chose not to give up. And I chose hope, no matter how slim.
So I kept going and published another novel. And did the same thing. Priced it competitively and marketed it like gangbusters. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Now … at this point, I could choose to do many things. I could try to capitalize upon being a New York Times bestselling author. Try harder to find an agent. Toward what end? There are rights that an agent could handle for me, such as movie rights. However, how much time do I have to pursue this and how likely is this to happen? I could also hire a publicist and exploit my status, to the extent it’s worth anything these days, when authors like Amanda Hocking, John Locke and J.K. Rowling are the self-publishing headline-makers. However, I’m deliberately not doing this. I’m choosing not to place myself in the public eye.
I have plenty to deal with simply writing and marketing my work, at the moment. Thank you.
So, as an ebook author, I can avoid the glare of the public spotlight, but still reap the benefits of having a readership. Which is awesome.
PS: Yep. Plenty awesome.
PPS: I’m still not interested in being famous. I’d just prefer not to throw my money away while trying to sell a few books and write them. And write screenplays that may or may not be produced, etc., etc., etc.
PPPS: How the moronic have fallen, eh? 🙂
PPPPS: And this is one of those articles that makes me go WTF???
PPPPPS: Finally, someone who knows how to blog! 🙂
Originally published at http://randomandsundrythings.wordpress.com on February 25, 2022.
