Shouts From Down Under

Dark passages between books shelved into the darkness above.

Gimmicks don't even rhyme with lyrics. But they could be our bread and butter writing. Couldn't they?

Everyone has to sell their work, wants to sell it, should sell it. If we don't it'll be like a balloon three weeks after the party - wrinkly, boring, deflated and sort of a little creepy. Unappealing and drab. It might be an awesome work, but no one reads it because it sounds or looks musty.

You know those books there used to be in libraries, the ones with the plain cover and a simple title. I used to make it my business sometimes to just read each book in order, make myself read them regardless of the cover. You can find some real treasures by doing this, but also stumble across some door props. Paper weights. Pet blocks of paper. Waste of a good tree. And your time.

So, a lot of those old books seem to be gone out of libraries now, and the whole lucky dip thing doesn't happen. Some of the magic of libraries is gone these days. They no longer smell like Grandma's old mouldy mansion, They don't smell like leather, age, mysterious, potentially magical. No, these days they are bright, bound freshly, marketed, optimised to appeal, huge impact title in letters that stand out against the chosen background, the cover just right with exactly the images needed to hook you with one glance.

Do you ever stand in a book shop, just inside the door, or back a bit from the walls of books, and just stare? Take it all in at once. Then, if the assistant hasn't come hanging about like you might be a shoplifter, you then absorb which book hits you right between the eyes. It'll have a title that's clear and bold, with maybe a different colour scheme to all the rest. It'll stand out from the rest like a 275 watt Tastic bathroom heat lamp globe. Unmistakable. The rest look like a vertical paisley carpet, blending in together so that your mind overloads with one big pattern.

It's obvious our book, whatever it looks like, will have to stand out from that growing multitude. How will we do this? eBooks or paper, we'll have to make the first impression count. I feel this is most important with our overall quality. Are these tactics to hook sales gimmicks? Are they something dodgy we don't need?
Seems to me its not so much the gimmicks as to get it out there in the first place, with a story that is enjoyable and satisfying. That's why we read isn't it? It's not like mowing the lawn. You don't just do it 'cause it's there, or because if you don't it'll keep growing bigger and your wife or whoever will hassle you until you read it / mow it.
Books are our choice, unless we live in a government controlled populace, or our country becomes that way - and perhaps we will be told what to read and what not to read.

But I do sometimes pine for the times when you could explore a musty smelling old library, when the staff were stern and frowned at any noise, when their pencil scratched the date and title into your library card, and refiled it firmly into it's wooden partitioned box, or envelope pouches on the wall. I forget what they used to do with them, but your copy would be carefully slid into the pouch inside the front cover.

There didn't seem to be gimmicks back then. Only the thump of the date stamp, wielded like a judges gavel by the tall, frosty, balding, foreign diplomat style librarian, or over friendly grinning lady who knew your mum, smelled of Oil of Ulan, and stood too close. Whoever they were, that stamp coming down like a Grievous Bodily Harm punch only made you shiver at the last grated warning not to stray again into the ADULT SECTION.
Whatever is in there must be good, and suddenly you are determined to either sneak into that forbidden area, and read every single book, or if that never happens, you'll try to GROW older quicker, just to get back at the strict Dewey Decimal deciders.

It's not 1975. That's what I'm still coming to grips with today. Have you noticed? Those years we read about in Isaac Asimov's science fiction books, are pretty much here now. There are quite a few more authors of kids books than just Enid Blyton and such.

We now need gimmicks and special effects, movie adaptability, merchandising manoeuvrability, manuscript manipulations. Gimmicks and gadgetry like iPhones, Internet, Twitter, Scribophile and Crazy Russians to show us life hacks.

Sales tactic (Tictacs) for novelists - travelling in mobile homes / Winnebagos


Crazy Russian life hacks for novelists - after The Apocalypse. Zombies could be taught to read.



Sparky