Digging Those Ditches
by Gary Phillips
I don't mind hard work, but like anybody, I'd like to see my efforts pay off. Digging a ditch is fundamental, you either have a hole dug after a certain amount of time or you don't. Book selling on the other hand, seems to be a more mercurial undertaking. As it happens, me and some other writers, including Mr. Walpow, the head editor of this here site, are in the process of hawking our collective ware - Orange County Noir.
I'm the proud editor of this anthology of 14 original rugged tales of greed, lust and wantonness set behind the Orange Curtain. It's one thing to get such a collection together and a whole other thing to get the fine public to notice and maybe buy a copy. Thus the book tour came about when in the good old days, the publisher set aside a certain amount of money to send the writer around to book stores in various cities to meet and greet, read an excerpt, pump hands and hand sell your book. Now this still works for the likes of wolf killer Sarah Palin and Michael Lewis (The Blindside and the recent The Big Short about the meltdown), but us peasant writers have to work a lot harder, dig deeper to get the attention.
Except for the big names, publishers don't lay out the scratch for book tours these days. Too, the advent of the internet has changed the game considerably as I know of writers who now do "blog tours" where they get booked to be interviewed or guest blog on various blogs as a way to connect with potential fans. We of Orange County Noir are doing some of that but also relying on traditional means as well.
So do check out our signing schedule on the Akashic site, our publisher, and don't be a stranger. I'll be there, the guy with the shovel. Here's the link: http://www.akashicbooks.com/orangecountynoirevents.htm
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