PR

PR—Public Relations—Marketing—Sales. Call it what you like, to most writers no matter the name, the game is the same.

Indeed, there is real joy when a book emerges. There is the launch party. The publisher's marketing department tries to attract some attention. With luck, there are some favourable reviews in the press. Maybe a radio interview. Depending on the budget, some ads. But soon enough all the fuss becomes yesterday's news.

To the novice, all this may seem like a dream come true. But think a moment about the psychology of the typical obsessive writer. Here is someone who has toiled alone for years to create a book—a work over which he has complete control. The beginning, middle and end—mastered. Periods and commas are fussed over. The size of the font determined and then re-considered. The refinement of every detail is in her care.

Yet once the book is released, so too, the compulsive nurturing is abandoned. The novel is noticed, or not. Liked, or not. Purchased, or more likely, not.

The realities of book publishing weigh against even modest success. In his incisive text, The Long Tail, Chris Anderson reveals that each year over 200,000 books are published in English alone. Consider the scale of this excess. Assume each book, on average, is an inch thick. The height of these books stacked atop one another is 16,666 feet. That is over nine times higher than the (current) highest free-standing building, the CN Tower! Now, in that immensity, where is The Good Lie?

Despite the odds, everyone tries to break above average using any marketing technique they can imagine. In the USA, the average book sells about 500 copies. Likely it's a little higher in Canada and Britain.

In this section of the web site, you'll find pages related to marketing The Good Lie, beginning with the book launch party. Have a look at the very generous "jacket blurb" provided by Marilyn Bowering. You'll also find comments and reviews of The Good lie and this web site in the reviews section. As the process evolves, I'll add more details and links as they emerge.