To paraphrase a line from one of my favorite “bad” movies (Big Trouble in Little China) - “I must be monumentally naive.” For some strange reason I expect writers to support one another, to help each other through the hard patches and cheer each other on during the good times. I’m not sure why I feel this should be so, but I do.
And it does happen, of course. Still…
What put me onto this notion? A couple of things.
A woman writer told me that last year she displayed her books at the Big E (Eastern States Exposition, for those of you not from New England) along with some other writers. She’s gung-ho about her work, willing to peddle and hustle where she may to get the words out there, and she does pretty darned well. She had a nifty display and a free giveaway, etc. She pulled people in. She got out there and CONNECTED.
She sold well. In fact, she outsold the other writers in her group. In return, she received nothing but flak. Some of those other writers complained to the “governing board” (and I use that term very loosely) of their writers group, saying that she had an “unfair advantage” because she had the giveaway. No one said they couldn’t do a give-away; they chose not to. The upshot? Instead of telling those writers to get a life and promote their books (which is half the work of being a writer), the “governing board” capitulated and told this woman that she couldn’t do stuff like that anymore. Basically, I think they want her to act like the rest of them — sit like a lump behind your table and wait for Mecca to come to you.
Personally, were I her, I’d pull my support and go find another sandbox to play in. There are writers out there who would be more than willing to pony up the money to share a booth with her and sell their books and support each other.
It’s daunting when you’re at a book sale and not selling, but the person beside you can’t do business fast enough. (I experienced some of that recently.) Sure it’s ego-bruising. But it’s not their FAULT! Maybe you need to compare what they do to push their books and what you’re doing. Maybe you could (Heaven forbid!) learn something from them or even ask their advice. And maybe the venue just isn’t for the type of book you’re selling and you need to look elsewhere.
I did an event with this woman. She busted her fanny — she found the venue, made all the connections, laid out a lot of cash for the space, tents, tables, her own display stuff. She could have kept it all to herself, but she generously offered the area to other writers for their use. She got a huge response. Know what kind?
Some just wanted her to peddle their books for them, without putting in an appearance themselves (like she’s going to work to sell someone else’s books when she’s too busy selling her own). Some came and sat behind their tables and never once engaged the people who walked by. She had little help in setting up and several of those who came to help spent the set-up time complaining and arguing about how it should be done, instead of thanking her for her hard work and being supportive and getting the word DONE! They took what could have been a good time and chose to make it difficult.
In fairness, there were writers there who worked the crowd (and it was a TOUGH crowd), those who tried to engage people and talk about books. But those writers were in the minority.
We all want to be best-selling authors. We all want the customers to buy OUR book and NOT that book over there. We all feel a twinge when our book doesn’t sell and someone else’s does. We all take a bruise to the ego after a long, hot afternoon of selling and nothing to show for it. Still…do we have to take it out on those who do well? I don’t think so.
Then again, maybe I AM monumentally naive.
