Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Farewell, celebrity!

Last night I met an intelligent and inquisitive group at Chichester Library who had gathered to hear my observations on 'The Road to Publication'. Some of them were kind enough to buy the book or indicate that they had already read it (so particular thanks to Helen, Elisabeth and Phil). I enjoyed the evening and I hope the audience of twenty or so did too.

The evening did, however, mark the end of my brief period of celebrity. Having taken part in half a dozen or so events to promote The Dog of the North, the diary is now empty. With an Amazon sales ranking of 350,000, the book is slowly slipping from the very limited prominence it once enjoyed. (At least until the paperback launch next year...).

There is an expectation in today's publishing industry that the writer will be prepared to do the legwork of publicising the book, giving talks, sitting on panels, holding signings etc. This is perfectly reasonable--after all, I want people to buy and read the book, and putting myself out there in person is a good way of doing it. It was something I regarded as a necessary evil, but having been through the process, to my surprise I find it was fun.

Now, of course, I need to concentrate on what put me there in the first place: writing commercial fiction. The Last Free City is moving along, if at no great pace. It is not out of the question that we will see a first draft by Christmas.

For today, though, we wave a cheerful adieu to our period in the admittedly low-wattage literary spotlight. To all of you who came along to the events, thanks for your support. I hope to see some of you again in the future!

::Acqured Taste will continue unabated with progress updates, reviews, recommendations and the occasional item to defy categorisation...

1 comment:

David Isaak said...

It's a bit different when you're not residing in the country where you're being published. More like how Don Marquis described publishing a book of poetry: dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.