{"id":7611,"date":"2017-04-30T22:52:36","date_gmt":"2017-04-30T22:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=7611"},"modified":"2019-02-09T13:17:28","modified_gmt":"2019-02-09T13:17:28","slug":"wanted-a-21st-century-author-promoter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wanted-a-21st-century-author-promoter\/","title":{"rendered":"WANTED: A 21st Century Author Promoter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bdks7nociaeu51n\"I love writ\u00ading.<\/p>\n

I love sit\u00adting down with half a dozen fresh Black\u00adwing 602 pen\u00adcils, sharp\u00aden\u00ading them to a razor edge and fill\u00ading up pages of a note\u00adbook with the words of a new nov\u00adel. I love sit\u00adting in front of my Roy\u00adal Qui\u00adet Deluxe type\u00adwriter and bang\u00ading out pages. I love typ\u00ading those pages into my Mac, print\u00ading them, revis\u00ading them by hand, and then enter\u00ading those revi\u00adsions back into the com\u00adput\u00ader.<\/p>\n

I love spend\u00ading my morn\u00adings while my mind is fresh, sip\u00adping Suma\u00adtran cof\u00adfee and writ\u00ading the new long nov\u00adel I\u2019m work\u00ading on. I love work\u00ading more on that book over lunch in my favorite Asian restau\u00adrant, Momi\u00adji in Rhinebeck, NY. I love using my after\u00adnoons, while sip\u00adping still more cof\u00adfee, to edit the draft of anoth\u00ader book.<\/p>\n

\"1209161345\"I love read\u00ading my work to audi\u00adences and giv\u00ading inter\u00adviews to radio and news\u00adpa\u00adpers. I love meet\u00ading read\u00aders and teach\u00ading and encour\u00adag\u00ading young writ\u00aders. I love writ\u00ading the occa\u00adsion\u00adal blog entry when I have some\u00adthing to say, and I love trav\u00adel\u00ading to new places that inspire new pieces of writ\u00ading. In all, I love every\u00adthing asso\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded with the writ\u00ading part of being an author, and I even love some of the self-pro\u00admo\u00adtion work\u2014in small dos\u00ades.<\/p>\n

What I don\u2019t love about being an author is all of the hav\u00ading-to-be-online-social-media-sales-and-pro\u00admo\u00adtion stuff. I resent it because it pre\u00advents me from focus\u00ading on writ\u00ading new work. It also dri\u00adves me crazy because the new pub\u00adlish\u00ading world is con\u00adstant\u00adly chang\u00ading, and the time that I invest in it doesn\u2019t help me to become a bet\u00adter writer.<\/p>\n

Over the past sev\u00ader\u00adal years since I\u2019ve inde\u00adpen\u00addent\u00adly pub\u00adlished, I\u2019ve looked crit\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly at my tal\u00adents and deter\u00admined that mine do not lie in the areas of social media, sales and pro\u00admo\u00adtion; my tal\u00adents are in the writ\u00ading; and there\u00adfore I need to part\u00adner with some\u00adone who is bet\u00adter at these oth\u00ader impor\u00adtant tasks.<\/p>\n

\"cronunsweae5afo\"<\/a>I am a very good writer, and I know I have it in me to become a great one. I want to focus exclu\u00adsive\u00adly on writ\u00ading, on becom\u00ading the best writer I can be.<\/p>\n

But in order to do this, I need some\u00adone great at social media, dig\u00adi\u00adtal mar\u00adket\u00ading, pro\u00admo\u00adtion and sales. So, with\u00adout fur\u00adther ado\u2026<\/p>\n

