I don’t often go on drunken rants, but the one time I did in recent memory, it was about how much I hate libraries. Whoa there. Put down your pitchfork. I don’t really hate libraries. I love libraries, same as the next nerd. But what got me going on this particular night a couple of […]
A Fraud from the Beginning: A new adventure, page one
I started a new book last week. I mean, technically, I “started” a “book,” but all that means is I have a few scenes from a hypothetical story outlined in a notepad and sketched out on my computer. That’s not a book. That’s not really anything. In fact, I stumbled over the first line of this blog for some time, because even saying, “I started a new book” sounds like a fraudulent statement.
It’s funny how the tiny beginnings of major happenings can make you feel exactly like that, like a fraud, just pretending to be something you have far more fantasies about than experience. It’s like referring to yourself by a fancy new title on your first day of work, or commenting on your marriage the day after your wedding. The claims feel sort of contrived and uncomfortable. Technically, you are those things, but it still feels like you’re faking it.
Indie authors, marketing and the art of trying whatever
When you’re in a centuries-old trade that has been completely turned on its head, there are no rules by which to be guided, nor to be bound. People have been writing and selling books for a super long time, but the indie author/POD/online marketing approach is brand spanking new. It’s an interesting challenge, because some of the tools you need have been around forever, but are entrenched in the old way of doing things, and others are simply so new, there’s just no way of knowing what the best ones are.
Natalie Burg 