Entertainment on the brain

After Hurricane Katrina, Obie Joe decided to load up the minivan for a trip to the hometown. What better bulk than dozens of books slated for one of NOLA's recently reopened schools?

A woman in the neighborhood responded to our call for donated books. In her living room, boxed and labeled, were hundreds of books.

"What can I say? I'm a romance novel junkie. I love a good story," she shrugged. Turns out she bought and read about 30 books a month, which is about the average for romance novels.

Pulp fiction, romance, sci-fi, historical fiction....all easily derided as detriments to "true" literature, yet for the readers of these forms, the story is key, and they could care less about the aspirations of the form.

Ms. Obie Joe loved today's Lev Grossman's editorial in The Wall Street Journal reminding us that literature shouldn't exult in distancing itself from the reader. Perhaps one of the reasons why Young Adult as well as graphic novels are gathering huge contingents of new fans might be a response to the lack of good stories found in grown-up lit.

(credit: Jon Krause, Wall Street Journal for graphic)

A self-publisher's mantra

Find your market before your first word.

In today's Wall Street Journal article -- online.wsj.com/article/SB119491241020490592.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yahoo -- and cautionary tale about a self-publisher whose pain was oh so avoidable, Mr. Obie Joe wonders why so many authors avoid the obvious. As magical as the process of writing and reading the book can be, as well as the discovery of the same, at the beginning, the book is just a product. And like a can of pork & beans, an author/publisher has got to think about the market for the book.

While it's wonderful if all of our books cross genres and age groups like Harry Potter, truth is, most of us have to saturate our primary audience first before jumping to other markets.

For the guy profiled in the WSJ article, that meant a series of decisions before setting one word to spell-check:
• Who is most likely is going to be our reader?
• Since it is a book for women about issues in gynecology, what would be the best way to reach them: if not bookstores, how about doctor's offices, or women's health conferences?
• Research a distributor with sales reps familiar with the patient education market.
• What kind of media would respond to the book's content? Women's magazines would be a perfect fit, but without national credentials, an author might work with a national publicist before making the pitch.
• Give talks wherever you can find an audience to build your platform and name recognition.
• And, at the very least, put together an online presence before publication: for this book, Mr. Obie Joe would have recommended a web site offering advice, or discussion board for patient to patient contact.

As much as it pains for us to say it -- because price, book cover, and a great printing deal do matter -- the primary focus for small publishers has to be: who is your market, and where are they congregating?