"Changing who you are without compromising who you want to be!"

We all know that there is a certain amount of tenacity that is required to make it in the arts.  You have to develop a thick skin to withstand criticism; a calm temperament when you do business with the wrong person and you need a dash of faith with a whole lot of patience.

A few weeks ago, I had to go out of state to attend a book-signing at a small bookstore.  I had done what I thought was the right thing by overnighting posters of the cover of my book to the store in advance to help create some type of a buzz about my work.  The drive took me about three hours one way, and when I arrived, the first thing that I noticed was that there was no one there with the exception of the manager and someone that I assumed to be her assistant.  My hopes of this being a worthwhile visit fell even further when I spoke to the manager about the store taking a few copies of my book to place on their shelves for sale.  I was informed that even though they enjoyed the book very much, they wouldn't be taking any at this time.


But here's the kicker:  A well dressed woman walked in with a copy of my book.  She had heard that I would be there and she wanted to meet me as the author and obtain an autograph for the book she had in her possession.  And where did she obtain the copy of my book?  The book store had sold her the copy that I sent them to review.  I would never have known this had the woman not come into the store to meet me.

And just like that, everything fell into place and made sense.  All of the contacts that my former publicist had made advising her that the bookstores had wanted to review my book before placing it in their respective inventory for the most part had been a sham.  It was free inventory for the shop.

It was at that moment that I had decided to change who I was.  I will continue to promote myself, but I will not be dealing directly with smaller bookstores.  I will not be sending out sample copies of my work...at least not to a smaller shop.  I'll let my distribution firm handle that.  I understand that everyone has to make a dollar, but I didn't work this hard for anyone to make 100% profit off my work.  That's just insane.


The other thing that I've learned is that there are many people in this industry just like myself that will use the social media tools as a means of self-promotion. There's nothing wrong with this practice.  In fact, I encourage it.  But I think that there's a right way and a wrong way to use it.


There are some people that will arbitrarily post their information about their book regardless of whether they know you or not on your page.  There are also people that will TELL you to "Like" their page without even allowing you time to take a look at it to determine if you truly "Like" it or not.


I understand that we all have to do what we have to do to make a dollar.  That's a given.  I just think that there's a way to do and accomplish everything that you want to do without stepping on someone else to do it.


So now as a result, I'm changing.  I'm still about business.  I love to read and write so I will always want to read and promote the works of my constituents.  But I will be fair and I will remain true to myself.  I will not respond to everyone that hits me up for an interview because sometimes, there just isn't enough hours in the day.  I won't be ignorant, but my attention will go to the ones that follow the protocols that I've set in place, because my protocols are there for a reason.  I didn't make them up because I own a publishing company.  I put them in place to be fair to anyone that reaches out to me the right way.  People that do that stand a much better chance of getting what they want then trying to command it without giving anything in return...even if that anything happens to be respect.


So I'm changing who I am...but I will never compromise who I want to be.  Let's just say, I'm still under construction!!