One down (moving forward in 2012)

Reflecting on my resolutions for this year, I can now say that I have done two of them. Thomas Redpool is published, and I tried my hand at vlogging. It's time to move on to the others, but not before I revel a little that I actually got something done that I put my mind toward.

Self-publishing a book, let me just say, is every kind of difficult there can possibly be. While not without its myriad benefits and rewards it is, at heart, a one-man-show when it comes to the "marketing" aspect. In many areas of my life I know I'm not the most patient of persons, but crossing my fingers and hoping for the best when my own efforts were involved has never been an easy thing to do. Fortunately, I have a natural inclination not to be a human obstacle, so I try not to be so in-your-face about

"Hey, buy my book! Why haven't you bought my book yet? You know I write books, right? You should buy it, it's really good!" 

This is a double-edged sword since, while I'm not being incredibly obnoxious, my "message" isn't exactly reaching many ears. I've complained about this before, so I'm not going to give it much more real estate than I already have; just let me bitch for a minute that getting people to read books isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world.

And, to be clear, it isn't that my family and friends aren't supportive. That's the furthest thing from the truth. But I'd have to have a lot more family and friends if they're going to be the only ones buying/reading my books, eh?

Video blogging, on the other hand, only has one major drawback--and it's the same drawback that text blogging has. Content, or lack thereof. A person can blog their virtual ass off so long as they have something pertinent and relevant to say and, if the not-so-sudden influx of crickets around here have not tipped you off, I really haven't had all that much to share. Besides, I'm curious to see or hear any kind of information on exactly how helpful it is to put yourself on YouTube as opposed to just blogging. Seems to be that there's still a major hurdle to get over in that you need to get attention, and I'm pretty sure it's rare for a talking head to go viral (unless they're wearing a really nifty hat, perhaps?).

I usually refrain from public complaint about my own problems. It doesn't accomplish anything, and tends to only lead to throwing temper tantrums that no one is paying attention to that either. Not a healthy or mature road to go down, and certainly not something you want to engage in if you want anyone to take you seriously (as an author or otherwise).

Things in publishing, as in most parts of life, move agonizingly slow. It takes a decent amount of time to write a quality manuscript, even longer to edit that into a publishable manuscript, and even longer to turn that into a real-life book... then comes the real waiting of seeing if anyone will buy it, read it, like it, review it, and so on. Any attempt to shortcut or bypass any of these things is asking for trouble, even if it's well-intended or flashy. Even if it achieves the result you want, it can leave an impression or stigma that you really don't want, and you need to make sure you're weighing consequences before you open your mouth [and insert both feet].

So that's what I have for today. One project published and for sale, the next nearly ready to be edited in earnest before it's queried out, then one more left to finish writing before the end of the year. Nothing but good stuff here, people.



Click here to order your copy of Thomas Redpool Goes To Hell.

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