I just wanted to post a reminder for those of you in the Bay Area, I will be appearing at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California on February 13th at 7pm. Come see Jimmy Carter the night before, and then just camp overnight. I'm sure they won't mind.
It's going to be a great trip, mostly because I am going to get to see a lot of old friends and meet some people I've known online for years. I'm also visiting some schools, such as the famous Bridge School, that have similar programs to the one Schuyler attends here in Texas. And I plan to be a shameless, generic San Francisco tourist, all Golden Gate Bridge and cable cars and giant trees and Rice-a-Roni. Sorry if I embarrass anyone.
The following Monday night at 7pm, I will be speaking at the regular meeting of the Writers' Guild of Texas, along with my friend Karen Harrington, author of Janeology. The topic will be "A Year in the Life of Two Debut Authors", and it should be a lot of fun. The meeting takes place in the basement conference room of the Richardson Public Library in Richardson, Texas.
I was going to apologize for bothering everyone with book promotional stuff yet again, but you know what? I'm not going to do that.
I recently read an excellent post on author Gwen Zepeda's blog that really made me think. (You should read Gwen's wonderful new novel, Houston, We Have a Problema, by the way. I am digging it muchly.) Hers is a common experience for authors. We find ourselves almost in an apologetic position for actually getting our work into print, and especially for being expected by our publishers to market ourselves in the process.
Gwen writes about being confronted by the stranger who has an axe to grind about publishing, but it happens with the people in your life, too. For a while you just tell yourself that it's probably hard for them to watch someone they know "suddenly" find success. You cut them slack because you think they'll come to terms with it eventually. The person who you are hasn't changed, after all, and neither have the reasons you wrote your book in the first place, reasons that have very little to do with being a Fancy Pants Author. You got published, not because the system is broken and only rewards hacks, but because you worked your ass off and created something you believe in. Still, you don't make an issue out of it because you don't want to look like a dick.
To be honest, I'm tired of feeling like I need to apologize for it. I don't think I'm going to do that anymore.
As an inveterate apologizer for "tooting my own horn," I say go for it. Toot your own horn. You did work your ass off. You still are. And false modesty is just so, so gross, anyway.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I loved your book.
I went to San Francisco for the first time in November and was a total unabashed tourist. The coolest thing we did (and I had no idea it could even be done) was rent bikes and ride across the Golden Gate. It was quite inexpensive and really fun. (And I am pretty much as out of shape as they come, and was fine even though it was a long-ass ride. You can take a ferry back across from Sausalito.) Have fun! (And I never mind the promotion.)
ReplyDeleteYeah! No more apologising! I have come to understand my daughters condition more from reading your beautiful book than from any wisdom any so-called specialist has ever bothered to impart! You did work your arse off and in the process you have given your daughter an amazing insight into your world, your thoughts and your love for her. More tootin', less apologisin'. I actually had your book brought in to Australia so that I could read it as it has not been released here. My husband is reading it now and he agrees.....we feel like we understand her better now. Thank you so much. Love to you and your family.
ReplyDeleteyou go Rob!
ReplyDeleteI am a teacher and we often have to resort to promoting ourselves. Most people think that when the kids I work with do well, it was a fluke. They don't think of the hours and hours my collegues and I put into getting these kids where they need to be academically.
So, I say PROMOTE AWAY!! I just wish you were going to be closer to me here in South Texas. I couldn't make any of your Houston/Dallas shows last year because I was tutoring aformentioned students!
I totally get this. I hem and haw about reminding people that my book is out there and that it might be useful to them. I think I'll follow your lead and go post on a few forums!
ReplyDeleteGood for you, man. The book is an accomplishment, no apologies for that.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of an all-too-common entitlement issue, isn't it? The idea that "I'm entitled to get my book published just because I want it" coupled with "you got lucky, and I deserve what you got".
ReplyDeleteWell, no, and not exactly. Luck favors the prepared, and those who work their backsides off. Not to mention that nobody deserves anything just as a consequence of breathing.
You wrote a great book about difficult matters. Promote away! Anyone who doesn't like it can just take their eyeballs elsewhere. Or get typing and do the same.
Well, I'm going to talk about San Francisco instead. (smile)
ReplyDeleteIf you have a free couple hours, I strongly, strongly recommend a self-guided tour they have maps for called the "Barbary Coast Walking Tour." You can pick up a map in the main tourist's info center -- I can't remember whether it was free or if it was a couple bucks, but even if it was a couple bucks, it wasn't a bad deal -- and it leads you on a really, really good cross-section of the city; North Beach, Chinatown, the Coit Tower (which you ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY YES YES YES YES must go inside and see; but not necessarily for the view, but for the WPA murals on the ground floor), a great array of stuff.