WANTED<\/strong>: Tech\u2011, media- and dig\u00adi\u00adtal mar\u00adket\u00ading-savvy bib\u00adlio\u00adphile to serve as the pro\u00admot\u00ader and \u201clit\u00ader\u00adary agent\u201d of an inde\u00adpen\u00addent\u00adly pub\u00adlished 21st cen\u00adtu\u00adry author. As much as s\/he loves my books, the ide\u00adal can\u00addi\u00addate loves gam\u00ading the social media sys\u00adtem, dis\u00adsect\u00ading the Ama\u00adzon algo\u00adrithm, manip\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading key\u00adwords and meta\u00adda\u00adta, and com\u00ading up with new ways of being heard in a noisy dig\u00adi\u00adtal world. This per\u00adson would man\u00adage my social media pres\u00adence, tweak my pres\u00adence on all sales plat\u00adforms, secure pro\u00admo\u00adtion\u00adal and adver\u00adtis\u00ading oppor\u00adtun\u00adties for me and my books, and, in gen\u00ader\u00adal, boost sales of my work.<\/p>\n

\"money-1428594_960_720\"In essence this per\u00adson would serve as a 21st cen\u00adtu\u00adry lit\u00ader\u00adary agent, but instead of attempt\u00ading to sell my man\u00adu\u00adscripts to tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal pub\u00adlish\u00ading hous\u00ades, s\/he would be mar\u00adket\u00ading my work to read\u00aders. This per\u00adson would make his\/her own hours, and would work wher\u00adev\u00ader s\/he want\u00aded. And for com\u00adpen\u00adsa\u00adtion, this per\u00adson will receive 20 per\u00adcent of all of my book sales, with bonus\u00ades for var\u00adi\u00adous bench\u00admarks (e.g., if one of my books made the New York Times Best\u00adseller List).<\/p>\n

Under the anti\u00adquat\u00aded tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal pub\u00adlish\u00ading mod\u00adel, a lit\u00ader\u00adary agent typ\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly received only 15 per\u00adcent of an author\u2019s sales. Because the Author Pro\u00admot\u00ader job would require the can\u00addi\u00addate to have and\/or devel\u00adop a mul\u00adti\u00adplic\u00adi\u00adty of skills in inter\u00adnet research, mar\u00adket\u00ading, social media, dig\u00adi\u00adtal pub\u00adlish\u00ading and adver\u00adtis\u00ading, and because the job pays strict\u00adly com\u00admis\u00adsion and bonus\u00ades, the Author Pro\u00admot\u00ader would receive 5% more in com\u00admis\u00adsion than tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal lit\u00ader\u00adary agents.<\/p>\n

Yes, the job pays only com\u00admis\u00adsion and bonus\u00ades, but you would be step\u00adping into work for a pub\u00adlish\u00ader with a good-sized cat\u00ada\u00adlog already in place: four books in a mys\u00adtery series, a lit\u00ader\u00adary nov\u00adel, a book of short sto\u00adries, and a col\u00adlec\u00adtion of plays. In the com\u00ading year, these will be fol\u00adlowed by a book of mem\u00adoir, a Paris travelogue\/memoir, and anoth\u00ader nov\u00adel. You would not be stuck sell\u00ading one wid\u00adget; there are sev\u00ader\u00adal prod\u00aducts to sell, and more will be com\u00ading all the time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"dscn1313-copy\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am a self-taught writer. I do not have an MFA degree or a Ph.D., nor have I ever tak\u00aden a cre\u00adative writ\u00ading class. Major\u00ading in phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy in col\u00adlege and work\u00ading as a news\u00adpa\u00adper reporter after col\u00adlege were my two train\u00ading grounds as a writer. Oth\u00ader\u00adwise I learned to write entire\u00adly on my own, or, as one of my writ\u00ading idols, Jack Lon\u00addon, char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adized his own devel\u00adop\u00adment as a writer, I had \u201cno men\u00adtor but myself.\u201d I learned to write fic\u00adtion by read\u00ading thou\u00adsands of books, and by writ\u00ading mil\u00adlions of words (most of them bad). I am a writer in the tra\u00addi\u00adtion of Ernest Hem\u00ading\u00adway, F. Scott Fitzger\u00adald, John Cheev\u00ader, Anton Chekhov, and Mark Twain, in that I learned to write by study\u00ading the great writ\u00aders, and by writ\u00ading.<\/p>\n

