WEEKEND TIP OFF.

Status: On vacation

Doing: Writing this blog; eating sunflower seeds.

Watching: Biography on political cartoonist Paul Conrad. (PBS.)

Listening to: "Hau Ruck" by KMFDM, "Military Fashion Show" by And One; "Wired Hate" by Sterile

Reading: Resistance by J.M. Dillard (ST-TNG)


TOPIC: PITCHING YOURSELF--AS THE AUTHOR

Time and time again, I find myself staring at all these e-mails; from fellow writers who have books published through places like Lulu.com. (Seems as though the majority have gone through this vanity publisher. And while most of their books are good--I somehow come away with the impression that they are...I dunno...lacking something. Presence maybe? No. Not presence. Something else.)

Each one trying their hardest to get people to click on their offered link.

And what I see is a lack of enthusiasm in the process.

It seems as though when we all get published, the wind gets punched out of our sails--and we're here; drifting aimlessly about--hoping to get a good second wind to recharge the ol' batteries.

But it's much too late: Most of these authors have already lost their chance to clinch a sale.

It's not as much as to pitch yourself in the fewest words possible, but to communicate more about yourself and your books as you possibly can.

Too much information may be your best bet--because too little will be a definite killjoy.

No one likes reading something that resembles a Sudoku puzzle--lemme tell you.

And I'm not saying, 'Load your pitch with as much useless shit as possible, but to really communicate with your reader audience on what you're trying to accomplish.'

That's where the sales come in.

So why be gun shy about it?

Remember what I said about The Starchild?

In the first part of that mock interview, I said: "The novel is about a 14-year-old girl given the mantle of the legendary Starchild of Ancient Lore."

Granted, there's not much there to grab the reader's interest--but it would be perfect in an interview.

Remember: An interviewer's time is short, so you can't spend a whole lot of it dinking around.

Short is better here.

But when you are preparing yourself for the pitch to your audience, you can't afford to take shortcuts.

You have to really show your reading audience that you have a book worth reading and worth buying.

Otherwise, you'll end up with mounting frustration and little else in the way of a concilation prize.

Some things I have also noticed in past e-mail posts is that the author gives no information--except a plea to check out his or her site, and offer to buy the book.

A book that no one knows about.

Why?

Because the author spent zero time building up his or her audience.

So when it came to 'crunch time'--they had nothing to go on. Nothing to reel their respective audience in with.

Just a name and a link. And what's worse, they kept repeating themselves blindly after that; oblivious to the reality that they are killing themselves both financially and emotionally.

Other authors I've seen try to go one step further, but their pitches sound more like a newspaper obituary than anything else.

Again, they've failed to reel in their respective audience because they are lacking in one thing: Enthusiasm.

They may have an outstanding book, but the sad thing is, is that they burnt themselves out writing it, and didn't spend an equal enough time promoting and advertising themselves with relish. (I like my jumbo spicy dogs with mayo and mustard. Relish is just an added bonus.)

They were so wrapped in writing that Great American Novel--they had forgotten to hold onto the three important things needed to pitch a successful novel:

1) Enthusiasm
2) Enthusiasm
3) Enthusiasm

Why enthusiasm?

How else are you going to get a following--if you don't have as much faith and belief in your books as when you first started?

If you don't show your reader how ethusiastic you are about your writing and your books, no one will care who you are when it comes to print.

So get excited and don't spare the horses! Show your reading audience the glory of your novel and don't be afraid to take chances!