Launching a Book with Simple Grace Is Rare: My Journey to a Gentle Release
The myth: being a published author is a dream gig.
“Au contrare!” sayeth all the published peeps out there.
I would compare it more to giving birth or being one of those unfortunate young salepeople in a polo at Costco trying to sell nice-looking members who dare to make eyecontact a phone plan they don't need (constant rejection, anyone?). (Confession: I take a route on the outside of the store so I don't have to pass them.) Launching a book with grace is rare. And can a book be launched gently?
No matter how writers publish, they are 90-100% responsible for promoting their book for at least a year after publication. This may involve empty chairs at events or a lackadaisical launch team. The author pushes the book out into the world. She may or may not be lying in a pool of her own sweat, tears, and blood at various stages.
My new book is a book of photopoetry. I know my audience, and an aggressive promotion will NOT work. If I can be so bold, you probably prefer a more gentle invitation.
Hence, my question: can a book be launched gently in a world of constant marketing?
I believe it can.
One thing I’ve realized in launching a book filled with individual stories is this: personal begets personal. Social media can be relational, but it takes a ton of hard work. With the right intentions, email can definitely be personal. But the most personal way of sharing is friend-to-friend contact.
I spent a few weeks recently being that Costco sales person on social media, and it didn’t work. It may have helped give my book some visibility, but I’m 95% sure it didn’t boost sales.
Forgive me, but I don’t feel like building my rejection tolerance this summer. (I get practice enough from being a mom of a teen.)
Let’s take a look at what gentle means and go a bit deeper.
I like these synonyms for gentle:
Soothing
Mellow
Soft
Mild
Light
Quiet
Tender
Calm
Compassionate
Non-abrasive
If I search “how to launch a book gently” on Google, many opposite words pop up:
Maximize
Ultimate
Successful
Promotion
Market
Get noticed
Checklist
Strategy
These are necessary words in the world of business and marketing, but they also connote putting the product above the person. Writers do have to constantly share their work. However, right now, that sounds exhausting to me. (As if self publishing, graduating from a master’s program, and doing a gallery show weren’t giving birth enough! I think that means I gave birth to three kids in 1.5 months!)
Here’s what a gentle book launch involves for me right now:
Writing a book is a form of knowledge-sharing, experience, and leadership. If you purchase my book, you’re wanting to receive something, whether that’s insight, entertainment, or information.
In an article on gentle leadership, a writer for Kilpatrick Executive remarks that a gentle leader promotes “collaboration, empathy, and mutual trust…pays attention to the wellbeing of employees [or readers].”*
Replace “gentle leader” with “gentle author.” The gentle author promotes collaboration, empathy, and mutual trust, and she writes for the wellbeing of her readers.
My aim is to cultivate a relationship with you, my reader. I consider you the reason I write. What you think and feel matters to me immensely. If I was all about the push or the “sell,” how in the heck would I have time to hear you, let alone get to know you?
I realize I can’t possibly be friends with every single reader, but what I can do is serve you within the limits of the writer-reader relationship.
My writing is personal,—always has been and always will be—a connecting bridge, not a Costco quick sell.
So I’m going about book promotion a bit more personally and gently. This involves sharing about it in my emails with my dedicated readers and talking about the book in person.
I want you to know your insights and questions have great bearing upon what I write.
I trust you, friend, that you’ll read the book and share about it when it’s right for you.
Thank you for trusting me enough to read my stories.
My dream gig is a relationship with my readers where collaboration, empathy, and trust are the mutual language. I promise to do my part by sharing my work with you in gentle ways.
*https://www.kilpatrickexecutive.com/leadership-gentile-cose-e-perche-promuoverla-in-azienda/
