Saturday, January 19, 2013

Maybe a lost art in the making?

A week has passed since my book went live on Amazon and already people have asked about signed copies.   Well, remember, my book is starting its life out as an e-pub. 

I'm not convinced that e-pubs are a sign of a dying print culture, but it is the newest avenue for a new author, like myself, to follow.   So far, I've done 75% of all the work... writing, re-writing, editing, re-editing, reading other people's edits, meeting with a book cover designer (who did the other 25% of the work), re-reading, re-writing, crying over an aching back...

Why have I invested time and money then chose the "easy" way according to Sue Grafton?   It's because my best bet to getting a physical copy.  Slush piles frighten me.  My book becomes another pile of paper sent through the home printer.   Let's face it -- right now I'm a nobody to the vast majority of the world.

Yes, I have a blog.  I have a published book... an e-book.  But, is that the end?  Maybe...

But hear this... Not for me!  I have to go the printer to get business cards and postcards produced to market my first book.  And then there's book two.  I am working on book two.   You don't want to be left hanging, do you?  Sam and the club have more adventures to tell me about.  Then there are the book fairs.  One in October, one in December.  And the press releases to the local neighborhood papers.  And there's the national magazine that I have to pay for advertising space. Whew!  I'm exhausted thinking about it.

OK.  So back to the point of this post.  Signing books.  In the future, when many books may just be in e-pub format, how are we going to autograph them?  Rumor has it that John Green just signs the Kindle or Nook.  That's interesting.

CSM

 

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