They earned MAJOR, MAJOR points from me when I saw that one of the landmarks they mentioned on their tour was the former site of Emperor Norton's boarding house. If you don't know who Emperor Norton is, look him up -- he was one of America's greatest eccentrics, and I've always loved San Francisco for allowing him to be what he was. (The aforementioned site is also a nice, quiet, modest little vestpocket park which makes a calm place to sit down for a moment.)
The system probably is somewhat broken, in that I'm sure there are beautiful books out there that aren't finding publishers for whatever reason. Big success almost always takes at least a bit of luck as well as work and talent. But that doesn't mean that people who are talented and work hard and have had their beautiful books published should have to constantly apologize for having also had a bit of luck. People who can't find publishers, or whatever other kind of success they're seeking, are welcome to console themselves that it's ALL the luck factor that hasn't fallen their way, not the talent or work or whatever, but they shouldn't take their angst out on others.
ReplyDeleteOooo...ooooo...I think I'm going to be able to make this after all. We fly to LA the next morning. I hope you have a fabulous time exploring my city (SF, not CorteMadera). I'd offer to give you "the grand tour," but I suspect you have others closer to you who will make better offers.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious after reading your book just how much of a labor of love it was. You deserve every pair of Fancy-Pants that come your way.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're not going to apologize for your success.
It would be ungracious to preen over less successful authors, and I know you'd never do that.
ReplyDeleteBut certainly you have nothing to apologize for!!!!!
As a great non-writer of so-so-books, I never dreamed you SHOULD apologize. Those of my ilk usually try to bask in your glow. Really. Seriously. "I know this guy who got a book published by St. Martin's Press. Not some vanity publisher, but actually one of the best." The fact that, really, I don't know you that well notwithstanding. I brag. The other blogging hacks who make you feel you should apologize? (Or can they even blog?) To heck with them.
ReplyDeleteWhy would you ever need to apologize? You wrote an awesome book. You have a style that grips people. Case in point, a friend started reading a few pages and wound up engrossed, I finally asked what it was that got him so into it since he's not a big reader, doesn't have children, ect. He replied that it was the way you write..it feels like the reader is there seeing it firsthand.
ReplyDeleteDon't ever apologize because if my house catches fire there's two books that will make it out with me, yours and the 'Time Traveller's Wife'. I can't wait until we see another book from you.
I'm a bit surprised that you ever felt you had to apologize for getting published, or that anyone ever gave you grief about it, but I suppose I shouldn't be.
ReplyDeleteI was once criticised (by a friend of my mother's) for saying "thank you" when I was complimented. She implied that I obviously felt I deserved such compliments. WTF? I thought it was just good manners to try to accept a compliment gracefully? I can only imagine what this person would think of someone actually promoting a book they wrote, heaven forfend. Bah. Who has time for people like that? Promote away!
I just ordered your book so I'd have it in time to read it before getting it signed! So looking forward to this.
ReplyDeleteCheck out Japantown while you're here--lots of Godzilla toys. XD
Hi Rob! I've been following your blog for a while, and I snatched up your book when I saw it here in a Seattle Barnes and Noble. I am now about half-way through-- enjoying every second of it.
ReplyDeleteOur son is also non-verbal, though he has the opposite problem (lissencephaly), in his case one of many issues caused by an extremely rare genetic syndrome. We're transplanted Texas natives, and hopefully the next time we're back down that way we'll be able to catch one of your book signings. Tell Schuyler that she's got some big fans up here!
I figure you don't have anything to apologize for. It sounds like those writers are sort of the equivelent of people who won't stop listening to their favorite bands after they get radio time because they are now "sellouts." Ridiculous.
~Jess
Rob,
ReplyDeletePromotion is what sells books. Go for it!
Re other people's responses. You'll eventually get tired of the people who tell you they could have written the same--or better book, if they hadn't been so busy with their Very Important careers.
And the ones who point to the typo on page 213.
When my first book came out and I experienced unexpected success, another author wrote me that I better be prepared to lose my husband. I though that was very weird. Later, when I lost my husband partially because he could not deal with my success, I thought she was onto something.
I found a new husband, fortunately, and--you will get this--he got to first base because he went out and bought a hardcover copy of my latest book even though it was on a subject about which he had not the slightest interest. He did NOT ask for free copy and thus separated himself, with that single selfless act, from almost all my other friends and family!
Good. I never saw the need for an apology in the first place! Many of us would be bummed to miss an opportunity to come to an event of yours anyway!
ReplyDeleteHappens to us successful small business owners too, when others in our same business don't realize the 20 hour days and the hard work that goes into being successful. Don't apologize -- if you got published, it was jarder than anyone knows, and much more work than most folks WANT to do.
