William Shakespeare probably wrote his great plays and poems by candlelight, using a feather. Charles Dickens wrote his great novels in weekly instalments so he must have worked to tight deadlines using a spluttering metal nib dipped every few seconds into an inkwell. But he still found time for book promotion.
Such literary masters would have been dumbfounded at the miraculous word processor. The ability to edit, alter and print text at the touch of a button, now taken for granted by most authors, would have boggled the Shakespearean mind. However, it is ironic that an Elizabethan or Victorian author may have found it easier to sell his work than a twenty-first century writer does.
It is relatively easy to complete a novel and publish it with the help of the word processing technology we now have. But the proliferation of works makes them difficult to sell. Moreover, media like TV and radio compete for the time and attention of readers.
To conceive and bear a literary work is, in many cases, the be all and the end all. The work is finished, the labor of selling it is just too much for the exhausted mother. There it must lie in the laundry. However, a child born is not abandoned as a baby, With birth the job is just beginning. So too with a literary work that has been conceived and brought to fruition. Now there is almost an obligation to sell it.
Television and radio do compete with written texts for time and attention but also complement those means of communication. For example, a novel may be promoted on an online chat show or book club. Competing media actually stimulate demand in the same way that high street shops selling the same commodities on the same street seem to encourage buying.
But despite the wealth of online opportunities afforded by new technologies the best strategies might be a blend of old and new. Signings and launch parties are still very good ways to promote an author and can be aided by technology, such as email invites. Dickens promoted his novels by sailing to America and reading extracts from his works at public gatherings. Exactly the same techniques can still be used, only arrangements might be facilitated by better technology.
An author should not be shy about selling, but we are all individuals, and there are many who just cannot do it. There is comfort for such souls online, where professionals lie in wait with expert knowledge of the publishing world. Book promotion is their trade and the shy author can hand over her baby to them and let them get on with the job.
Get lots of quality book promotion information at Annie Jennings PR. Enjoy tremendous success in your book promotion and book publicity efforts. Today is the time to get started fast.
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