Anne Riley

On February 18, 2011, after multiple rounds of revisions and editor submissions, I self-published my first novel, THE CLEARING.

And on February 18, 2012, I will pull it from publication.

I never set out to be a self-published author. In fact, when I put THE CLEARING up for sale, I only expected close friends and family to buy it. My financial investment was minimal, and Release Day consisted of nothing but a blog post and a Facebook status.

“Hey, THE CLEARING is available now! Here’s the link! Woohoo!”

That was the extent of my advertising. I didn’t have a marketing plan because I wasn’t planning to market anything. I didn’t do blog tours. I only did interviews for people who asked for them–I never approached anyone for publicity (not that I remember, anyway).

The only things I did in the way of active marketing were the Daytime Alabama TV interview and the speaking engagements.

That was it.

So it’s no surprise that my sales numbers don’t match those who are more proactive with their marketing. I never expected them to. And this is where the problem lies.

If I’m not going to do this for real, I shouldn’t be doing it at all.

My goal is still to be traditionally published; not because it’s better than self or indie publishing, but because it’s my particular dream. I want the big pub house, the big marketing budget, the book tours, the fancy cover (that I don’t have to pay out of pocket for!). I want all of it, and I’m willing to keep working for it.

I started THE CLEARING in August 2008. That’s 3 1/2 years ago, people. I went through multiple rounds of edits with my agent, who sent it on submission to editors three times.

Our last round of submissions was Fall 2010. And because I’d been through all that Submission Purgatory, I couldn’t face the possibility that  NO ONE would ever read the book. I wanted people to at least have a chance to see what I’d been talking about for the past year. What I’d spent so much time working on.

My agent and I talked, and after that conversation, I decided to publish it myself. People bought it. More people than I expected. And it was all very bittersweet. People were reading it, which was great, but I was still very sad that it hadn’t sold to a publishing house.

A few months after I published the book, I tried to read it again.

Key word: TRIED.

I have grown so much as a writer that I don’t even recognize myself in THE CLEARING anymore. If I were to write it now, it would be a totally different book. And when people tell me they’re reading it, I have this weird compulsion to apologize for the things I don’t like about it anymore. I don’t ACTUALLY apologize, but I have to bite my lip to keep from doing so.

Am I proud of the story? Oh, yes. I absolutely ADORE the plot and the characters. Sure, they have their flaws, but they’re MY characters and I love them. Honestly, I think the storyline is brilliant. It’s the writing that isn’t representative of me anymore, and that bothers me.

A lot.

It had a good run. One year of limited publication, and if I ever want to put it back up for sale, I can; but that would require hours and hours of revisions to make it into something that represents me now, and I don’t think I want to backtrack like that. I have so many new ideas.

I want to move forward.

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Thank you to everyone who bought a copy of the book, told a friend about it, blogged about it, emailed / called / texted me to say how much you loved it, lent it to a friend, took the time to review it, asked me to sign it, placed it on your bookshelf, used it as a doorstop, propped up a wobbly table leg with it . . . you get the idea. 

THE CLEARING will still be available until February 18, so if you’ve been meaning to buy a copy, well . . . it’s pretty much now or never, kids. You can find purchase links in the sidebar; it’s available in all the usual places. 

Hi all! I’ve got a guest post up on Mia Hayson’s blog today. It’s all pictures, so if you need a break from all the thinking, I highly recommend you go HERE and check out the post.

If you do read it, will you leave Mia a comment in lieu of leaving one here? We’d both love to know you stopped by!

A few days ago I got an email from a former student of mine. She told me she’s about to graduate from college (to which I responded WHAT NO THAT CANNOT BE RIGHT I AM NOT THAT OLD, except that the math adds up, so, DANG IT YOU’RE RIGHT) and she’s writing an article on effective blogging. She had some questions for me about my own approach to blogging, as well as my perception of what makes a credible and effective blog.

And it got me thinking: Why do I blog the way I do? Do I have a specific way I blog? Why are there some blogs I check every day and others I hardly check at all?

Hint: the more cat pictures you post, the more I will LOVE YOUR BLOG.

Now, I don’t know why people read MY blog. My guess is that they stumbled upon it one day (maybe thinking it was a lolcat blog, because given how many lolcat pictures I use, I could totally understand that misconception), and before they could close the window, their computer froze with the arrow on the “refresh” button, and now all they can do on the internet is click “refresh” on my webpage, which means they are now forced to read my blog because the only other choice is NOT TO READ ANYTHING AT ALL.

(I’m not sure why all these people have not called the Geek Squad or whatever. I guess they’re just too busy.)

But I do know why I read the blogs I read. And so I give you:

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Anne Riley’s Guidelines To Having A Great Blog And Also Generally Being Awesome On The Internet

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1. Be funny. 

This one sounds easy, but DO NOT BE FOOLED, GRASSHOPPERS. Being funny is an art. It requires practice.

I have read MANY a blog in which the author tried to be funny, but alas, they failed miserably. And when those bloggers discover that failure, it generally results in a lot of defensive complaining.

(Don’t worry, I’m probably not talking about you. Really. I can’t even think of a specific example right now. This is a massive generality. BREATHE, PEOPLE.)

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2. Present yourself in a cheerful way. 

OH, we all have bad days. Remember when I suddenly lost my agent mere hours before I planned to send her the full manuscript of PULL? That wasn’t fun, and I definitely talked about how un-fun it was, but mostly I try to keep things pretty upbeat around here because “upbeat” is what I look for when I read someone else’s blog.

I’ve never enjoyed a blog in which the author complains about writing, editing, peer review, sales, bad reviews, rejections, etc. on a CONSISTENT basis.

Pointing out something difficult that you’re dealing with every once in a while? Totally cool. Makes you seem more human, in fact. But constant comments about how terrible your life is as a writer and how you never have time to do anything and how no one is reading your book–well, it makes me think perhaps you’ve chosen the wrong profession.

But I’ll never know if you choose a new one because I’ll stop reading.

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3. Keep (most) of your opinions to yourself. 

This one goes back to the old “don’t talk politics or religion” idea. Now, I occasionally mention something about my faith, because it’s a huge part of my life. But I don’t talk about it much because most of my blog readers don’t share my beliefs, and I don’t want them to feel cyber-bullied because they don’t believe what I believe.

If you have very strong convictions about something–whether it’s self-pub vs. traditional pub, cats vs. dogs, Mohawks vs. buzz cuts, epidural vs. unmedicated, Democrat vs. Republican–I advise you to save your opinions for the times when you are around like-minded individuals, in real life, where nobody can screenshot your comments and plaster them all over Twitter.

Opinions are opinions, and lots of people might disagree with you.

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4. Don’t be passive-aggressive.