I’m not here much, am I. I’m hardly on the forum, either. Because (1) I’m trying to write the Thing That Must Not Be Named. (2) I’m putting together the end of the month email newsletter and all the bits and pieces that go into it. Some interesting announcements, I think. And (3) Both the Girlchild and the Mathematician are ailing.
Re (2): You’ll only hear the interesting news if you sign up for the danged newsletter. And, I’ve got a small pile of books put aside for the person whose name I draw this time. So put your name on the list. You can opt out at any time.
The truth is, these days an author can’t afford to just let the publisher take care of marketing. Because they can’t, or won’t. And most of us can’t afford a first class publicist (or any publicist, for that matter). I do what I can to keep you amused, put interesting reading material in your hands, and remember my stories when you go to a bookstore or login to Amazon.
Of course I have no idea how much good any of it does. There are people out there who swear up and down that the right internet media blitz will put you on the best seller list, but in my opinion there’s a big dash of fate involved, no matter how much you invest in time, money and energy. Unless you happen to be Harry Frankfurt and you’ve got a publicist who can get you onto the freakin Daily Show with Jon freakin Stewart.
I will forever be wondering about that.
At any rate, I like staying in touch with the readers, but sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day.
If you’ve got questions you’d like me to answer, speak up. Then I will make a concerted effort to answer them (and thus, post).
Why did you choose New Orleans for Queen of Swords?
Hello! I do have a question for you. Do you use a novel-writing software? (Or something like Final Draft, which has a novel-writing component.)