Saturday, December 20, 2008

The search goes on

Had a nice meeting with a possible new publisher. She bought the coffee and we discussed the general malaise of the print publishing industry. Definitely not an auspicious beginning. We talked for about an hour. Plenty of time for her to get to know me. Then we said Goodbye and she offered to get back in touch after the holidays. Hmmm. We'll see I guess. I'm not very well schooled in that sort of "business speak" or verbal body language. I hope she was genuine and sincere but it could also have been her nice way of saying "no thanks." Hard to tell and I hate being cynical about such things. I'm not that way so maybe I'm more vulnerable then some. On a brighter note the demand for the book continues slow and steady. One bookstore bought more copies for the Christmas selling season and some individuals have asked to buy copies. We have a friend who makes craft soaps in her basement. She's been doing this now for a few years. Once she got started and began to sell some products she quit her day job and went into soap production full time. She and I are alike in many ways. Her with her soaps and me with my book. We're both selling "some" but not really setting the world on fire. Seems like we have the same problem to, ie. attracting some notice. She puts all her money into supplies and maufacturing and has neither time or cash left over for advertising, other then on the web. Me too. No money = no advertising and very little public awareness. No wonder celebs and others get into scraps with the law and the tabloids. Even negative press is something I guess. Oh yea, the publisher did ask about a second book. I told her I probably had enough stories already for another book. Perhaps that was a good sign. The winter issue of Wolf Moon Journal is out and one of my essays is featured. Hurrah for that. Perhaps the next step in the "journey of shameless self promotion" will be publishing on Kindle, Amazon's e-reader gizmo. After a few years in the market the thing seems to have established a niche or beach head and is attracting more interest. Amazon will take all the profits, but having a potential audience of a quarter million readers might make it worth the effort. Again time will tell. Ho ho ho and Merry Christmas.
The Winkumpaw