I'm an author. A lot of stuff goes on in my head which I do my best to transfer to the page. What's in there doesn't always come out right, but I keep trying. It's an addiction I can't shake. I need to express my thoughts and feelings in words. Writing's not always easy, but I have to do it. When I finish a manuscript, I get a feeling of relief, followed by a letdown. I've done it. It's over. Now what am I going to do? I've lived in that particular world for a long time. How can I get out of it?
Getting out is a must. Not only that, I need to emerge into the light of day and let everyone in the whole world know about the brainchild I've created.
I've gotten a contract for my book. I can relax. Wrong. I thought writing the book was tough, but the NAME GAME is even tougher. It means getting reviews. It means designing and putting up a website. It means getting bookmarks and business cards printed, then handing them out at likely places like bookstores and libraries and unlikely spots like doctor's offices and restrooms. It means talking managers and owners of bookstores into carrying my book and/or let me have a booksigning. It means going to conferences, appearing on panels, and networking with other authors. It means trying to get speaking engagements at libraries and getting my book onto their shelves.
Wait there's more -
It means doing unusual things like riding in a car and waving in the Arlington Heights Festival parade which has the theme of Read A Good Book Lately. It means gathering friends on MySpace, Bebo, Facebook, anywhere else that's popular . It means joining e-groups. It means setting up a group at http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com along with other individual blogs scattered over the internet. It means trying to be useful to others by setting up a book promo network, called Book Place at http://bookplace.ning.com
It also means taking videos of events such as Love is Murder and Authorfest and putting them up at http://youtube.com under my username of morganmandel
I think you get the idea. Being an author involves more than writing a book. It involves playing the NAME GAME really well. I'm doing my best. It remains to be seen if I succeed.
Morgan Mandel
www.morganmandel.com
www.myspace.com/morganmandel
http://bookplace.ning.com
No comments:
Post a Comment