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https://medium.com/the-pub/writers-are-expected-to-do-too-much-self-promotion-63a5de81da1>
"A disturbing trend has taken root in book publishing. Publishers and literary
agents seem to expect writers to hold down two full-time jobs: writing their
books and promoting them on social media and elsewhere.
I’ve written about the fallacy that typically underlies this expectation: A lot
of evidence shows that nonstop self-promotion helps big-name authors sell more
books but has few — if any — financial benefits for others.
That dovetails with what I saw as the book editor of a large newspaper, a job
that involved interviewing authors from pop-culture stars like John Grisham to
Nobel laureates like Toni Morrison and Derek Walcott.
Small- or no-name writers often fail to earn back what they spend on services
like editing and cover design and on activities like travel to book fairs and
signings. That doesn’t count the opportunity cost of paid work lost to time
spent on marketing and self-promotion.
Yes, it’s rewarding to see your name on a book even if it loses money.
Unrelenting self-promotion does help some writers hit the jackpot eventually.
And people in every field have to manage their careers.
The difference is that writers increasingly are expected to do it before they
have careers to manage. Too many publishers want them to arrive with a
ready-made “platform” of many thousands — if not millions — of followers on
TikTok or Instagram or with another sort of built-in readership."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
