Last week I had a chat with my musician brother about creativity and publicity etc. I was, as usual, bewailing my lack of celebrity and therefore low sales. Can’t seem to get the book out there!!!!! He told me, that as an author, I’m really asking for the sun, the moon and the stars. I was somewhat taken aback! All I felt I was asking for, was a chance. He went on to say that he writes a song and therefore, asks his audience to listen, perhaps for 5 minutes. If it’s a gig 90 minutes, but an author asks the reader to pick up their work, buy it and then to set aside hours of their time reading it. Hopefully because they like it, get into it, or are a compulsive completer finisher. I’d never thought of it like that. To be fair it made me feel more than a little ungrateful.
So though I have only sold hundreds of books, it actually translates into over a thousand hours of my readers time. I am staggered at the thought, and profoundly grateful. Perhaps if I stretch my fingers just a little further …
