Comments on: The Way We Write Now: Novelists and Their Blogs http://www.williamlanday.com/2009/05/22/the-way-we-write-now-novelists-and-their-blogs/ Official web site of the author of "Defending Jacob" Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:39:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bill http://www.williamlanday.com/2009/05/22/the-way-we-write-now-novelists-and-their-blogs/#comment-7 Bill Fri, 22 May 2009 18:46:35 +0000 http://williamlanday.com/blog/?p=13#comment-7 Michele, I think you have it exactly right. Like it or not, writers do have to be entrepreneurs now. What makes it especially difficult for us writers, though, is that there is no direct contact with the customer (because books are consumed in private) and during the long stretches between books the writer really has no product to market anyway, except his back list which sells very slowly in the absence of a new book. That and the fact that, after spending months alone with our thoughts and our made-up characters, we novelists often are not the most extroverted people anyway! Thanks for chiming in. Michele, I think you have it exactly right. Like it or not, writers do have to be entrepreneurs now. What makes it especially difficult for us writers, though, is that there is no direct contact with the customer (because books are consumed in private) and during the long stretches between books the writer really has no product to market anyway, except his back list which sells very slowly in the absence of a new book. That and the fact that, after spending months alone with our thoughts and our made-up characters, we novelists often are not the most extroverted people anyway! Thanks for chiming in.

]]> By: Michele Levy http://www.williamlanday.com/2009/05/22/the-way-we-write-now-novelists-and-their-blogs/#comment-6 Michele Levy Fri, 22 May 2009 18:00:08 +0000 http://williamlanday.com/blog/?p=13#comment-6 Not sure how palatable this is to all the writers out there, but I suspect that these days a writer has to think of him/herself as an entrepreneur. In which case, you need to not only create your product (a book) but market it (with, for instance, a blog). One of the big aha's of having my own consulting business is that doing things like running the business and marketing the business IS part of my job now...not like before when someone else in the company did that and I could just focus on client work. I AM the company now, with all that entails. Not sure how palatable this is to all the writers out there, but I suspect that these days a writer has to think of him/herself as an entrepreneur. In which case, you need to not only create your product (a book) but market it (with, for instance, a blog). One of the big aha’s of having my own consulting business is that doing things like running the business and marketing the business IS part of my job now…not like before when someone else in the company did that and I could just focus on client work. I AM the company now, with all that entails.

]]> By: Doug Cornelius http://www.williamlanday.com/2009/05/22/the-way-we-write-now-novelists-and-their-blogs/#comment-5 Doug Cornelius Fri, 22 May 2009 15:00:58 +0000 http://williamlanday.com/blog/?p=13#comment-5 Bill - Great to see you grabbing hold of your own marketing. As for blogging versus writing, if you are going to be distracted form writing, the distraction might as well be other writing. Bill -

Great to see you grabbing hold of your own marketing.

As for blogging versus writing, if you are going to be distracted form writing, the distraction might as well be other writing.

]]> By: King Rat http://www.williamlanday.com/2009/05/22/the-way-we-write-now-novelists-and-their-blogs/#comment-4 King Rat Fri, 22 May 2009 13:04:33 +0000 http://williamlanday.com/blog/?p=13#comment-4 Good luck finding your balance. I don't think it has to be quite so difficult to balance the two as one would imagine, but it does require self-discipline. As to figuring out how much a book will sell, that's a tough thing to figure. Unlike widgets, where you can calculate how many thingamabobs are already out there that will need replacement widgets or the like, books don't have anywhere near as firm a base to figure sales on. I looked at opening a bookstore a couple of years ago and really got bogged down trying to figure out anything about possible sales. That's a little different that predicting the sales of the "next book by author X" though. Good luck finding your balance. I don’t think it has to be quite so difficult to balance the two as one would imagine, but it does require self-discipline.

As to figuring out how much a book will sell, that’s a tough thing to figure. Unlike widgets, where you can calculate how many thingamabobs are already out there that will need replacement widgets or the like, books don’t have anywhere near as firm a base to figure sales on. I looked at opening a bookstore a couple of years ago and really got bogged down trying to figure out anything about possible sales. That’s a little different that predicting the sales of the “next book by author X” though.

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