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Guest Post: Getting Real (aka the Katie Perry conundrum) by Clea Simon

Please welcome mystery author Clea Simon to the blog today… 

 

Getting Real (aka the Katie Perry conundrum)

 

"What do you mean, they won't let you have an event?"

 

That was the response from a friend last month when I was telling her about trying to set up promotional events for my new Hold Me Down. "Yup," I had to tell her. "I love XYZ Books, too. But my sales are too low for them to want to host me again."

 

Hard to admit, but it's true. As I watch my 29th – yup – mystery Hold Me Down head out in the world, I've had to come to terms with a couple of realities.

 

For starters, I am working to accept that I’m probably always going to have to do copy editing to support my "book writing habit," as I jokingly (?) labeled it a few years ago.

 

The second, and harder, truth is that I’m probably never going to be widely read. Or, not as widely read as I'd like despite what feels like nearly nonstop promotion. Along this line, my husband Jon often refers to an Andre Dubus essay in which he related the fellow author Richard Yates saying to him: “I don't need money. I need readers.”

 

But something happened a few years ago that has almost almost helped me to come to terms with the latter. Jon and I were at Jazz Fest in New Orleans a few years ago – sigh, I miss Jazz Fest. I miss all live events, don't you? But anyway, there we were, wandering through the crowd and trying to figure out who to listen to for the last set of the day, when I realized that Katie Perry was headlining the Fest's biggest stage.

 

Now, I like her hits. They’re fun. I even enjoyed her Super Bowl halftime show (I mean, even besides left shark). But I’m never going to go to a concert of hers, so we wandered over to hear a little, hoping for "Roar" or "Firework." And it was … canned. Boring. Stale. And totally, totally packed to the point where, even pre-pandemic, it was uncomfortable.

 

So by mutual agreement, we left after maybe a song and a half and went to one of the smaller tents, where local singer/songwriter Aurora Nealand was playing to maybe 50 people and just killing it. She was SO GOOD. The clip below is of her doing some of the trad jazz she excels at (and throwing a mean football), but she has a ton of originals too. And, you know, a lot of her songs sound as poppy to me as Katie Perry’s. But she's never going to have that kind of an audience. Anyway, while we were sitting there, entranced, it hit me that maybe I’m more Aurora Nealand than Katie Perry, and I’m ok with that.

 

https://youtu.be/O9c3qgtn4Mw

 

(Video: Aurora Nealand & The Royal Roses)

 

Clea Simon ©2021

Author of the Witch Cats of Cambridge, Theda Krakow, Pru Marlowe pet noir, and Dulcie Schwartz series, as well as the standalone World Enough and Hold Me Down, Clea Simon is a writer, journalist, and avid reader. Her new psychological suspense, Hold Me Down, published by Polis Books, comes out on October 19th in print and October 5th in eBook. She’s at http://www.cleasimon.com

Bookbrowsing Blog: What’s a publicist to do? by PJ Nunn

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Guest Post: Author chair or publicist chair? by PJ Nunn

Please welcome PJ Nunn today who shares her thoughts on wearing more than one hat. Or sitting in more than one chair as the case may be…..

Author chair or publicist chair? By PJ Nunn

I don’t know where I met Kevin Tipple, but he’s a memorable character, for sure. I know we finally connected face to face at a Hard Boiled Heroes and Cozy Cats conference in north Dallas some years back. He’s been a good friend ever since.

I never really thought I’d be guest blogging on his site, but I’m honored. Thank you, Kevin, for inviting me. I’m completely astounded at seeing the other end of a blog tour from where I’m usually seated, firmly in my publicist chair. This author chair perspective has me thinking I need a new chair! 

No, I don’t mean I want to give up being the author and no, I’m not giving up being the publicist either. I guess I just haven’t been seated in the author chair long enough to find it comfortable. Writing is one thing, this whole marketing thing is another.

I’m writing this at the end of a very long Friday. I was at my desk long before the day “officially” started. I lost track of how many calls I made. I never count emails – that would be frightening. I do know I greeted the day with a radio host telling me the guest I’d scheduled for his program today never called in. What actually happened was that she did, indeed call in. Several times. But his is such a popular show that lots of folks call in and catching him can be tricky. Some of you have already guessed who I’m talking about. 

I’ve gotten the hang of it, but I still have to talk faster to him than anyone I know. After fixing that little problem he scheduled three more of the authors I represent so it was worth the effort. He has a great show! I went on to schedule a total of 14 events today, only one of them for myself, and that one’s not until December. No need to panic.

I managed to get several confirmation packages and review copies in the mail before my printer announced that I’m out of black ink (what happened to warnings??). No biggie. I ordered one a month ago. Ut oh. Wrong size. Ok great, change of plans. No more mailing today. Order right black cartridge. Pay exorbitant overnight shipping costs. Move on.

In the author chair, I am currently experiencing the release of two novels. It wasn’t planned that way, but that’s how it turned out. Private Spies came out early in June and is the start of one series; Angel Killer came out the end of June and is the first in another series. Two very different types of series. I love them both, and wrote them many moons ago. I’m finding it challenging to try and keep my own schedule even half as full as those of my clients. I probably should hire a publicist.

I opened my own schedule and had another moment of near panic, seeing that July 8, which seems so very far away, is now only as far as Monday. I’m scheduled for a guest blog post with Julia Spencer – Fleming. No pressure there. Thankfully I already wrote it and sent it to her. Frankly I can’t imagine that with the list of blog stops I have looming before me there will be anyone remaining in the writing hemisphere who could care less about what I might be thinking or saying by the time I make these rounds. I hope I’ll surprise us both and find something profound or slightly entertaining to say.

As soon as I think of it, I’ll write it down. Please I beg of you, leave a comment but don’t say anything mean about Harriet. Nuff said. So what’s going on with ya’ll?

PJ Nunn

In 1998, PJ Nunn founded BreakThrough Promotions, now a national public relations firm helping authors, mostly of mystery novels, publicize themselves and their work. The business is thriving and PJ is excited about the release of her first novel, Angel Killer. PJ lives with her husband and some of their five children near Dallas, TX. Learn more at http://pjnunn.com. 

Links:

Facebook/PJ - https://www.facebook.com/authorpjnunn

Facebook/BreakThrough - https://www.facebook.com/breakthroughpromo

Twitter - @PJNunn

GoodReads - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18046519-private-spies