I dunno, man. I’ve been through a couple of publishers. I liked one over the other: they got my book into a ton of locations, that’s for sure. And they actually do an amazing job editing. But marketing is still set firmly on the author’s shoulders. And isn’t it always about the marketing? A phenomenal story is still phenomenal but nobody knows that if they don’t read it, ya know? (Not, of course, that I would put my stories in the “phenomenal” category, just yet.)
Maybe I’ll shop my historical novel out and see what some publishers think and what they can do. My first choice is to go with Fantastic Fiction, of course. My editor there, Rylan, is really great. And I think FF would go for it. I hope they would, any way.
I really hate marketing, though. I just want to go through the blood, sweat, and tears of creating this amazing story and then hand it off for someone else to get it into the right mass’s hands. Shedding more blood, sweat, and tears over marketing is just too much. Especially when you’ve got to fight for space among the people who don’t even take writing seriously enough to read what they just wrote. They’re just excited women who want to make some money off their poorly written fantasies. (I’m looking at you Myers and EL James.)
Ah, well. Let me get another manuscript ready to be offered on the altar and see what the writing gods will gift me.
You’re a wonderful writer with beautifully crafted characters. Everything else you do is nice, but you were born to write.
You know, I’ll have to enlarge my doorways if you keep making my head swell like that.