I men\u00adtion my devel\u00adop\u00adment as a writer because I want you, the poten\u00adtial can\u00addi\u00addate to under\u00adstand some\u00adthing: I don\u2019t care about pedi\u00adgree. Whether or not you grad\u00adu\u00adat\u00aded from an Ivy League col\u00adlege, or dropped out of one, or didn\u2019t attend col\u00adlege at all, or even dropped out of high school\u2014I don\u2019t care<\/i>. All I care about are a will\u00ading\u00adness to work, the abil\u00adi\u00adty to learn from mis\u00adtakes, and pos\u00adi\u00adtive results\u2014book sales. I\u2019m a prag\u00adma\u00adtist. Good gram\u00admar and spelling are impor\u00adtant, too, but more impor\u00adtant is a desire to learn.<\/p>\n

So, how about it? Do you have the vision, imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion and mar\u00adket\u00ading and tech savvy to make me and my books a house\u00adhold name?<\/p>\n

If so, and if you\u2019re inter\u00adest\u00aded in the job, here\u2019s how you get hired: just start doing the job. Right now. Find my books on Ama\u00adzon and oth\u00ader online sell\u00aders and study their list\u00adings. Ana\u00adlyze their pres\u00adence online and fig\u00adure out their strengths and weak\u00adness\u00ades. Then start a guer\u00adril\u00adla mar\u00adket\u00ading campaign\u2014something clever, sim\u00adple and that does\u00adn\u2019t cost you anything\u2014on social media or in anoth\u00ader realm that makes more sense to you. When it\u2019s in place, con\u00adtact me and direct my atten\u00adtion to it. We\u2019ll then have a Skype meet\u00ading and dis\u00adcuss your ideas, and see if our per\u00adson\u00adal\u00adi\u00adties would be a good fit. If they are, and I hire you, you will receive 20 per\u00adcent of all of my sales of all of my books.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s my pro\u00adpos\u00adal. I look for\u00adward to hir\u00ading my 21st cen\u00adtu\u00adry author pro\u00admot\u00ader in the com\u00ading year. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love writ\u00ading. I love sit\u00adting down with half a dozen fresh Black\u00adwing 602 pen\u00adcils, sharp\u00aden\u00ading them to a razor edge and fill\u00ading up pages\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,145,247,246,249,30,17,3,18,244,19,251,33,245,56,21,250,75,36,248,77,78,22,23,303,8,39,208,209,10,11,43,293,12,304,26,13,14,233,15],"tags":[124,330,332,331,256,335,334,94,98,211,122,333,133,134,336,96,95,155,210,212,221,92,93],"class_list":["post-7611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-real-piece-of-work","category-a-truth-stranger-than-fiction","category-amazon-kindle","category-apple-ibooks","category-barnes-and-noble-nook","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-computersandsoftware","category-craft","category-dramaticwriting","category-ebooks","category-fiction","category-google-play-books","category-indie-publishing","category-kindle","category-kindle-books","category-kindlestuff","category-kobo-books","category-memoir","category-mystery-writing","category-nook","category-novels","category-one-hundred-miles-from-manhattan","category-pencils","category-pens","category-plays","category-publishingandthemarket","category-short-stories","category-social-media","category-social-media-technologyandinternet","category-technologyandinternet","category-dakota-stevens-mysteries-series","category-the-man-the-myth-the-legend","category-the-perfect-triple-threat","category-the-rich-are-different","category-the-ronald-and-other-plays","category-typewriters","category-writers","category-writingexperiences","category-writing-life","category-writingtools","tag-amazon","tag-author","tag-author-promotion","tag-author-publicity","tag-bestseller","tag-bestselling-books","tag-book-sales","tag-chris-orcutt","tag-dakota-stevens","tag-facebook","tag-hemingway","tag-literary-agent","tag-mysteries","tag-mystery","tag-new-york-times-bestseller","tag-novelist","tag-novels-2","tag-orcutt","tag-social-media","tag-twitter","tag-writers-life","tag-writers-2","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7611"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8328,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7611\/revisions\/8328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}