Do People Buy Books? Followers and Publishing, Plus a Reading and Class Visit Reports, Typewriters, Art Birthdays, and More

typewriter in my yard with cherry blossoms

Do People Buy Books? And Followers and Publishing, Thoughts on Two Threads on Social Media This Week

The end of National Poetry Month, and of course, I celebrate my birthday on the very last day of April. The news has been tumultuous lately, as has my personal life (MS flareups and a family member in the hospital this week, among other things), so it’s hard to for me sometimes to sort through the noise on social media to pick up on interesting or pertinent threads. But these two stuck out to me:

Pink dogwood, blue sky

First, there was an article “No One Buys Books” (with a rather negative tone, but a lot of useful numbers to people interested in book publishing and PR), and in a separate conversation, a friend of mine posted how a press had turned down her non-fiction book because they preferred “writers with 100,000 followers” (on what platform? no idea!) Both of these conversations seemed to cause a lot of angst and even despair, so I’m just going to do a little counterpoint to both right here. Listen: I watch a lot of film noir, I haven’t had an easy or charmed life (just check out my blog from the past ten years to see what I mean,) and I’m just as cynical as the next person when it comes to publishing industry, and I have my dark days, but…

1. Probably no one is publishing you – or not publishing you – because of your social media following. I mean, will it hurt you to have a solid social media following? Probably not. But it doesn’t guarantee you anything either. Are our followers even buying our books? That’s a very good question. Maybe you’re fun to follow on social media but your followers are not poetry fans. So, maybe, but maybe not. It’s not worth stressing out over. I mean, yes, if you want to be a successful writer (however one defines that,) put up a decent web site, get on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter or whatever you want, and is it bad to be entertaining and insightful and talk about books (sometimes your own, sometimes others’?) No.
2. Yes, some people are still buying books – I buy books, my brother in tech buys books, my parents buy books, my friends buy books. I often buy people books as gifts. I receive books as gifts. So, are most book sales the Bible or Harry Potter or LOTR, as the article said? Maybe so. But I have had friends on the NYT bestseller lists. (Not poetry books, but they were poets!) I know plenty of us poets who have sold 1000 copies of their books (or over.) So it’s not some impossible dream. (Listen, this is why I wrote PR for Poets – so poets could sell more than the 50-100 books that might be the norm for most books. I didn’t write it to waste your time, or mine. Most of it is not lies. Basic PR and marketing – even if you have to do DIY – still works, maybe not as well or as fast as it used to, but that’s no reason to say “no one buys books” or “publishing a book is not worth your time.”
3. Pessimism isn’t always useful, and I know this, because I’m a half-pessimist myself. Optimism is much better at increasing your chances of winning – your chances of doing the things you want to do, and accomplishing what you want to accomplish. No one is looking at the bright side right now – the upcoming election, the Bird flu, the Middle East, Russia – and I understand why. But guess what? Yes colleges are closing because they lack financial stability, yes, book publishing as a business is very poorly run right now by people who are looking at profit not promise, yes, people read less than they used to. And things are expensive right now – that might be slowing books sales as well. But none of this is a reason to throw up your hands, and sigh, and give up. I haven’t and I’m just a poet. So, that’s my two cents.

Sunset with sculptures, Kirkland

Reading and Class Visit Reports

So, this week was pretty eventful for me poetry-activity wise. First, a reading with some Jack Straw alums in downtown Seattle, which went great—I loved seeing friends and hearing the other writers—and not-so-great—my MS was really acting up, leading to me losing balance in the middle of the reading and having problems with breathing. You can see the whole reading below—I’m the first reader—and see the trouble I was having (and also hear some poems from Flare, Corona you might not have heard before).

Then I had a class visit I was invited to, which went great—except that part of the class was missing because of campus things, students feeling threatened or scared to be on campus because of protests and students participating in protests. Besides that, the conversation was great, the questions asked by the students were intelligent, and the professor who invited me was wonderful. I wonder right now, with colleges shutting down left and right and the scary stuff on the news about students being attacked and/or arrested, what I would do if I were an in-person professor right now instead of a home-based freelance writer and editor. It definitely seems more stressful now that it did when I was getting my degrees, or when I was adjunct teaching. Anyway, I hope the talk was useful to the students, because writers, as I’ve mentioned, are in an anxious moment in many ways.

Crabapple blossoms

Typewriters, Art, Birthdays, and More

So, a little early birthday celebration involved art—a beautiful art book Glenn got me of Frida Kahlo, her complete paintings and illustrated journal pages and photographs of her throughout her life, big and glossy (and twelve pounds! almost too heavy for me to lift!)—a framed print that Dewi Plass made for me of her painting, “Dreaming of Dragons” (which she had already sold, but she ran a limited edition for me! You can see her handwriting her on the print in pencil).

Here it is below:

Art book – complete paintings of Frida Kahlo

Some birthdays (like last year) involve big parties, but this one was quiet, which was fine given my health stuff, and involves art and my little brother (who I haven’t seen in a while) coming over for dinner. Speaking of art, I’m thinking of making some stationary with my typewriter art photos, like the one at the top of the post. Is this something you’d be interested in? Anyone have any good ideas about finding a good place to make custom stationary with photographs? I might have to start at Etsy shop! LOL. The last refuge of the creative?

On the last day of April, I hope for some modest fun – my brother over for dinner, a visit to the local bookstore and Paper Source, maybe, if the weather’s good, a walk around to look at everything that’s blooming (wisteria! lilac!) that I haven’t been out to see because mostly it’s been rainy and cold. I want to get back to some writing, too, since it feels like I haven’t been doing it enough. Too much bad news, not enough writing – not a good state for the soul. Looking at art, spending time in the garden, with friends and family – I know those things help, at least they help me. I wish you a happy ending to National Poetry Month, to April, and wishing you some peace instead of anxiety, some inspiration instead of discouragement, love and kindness instead of injustice and meanness. I wish you lilacs in your path.