Daily affirmations of a word mercenary
Susan Etlinger quoted me from the panel today:
What about book tours? Ariel calls it an “ego-crumbling” experience, since no one goes to a reading unless they already know who you are. So she did many readings to eight people, “seven of whom were my friends, and the other one was some homeless guy who just wandered in.” So Ariel ended up doing her readings…in bars. Her advice? “Have your antidepressants in your pocket.”
I wanted to comment on this by saying that I exaggerated. Eight-person readings, honestly, were a luxury. There was one reading with the bookstore manager, my cousin, and a woman who wondered by and was curious. There were a couple other readings where even the homeless guy didn’t wander in. I’m serious: not one person.
Just needed to clarify that.
Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, is in bookstores now.
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Abigail Garner
July 28th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Ariel, rest assured you are not the only author to prep for what turned out to be an crowd of invisible fans. I highly recommend the anthology, “Mortification: Writers’ Stories of Their Public Shame,” edited by Robin Robertson. Seventy contributors wrote brief essays about their most cringe-worthy moments at bookstores, readings, and conferences. One 750-word dose of schadenfreude might work even faster than the happy pills.
shauna
July 29th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Hiya Ariel, you were bloody brilliant on the panel yesterday, I love your hilarious honesty and bluntness on the whole book process. I meant to say cheers in person for your proposal advice last year but you were mobbed by fans after the panel, so will say thanks again here
Also your live blogging was fantastic, I don’t know how you can be so articulate so damn quick, it is a killer skill!
Susan E
July 30th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Hey Ariel, glad to see that I didn’t misquote you…was typing as fast as I could! Many thanks for the reality check on the whole book tour fantasy.
Offbeat Bride | First anniversary of offbeatbride.com!
December 30th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
[...] with radio interviews, newspaper articles, and tv appearances. It was really REALLY exhausting, often demoralizing, and didn’t seem to do much for book sales, honestly. I mean, the book did fine … but [...]