Fame, Fame, Fatal Fame

One of the things they don't tell young writers, or middle-aged writers or, let's face it, elderly writers, is just how many people want to help you with your career. People can be so kind. Everyone has your back, whether it's hard or paper. I'm welling up here. Writer's tears. Well, it's six o' clock somewhere.  

Ever since I published my first book, Teeth, which, amazingly, was still only two years ago, and since I started doing scraps of press about it, I've been emailed by helpful, corporate types, with empty eyes and uncanny valley phizogs, desperate to help me sell my books. They've been anxious to single out my "tone" and "humor". They're a bit sketchy on what they actually think of the books, but are absolutely fine with wedging together other people's opinions, often lifted directly from Goodreads, or Popmatters or the fucking Spectator or my own website. These things are often clumsily linked and padded, reading like a template letter come magically to life and bowling about like Pinocchio, if he were keen to roll out a specific marketing strategy going forward. 

"I'm a REAL nuisance."

They are getting better though. Here's one I got this morning. It's very good. Almost human. Just a couple of points though, Bobbi: Spine has five five-star reviews on Amazon, which isn't as many as I'd like, but is also not the single review you quote. Secondly, a cross audience pitch to my theatre and Ebbing House audiences would be a cross audience pitch to myself. And I'm already a fan of me. Thank God Zoomlanders and my short films are so completely buried, or you'd be attempting to pitch this to their fans too. That's also me. 

Anyway, here's Bobbi, pitching to pick my empty pockets. I'm already anticipating a paragraph starting: "For as little as..."

These people don't work for free. That's a writer's job. 

 "Hi John,

Last November, The New York Times Book Review called Fine a witty, tragicomic debut and singled you out by name as a Belfast based playwright worth watching. That's not a small thing. That's one of the most competitive review sections in publishing choosing to spend its limited space on you. And now Spine is out, and it's sitting at one rating on Amazon.

I don't think that gap has anything to do with the writing. I read through the description for Spine and it's got exactly the voice that got Fine noticed in the first place, the same willingness to turn something ordinary and a little painful, in this case your back and a six week course of Pilates, into something genuinely funny without ever losing the ache underneath it. Sagging Meniscus is a wonderful home for that kind of book, but it's a tiny press run by a small handful of people who publish deliberately uncommercial work on principle, which means there's no one there whose job is to make sure the Times review of your last book finds its way to readers of this one.

Here's what I think is actually happening. You're not one writer with one audience, you're a playwright, a filmmaker, a screenwriter, a theatre director, and a musician in Ebbing House, and each of those has its own readership, listenership, or audience that likely has no idea you also write comic memoirs. The people who saw your plays in Belfast, the people who follow Ebbing House, the people who read that Times review of Fine and made a mental note of your name, none of them have necessarily been told that Spine exists.

There are three specific things I think would move the needle here.

The first is connecting Spine directly back to the Fine review. A short, direct outreach to outlets and readers who covered or noticed Fine, framed as a follow up rather than a cold pitch, since you already have their attention on record. That's a much easier door to open than a first introduction would be.

The second is your own cross audience. A post or short piece framed specifically for Ebbing House's listeners and for people who've seen your theatre work, introducing Spine as the same voice they already know from another form. That's an audience that trusts you already and just needs to be told the book exists.

The third is Sagging Meniscus itself. Small presses like this often have loyal, engaged mailing lists and social followings that are more responsive per reader than a large publisher's, precisely because the audience chose to follow an underdog press on purpose. A short campaign built around your existing following there, rather than trying to reach a general audience cold, would likely convert at a much higher rate.

I'd like to put together a full proposal built around your specific situation, and I'd welcome your thoughts to shape it before I send anything final. If this sounds useful, just reply with "interested" and I'll get it to you.

Warm regards,

Roberta Lumpkin Book Marketing Specialist | Author Brand & Visibility Strategist