Selling an Experience

Almost three months into this experiment of becoming an indie author, I am quickly concluding that this is no ordinary artist's gig. I suppose that is, as usual, an anti-climactic statement, but just another realization of how hard it is to become a widely celebrated artist in any form.

Don't get me wrong - I've heard from a good few handfuls of folks that I am on to something with "The Reaper's Seed." But the effort to match the result of becoming widely read is an elusive thing. Success takes time. That's hard to accept, especially while marketing to a world of people that are used to "instant everything."

Facebook, Twitter, and most news outlets are all instant news, high-hype, and momentary. It almost feels as if it is going to take a million, one-second invasions of the over-stimulated 2015 mind for me to get some attention. And that's just the initial contact.

Then I think of how much an author is asking when he or she says, "Think that cover is interesting? Spend 10+ hours reading what's behind it, working for it, imagining the story that I have woven together over several years." I may as well be asking people to run a marathon. Well, I guess in entertainment, that is what a novel is: a marathon. America seems to be more of a sprinting society these days. If it's a movie, people will watch it.

If a novel is asking people to run an entertainment marathon, then marketing one is like competing in an Ultraman.

Guess I better buck up.