The Unwords is divided into three thematic chapters, each with its own purpose. But what these three chapters have in common (besides the obvious) is that I express my dislike about advertising and marketing one way or another in all three chapters, even though this subject is not the central theme of any of them. My anonymity is vital for my work for many reasons, and one of those reasons is because I know the truth about what is really going on inside a publisher's head.
Publishers don't want you -the reader- to fall in love with a book they publish... they want you to fall in love with its author. If you fall in love with any given book, you will probably search to find other works by the same author. But it doesn't mean you will love them too; there's a good chance you might hate them. But (and this is where the publisher's mind falls into the wrenching abyss of advertising and monetary interest) if you promote the author enough... not the book; the author. If you really choke him down deep into the public's throat through advertising campaigns and constant media exposure, just enough to make readers fall in love with him as a persona, as a presence and as an idol, then the quality of his work doesn't really matter anymore. Readers will buy his work, not because they are interested in what he has to say... but because it's him that says it. When a famous author is being interviewed about his latest book, haven't you ever wondered why they spend 80% of the interview talking about the author himself and not the actual book? They mention the title of the book, it's release date, a small synopsis about the plot and... that's it! The rest of the time, they talk about the author. Well, now you know why...
Publishers are not trying to sell books, this is the harsh, honest truth. They're trying to sell authors to you. This is the main reason why if you are an unknown, you will most likely not be getting signed by a traditional publisher any time soon. Unknowns are hard to sell and cost a lot of money to promote and If they don't succeed into making the author lovable, they know that every time a new book is out, they will have to start their marketing all over again from scratch... and in the marketing world, everything that starts from scratch costs a shit load of money!
I have always distanced myself from this mentality. I consider it a scam and I have no desire to be a part of it. At the end of the day, it's just another highly inventive way the "business man" has come up with in order to manipulate people. I don't want this shit in between my work and my reader, I consider it offensive. I don't even want myself to be in between my work and my reader. Many have enjoyed reading The Unwords but that doesn't mean the same people will enjoy The Torn Apart. I know I have to start from scratch and honestly, I find that really exciting and emotionally accelerating. There are no guarantees, no pretenses, no nonsense to distract my reader....
...with every word I start from zero and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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