ReplyDeletePat
harder, not jarder. (20 hour day yesterday). Pat
ReplyDeleteCan I tell you how excited I am to meet you in person after having blog-stalked you for what, ten years?
ReplyDeleteYou forgot Alcatraz on your list of tourist stuff. It's actually really cool.
F**k 'em. Some people are incapable of celebrating another person's success. Why should they be allowed to drag you down?
ReplyDeleteAnyone who's actually read_the_book would know that you would trade all of your success in a heartbeat for Schuyler's happiness. So, yeah...f**k 'em.
Dude, you are SO entitled to tout your book. You worked hard on it, you laid out the good the bad and the ugly. It's hones, cuts the bullshit and you tell it like it is as much as you can in just a few pagees. There are jerks out there who toot there horn when they have NOTHING to back up thier supposed accomplishements. You on the other hand are gracious and humorous about getting this book sold. Just keep rolling right along. People need to spenda little money on reading something that could help change the life of another child. Do not attempt to back burner your enthusiasm. Keep on getting it out there. Have you not noticed that on Larry King and Oprah and Bill Mahr that someone is always on the panel to sell "the book". Come on man, you got every right to promote it as much as possible and keep making profit off it for you and your publisher. This is not just "fluff" that so many people read, it's a real story, informative and irreverent and honest and it can teach us all a few things. NEVER feel itis tacky to encourage the future sales. You are doing a service, and a damn fine one I say. No glass ceiling on this, keep going for it. Make the best seller list, it needs to be there. Modesty is not going to sell it. You giving it your best shot to get it out there and let people learn some things is worth every snide remark and a hole makes. Your minions are cheering you on!!!
ReplyDeleteSo here I was minding my own business after having vowed not to ever post here and just enjoy the writing (I so feel like Ashton Kutcher after pledging to be neighborly then cursing out his neighbor.) But I just could not help myself. And this is why.
ReplyDeleteSocialism advocates government ownership of all means of production, and further advocates that only the government can control the distribution of the products to the consumers and the distribution of wealth to the citizens. Karl Marx viewed socialism as a necessary stepping-stone in between free market capitalism and communism.
Socialists believe that wealth should not be concentrated in the possession of a few members of a society ("few" being a relative term), and they believe that only the government should be able to determine how much is "enough" and how much is "too much." They view it as the duty of the wealthy to support the non-wealthy.
There are variations within socialism. Some socialist thinkers believe that the government should control all capital, all business, all production, and all wealth. Other socialist thinkers propose differing levels of government involvement, with government having no authority or limited authority in some industries, moderate control in other industries, and total control in a few.
But the main tenet of socialism is the "Robin Hood" idea of taking from the rich to give to the poor. Unfortunately for everyone, the socialists who are in power tend to like having power and wealth and resources. So they continue to keep the wealth distributed to a relative few members of society and between the high taxes and the high prices, they manage to prevent any real distribution of wealth to the lower and middle classes.
Are you old enough to remember the photos and news stories of citizens in the Soviet Union standing in line for hours to buy a loaf of bread, or a handful of vegetables? The poverty under socialism is far, far greater than any poverty you will see in the United States. When the government controls all the food, all the water, all the electricity, all the manufacturing, all the medical care, all the education, the government and only the government gets to say which individual is entitled to have something. Everything is rationed.
And please notice that the people who are so loud in calling for taking away the wealth of one person, are themselves quite wealthy and they never seem to give away their own wealth. It's always the money and belongings and labor of other people that is supposed to be taken for "the common good," never their own.
Which brings me to silliness of Rob ever having to apologize for promoting his book, which invites people to buy it, which earns him money.
If Rob was a true socialist as he says he is, he does say he has a socialist heart. So I feel safe in making that assumption.
So Rob, will you keep the profits that you have earned in an honorable fashion from the sale of the book or hand them over to the state? Do you really have a socialist heart or are you just playing make-believe?
Get to it jenn.
Jesus Howard Christ.
ReplyDeleteIt's a joke, Johnny. I am not a Marxist.
I wrote more, but I think it might be deserving of a blog entry. So we all have that to look forward to. Woo.
Well then in my opinion that may be the only unfunny thing you have ever written.
ReplyDeleteI never said marxist... you said socialist.
Anyway I hope your work earns you a mountain of money.
I was reading about the Bridge School today and hoping you knew about it, but then of course you do because you are one dialed in dad. Have a great time here in the Bay Area, if you want the real tourist experience you have to do everything while wearing an SF fleece. You will see them all over the place for the suckers who packed for what they think of as California weather...
ReplyDelete