It’s been a year since “Šķautnes”, the Latvian edition of Journals of the Undead, came out. What is the main thing I have learnt since then? I always thought that writing a book is the hardest bit. I was wrong. It’s actually the marketing bit. Writing a book can take a few years and getting it published can take even longer. Ok, self-publishing comes in handy but there are still a few obstacles to jump – for instance, how to turn a Word document into something presentable and aesthetically pleasing? A bad mockup and/or a bad cover design can ruin an otherwise great novel. We live in a very visual culture, after all! If it won’t look good in a social media post… You can’t have that, you need to make sure it will.
Ah, marketing… How many authors actually think about that when writing their novel? In the past, far fewer books were published and therefore any new book was the talk of the town. It’s easy to get spotted when there are, let’s say, no more than 20 other paperbacks in the bookstore. These days, books are everywhere. You’ll spot dozens of them whilst waiting in the supermarket check out line. Charity shops are full of books. I have several book swapping places in my area. Cafes often have books on their shelves. And when you walk into a bookstore… You get the idea. Any new book is like a needle in the hay, how would you spot it unless you know it’s there?
This is something that I’ve tried to explain to people over the years. Those who don’t write stories themselves think it’s so easy – just publish a novel on Amazon, bypass the middlemen and see the royalties rolling in! That’s the theory. In practice, there are millions of books on Amazon. How will potential readers find it? In order to generate organic traffic you need to be good at SEO. Or pay someone to do it for you (it won’t be cheap). Ads can generate traffic but, again, for them to be effective you will need a monthly budget that contains at least two zeros. What about social media? The sheer amount of posts and ads there means that people are bombarded with information and most of them will only be seen by a few people.
In short, connecting with your potential reader and promoting a book is a long, time consuming and often expensive process with no guarantee of it ever paying off. I was watching an interview with Ville Valo some time ago and he said that you never get back what you put into an artistic project. If one of Finland’s most successful musicians says that, what hope is there for the rest of us?
I don’t want to end this post on a negative note, though. Going through difficulties and overcoming obstacles is great for building up resilience and growing as an artist. We live in an era when there is more competition than ever in music, literature, film and TV. We have more tools than ever at our disposal but, precisely because they are so accessible, it is so difficult to get noticed. When I was in my early 20s I had lots of ideas but there were few tools to bring them to life. Smartphone cameras were in their infancy, video editing software (not counting Windows Movie Maker) was pricey, a good photo or video camera cost between 3-6 months earnings. I simply didn’t have the money for all the equipment I wanted. Plus, I lived in Latvia which wasn’t exactly known for its bustling art scene back then. Now I can make videos on my phone and edit them for free using InShot! It doesn’t matter where in the world I am as long as I have a reliable Internet connection.
So, my advance for all the creative people out there is… Create! Just keep in mind that finding and building your audience can take a very long time and you’ll probably need to keep your day job. That, I think, is actually a good thing: when you’re not relying on your art as your sole source of income it gives you more artistic freedom.
Journals of the Undead 