What a month it has been. I kept wanting to write to you and then BAM! my attention would get sucked into everything Neko. It’s been a month of good things, a lot of learning, and a lot of feeling into this new space of being comfortable in my writer’s skin, however that looks.
Let me just kick off by saying this is mostly just going to be a newsletter catching myself up with everything that happened this month, but maybe you’ll find some of it interesting too. So here goes. In no particular order.
Neko’s launch
This year I thought I’d go wild and have a launch in a bookstore. My first book launch, for The Dot Spot, was held in a restaurant with a kickass soundtrack and a small burlesque show with Strawberry Sunday and Jezzybelle. The second, for The Fulcrum, was a morning soiree held at The Chefs’ The Black Sheep restaurant with music and coffee and cookies. So for my third launch, it was time to mix it up a little and live like a normal author.
Well, I’ll tell ya.
While the bookstore was lovely, I have to say I really missed the theatre of a launch, so I think next time I’ll go back to soundtracks and restaurants.
Nevertheless, I had a blast talking to Mark Winkler, the author of The Errors of Doctor Browne, which I adored. Here is a picture of us.
Blown Away By Books
There was also a moment at Fishhoek Library this month with the BABB Indie Publisher’s Forum. I sat on a panel with Debi Hawkins (Becoming a Mermaid Sister), Cathy Park Kelly (Boiling a Frog Slowly), and Nurden Cross chatting about the ins and outs of marketing your book as an indie author.
Now, having been traditionally published before and having self-published my first two fiction titles, I’ve learned a lot about both sides of this book process and I’ll be writing a post about this within the next couple of months or so.
But, to any trad published authors reading this who find themselves feeling like they’re being overlooked by their publishers or getting the short end of the stick because their publisher isn’t marketing them extensively or turning them into an instant international bestseller, I will say two things:
One, the value of your publisher isn’t *just* producing your book so that you don’t have to; two, marketing is a simple word for a very complex and broad church.
Traditional publishing gives you and your book three invaluable things: distribution, legitimacy, and access to in-person events such as literary festivals and launches you don’t have to organise. (Distribution. Oh my god. That in itself is worth everything. Even if local publishers still suck at Amazon.)
Then. The advertising side of marketing is a very small part of the system, and unless you’re a celeb, winning awards, or a sellable product (ie you yourself are so super on-trend and connected), you and our book are only going to get a teensy weensy crumb of this marketing budget. Distribution, legitimacy, and in-person events are all aspects of marketing.
Anyway, more on that later. Here is a picture I stole from CPK from the event.
Neko reviews and reader definitions
I’ve been thrilled at the response to Neko and not only the great reviews. I’ve learned that sometimes it takes readers to tell you what your book’s about or where it falls in the great world of stories.
I read extensively, but not in any one genre and so I write not in any one genre; I write the story that reveals itself to me, whatever it is. So when Neko came along, I didn’t know how to place it. Sci-Fi, sure, but it didn’t follow – in my mind and limited knowledge – the usual conventions of SF.
And then, at the Tokai Book Fair in March, a guy came ambling along and picked up Neko and we started chatting about it and he said something like ‘oh yeah okay this sounds a lot like Le Guin’s social science fiction’ and I was like, ‘oh do say more’ and so he said some more and then I went home to google and research and now Neko has a little group of books to stand with.
And since we’re here, you can buy The Akashic Records of The Last People as Written by Neko from The Book Lounge, Exclusive Books Cavendish and Waterfront, Kalk Bay Books, The Book Junction, and of course Amazon for ebooks and print (outside SA)
UCT: Self-publishing, Step by Step
I also ran a four-week course on self-publishing with Daisy Jones and Lucinda Hooley this month. They’re the authors of Love You Madly and I madly loved (?) getting to know them both over these past few months, prepping for the course and then running it.
What the research for the course emphasised for me was that the publishing lens on what gets picked up is growing narrower and that self-publishing is likely to be the only option for authors who write outside of what is considered on-trend. It’s an ovary-ache and quite depressing, but hey, life be’s that way sometimes.
Which is why I get very antsy with traditionally published authors who think self-publishing will somehow get them more. More what? Because unless you’ve put in the time and effort a la Brandon Sanderson – unless you are, in fact, Brandon Sanderson – you’re most like to just get more frustrated.
If you’re in the system, stay in the system. Just learn to use it better.
And then..
Comic Con Cape Town
Sat on a panel with Kumbi Chitenderu, Senior Development Co-ordinator at Triggerfish, and authors Magdalena Brynard (Achaos), Shameez Patel Papathanasiou (The Selene Trilogy), and Shreya La Cock (Snare) talking all things character creation and development. The whole experience was pretty overwhelming for this here introvert, but it was so fantastic to be part of something so big, and so delightful to see it come together here in tinytown Cape Town.
One thing I was particularly interested in was the pitch sessions that were held just before our panel. South Africans aren’t used to live pitching because we don’t have any literary/publishing/film conventions where this happens.
It made me wonder what would happen for the industry if live-pitching publishers became a thing here at festivals; if it would draw out new voices or at least introduce more readers and wannabe writers to the small festivals we do have.
Things to think about, hey?
The end
Anyway. That’s it, that’s the round-up. There were some other goodies, like I’ve got something brewing with Exclusive Books Waterfront for Spec-Fic/SFF authors and readers, but otherwise I think that’s enough for now.
I’m happy to be back chatting with you, as always please feel free to mail me, and next up – I’m not joking this time – that goddamn post about perimenopause I’ve been meaning to write for three months.
Blessings upon your head,
Tanya
Find out more about The Akashic Records of The Last People as Written by Neko.