Honestly, my sales pitch when I was a kid was, 'You don't want these Girl Scout cookies, do you?' If I had to push my own books, I'd stop writing. I hate the conflation of marketing and writing.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I think people become consumed with selling a book when they need to be consumed with writing it.
My books didn't fit a marketing niche.
I began tailoring my books to cater to one or another universe of readers. I found it incredibly boring; and frankly, it felt stultifying. I'd previously been in advertising. I felt if I was going to create something to fit a specific market, I might as well have stayed with advertising.
I always just wanted to write and maybe direct. I'm really only interested in that. And yet the business that I'm in has forced me into being a salesman - that's the last thing that 17-year-old me would imagine I'd end up being. I'm uncomfortable trying to sell anything, but that's what you're doing every time you walk into a pitch.
I read my books to writing workshops and friends, and I'm often focussed just on keeping them entertained. I never think about marketing at all.
My book sales make 'real writers' possible.
I did have a nice career in print, but traditional publishers don't always have the resources to create individualized marketing for their authors. Mine never figured out how to package books as hot as mine so that they found their full audience. Finally, I got frustrated enough over my lack of traction to walk away.
A writer can't afford to just focus on writing and leave marketing aside in today's competitive market.
I think I'm more marketing- and sales-oriented than others, and the notion of selling books continues to interest me.
The conclusion I came to was that even if I couldn't sell books, I still liked the process of writing.