I am in avoidance. I HATE promoting my stuff. Yet needs must when you publish your own work.
Writing PR does not come naturally to me. You try and be all bright and breezy and it turns out sounding fake, chummy and desperate. How do you sell your own creations? How to put a fair price on them? Know the value of them? When I can see its flaws and not its glory - I know every word in it, I have read it a hundred times over, and know every fact. How to see its freshness and gifts? How to know how it might honestly be received... and who might really need it?
So what I really want to write is this...
Look - I don't know if this book is good or not - what I do know is I have given it every ounce of my energy, a lot of research, an open heart, an honest sharing of my journey and a lot of really helpful resources to follow up.
And it might be just what you're looking for - it could, in the words of one, very sweet reviewer - change your life. I sincerely hope so.
But really I'm terrified that you'll hate it, that you'll find the lurking mistakes that I overlooked, the fragments of sentences that Microsoft Word sneered at, facts that are disputable... and then you'll judge me harshly, sneer at me, hate me, call a fatwa...
Here, for you, stranger, is my heart on a plate - please buy it and pay me fairly - know that I do not want to take money from you - that I hate to deal with money, to ask for it - but I must pay for the privilege of two days a week creative time, which I have promised to use to support my family. I have taken a risk and followed my heart, my deepest dream - to write a book - rather than to write safe articles which will sell to mainstream media, or do copy writing jobs that numb my brain to pay the bills. I want to offer you more and more money off, to know just the way to entice you to buy it... but in the end I play in a marketplace where prices are already decided - and the post service will probably make more from each copy than I will.
But this is PR - I cannot say any of this, anything really real. So I have to pretend that none of this is true. I have to pretend that it is the book you have most wanted in your entire life, that it is perfect, desirable - and find just the right words to make you buy it/ review it/ stock it.
What I dearly hope it that you will hold it close, that it will open parts of your mind to your body and soul that you never really understood. That it will become a treasured tome that you will be glad to have as a companion on your journey.
But what do I know? I am just a writer mama - though at times like this I wonder why? What was so bad about being JUST a mama?
congrats you!
ReplyDeletei'll gladly promote it on my blog. i know your heart went into it.
I have been waiting for the paperback version.....some things I just prefer to have in a real life touch feely format. Looking forward to it x
ReplyDeleteThanks Mon and Angela.
ReplyDelete@Heather Books winging their way to me from the US as we speak.
@Mon Will be in touch by email shortly - you're on my list!!
Hahahaha, I so hear you. I feel like a fraud, like my work is just trumped up *bullsh*t, that I am being self-indulgent, big headed and that I don't have enough knowledge to write a blog let alone a book. And yet, and yet.... When you write from the heart, from your soul, you write from a place that is scary because our deepest truth can feel so particular to us it must be irrelevant to the rest of the world, and yet we all have that deep well, we have a commonality that binds us together, in our bones, in our hearts and flesh, in the blood, the light, the stardust of which we are all made. You know what Lucy? Theres always room for one more book. No topic is ever exhausted. I am reading a book called Mama Bamba at the moment, and thinking I can't improve on this, how on earth do I think I can write a book about birth in the face of this genius work? And yet write it I will. because my truths are different, my world is slightly different, my readers will gain something unique from my book, which will hopefully sit alongside some other beauts one day! The more books out there the merrier, I say!!!! And so it is with your book dearest. Each reader will interpret the book in their own unique way. Something on page 42 will be life changing for one reader, whereas page 99 might be the big 'aha!' moment for another. Your book will mean different things to different people. Those words will do their magic in different ways at different times. And you deserve every penny, every bit of praise, every last ounce of the success you have worked you butt off for!!!!! Bravo Lucy :-) XXX
ReplyDeleteoh, i hear this. with my heart and soul, i hear this and feel deeply what you're experiencing...i suffer the same agonies myself. ;)
ReplyDeletei honour your bravery and your honesty and i KNOW that this book is magic. i fully intend on purchasing the paperback version...some things do indeed need to be held....my daughter is 9 and i'm starting to worry about how i can share the magic of the moon-time with her before the rest of the world gets to her first...;) it took me to my thirties before i came to look upon the experience as worthy and sacred and i'd rather she didn't have to wait as long....
....so no, there can never be too many of these books...women sharing ancient wisdoms and celebrating what society has sought to demonize, even to this very day...
much love to you...xoxo
ps. i recently moved my blog and so there's not a lot of traffic there, but as a fellow writer-mama, i'd be delighted to promote your book in my wee space...
"But this is PR - I cannot say any of this, anything really real."
ReplyDeleteOh dear, sweetsoul Lucy, I beg to differ.
If I were to read this precise post in the forward or promo for your book, it would flow over me as refreshing as spring rain and I would thrill to its rare truth and honesty in a medium that's overloaded with hyperbole and spin.
And I truly believe I'm not alone in this.
Share your truth, dear one.
Undiluted, unedited, uncompromised by what 'should be'.
There's not enough of it out there.
Bliss-ings,
the goddess known as Jacqui
Oh, thank you all! So sweet. What a liberating idea Jacqui.
ReplyDeletepR seems to be working, as Susun Weed's Wise woman bookshop is taking 5, our county libraries are taking 6! And a number willing to review. Had a PR free day today. Cleared my desk of Moon Time books today and started putting on Creative Rainbow Mama books. Bring it on!
I totally related to this post, Lucy.
ReplyDeleteLucy, I loved reading this post, and I totally agree with Jacqui. If I were to read that as PR release, I'd feel an immediate connection with the writer.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that they were honest enough to tell me that the book *might* not be what I needed, but that they truly hoped it would would give me a sense of trust in them that all the sales pages in the world couldn't create. I'm so glad the PR you're using at the moment is working for you and that the book is going well.
But if you need to do more in future, it might be fascinating to see what happened if you tried something that felt more aligned for you - Jacqui and I can't be the only ones who'd be swept off our feet by something so beautifully honest :-)
Blessings - TANJA
I am looking forward to promoting your book with your guest post! As far as PR writing, I think of it in terms of writing from the heart. Do it like a woman. And why not just be a mom? Because this is stretching you and you are growing by leaps and bounds. The resistance you are hitting is natural. We all love to stay in our comfort zone. Two great books from Steven Pressfield, he really talks about the resistance, are The War of Art and Do the Work.
ReplyDelete