RUSTY BLOG

theblackbirdsong: .

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:03:52 -0400

theblackbirdsong:

.

average-grief: protest cancelled due to rain. 1500 miniature...

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 19:54:52 -0400

average-grief:

protest cancelled due to rain.
1500 miniature balsa wood and acrylic protest signs.
dimensions variable.
2012-2013

Some Thoughts on Promotion and Publicity + Free Books

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 00:04:06 -0400

roxanegay:

I’ve been thinking about promotion and publicity. I don’t think promotion is evil or dirty or anything like that. If you won’t talk about your writing, if you won’t at least initiate some of the conversation, who will? We love to talk about the power of “buzz” but that buzz needs to start somewhere and no place is better than with the writer. You have to believe in what you’ve published enough to feel comfortable sharing it with others but you don’t want to be annoying. How do you find this balance? I don’t know!

I love when writers share links to their creative writing or interviews on social media and when they talk about any aspect of the writing and publishing life either on Twitter or their blogs. It all feels very behind-the-scenes, which is enjoyable. As a writer, I like doing these things, sharing my work or parts of my process because it makes the isolation of writing feel less, well, isolated. Also, I like my writing being read. If I truly don’t want an audience for a piece of writing, I don’t publish it.

There’s no golden standard for promoting creative work but when I think about promotion, I to follow one of my father’s favorite pieces of advice that he applies to nearly all things—everything in moderation.

So.

Share links to your new book, interview, essay, story, poem, whatever, once or twice, maybe even three times. Beyond that, you’re probably sharing too much, especially if we’re talking about a compressed time span.

Humility is good but too much self-deprecation isn’t and, also, confidence is pretty attractive. If you say the equivalent of, “This sucks but I’m sharing it anyway,” what on earth would compel someone to want to read your sucky work? I suffer from self-doubt too, but you do yourself no favors when you try to abase yourself before potential readers.

At the same time, don’t overhype your work. It’s probably not the greatest ::insert genre:: in the history of the word and if it is, well, do as Lady Eloise does in Boomerang when she says, “You shouldn’t have to blow your own horn. You should leave that for someone else to do.” Also, purr if you can.

Provide a little context, if the platform you’re using to share your work allows for it. Know how to talk about your book, in brief, AND in an interesting way. Suck it up and get on board with self-promotion.

If you’re sharing a link to a story or essay or poem, hey, say that! Maybe share the title. All too often, I get these random links without any clue what they are about. I recently received an e-mail titled, “Book Trailer,” from a complete stranger, with no information about the book in question. That e-mail was deleted. Then I got a link, from a different writer, to a book, without any context, introduction, or explanation, that said, “Please read and review.” All I could think was, “Why?” Readers are not dancing monkeys.

Sending promotional material by private Facebook message, Direct Message on Twitter, GoodReads message, etc, is weird, obnoxious, and invasive. It really is.

It’s also weird when you are clearly just “friending” someone, for the sake of getting new eyeballs to torture with awkward promotion. Chilllll.

Adding people to your mailing list, who happen to e-mail you for unrelated, without offering some kind of unsubscribe option from your mailing list is terrible and annoying. This really drives me batshit. I don’t want to be added to your mailing list at ALL but if you insist, at least make it possible for me to discreetly remove myself.

Targeted promotion works really well. You can’t know everything about everyone, but, for example, if someone is known as, say, a feminist, sending them promotional materials about Tucker Max, is that going to work out well for you?

If you’re a professional publicist, be moderate in follow-up e-mails! One or two, fine. Five or ten? TOO MANY! STOP PLZ!

If you’re a writer or publicist getting in touch with a critic, keep in mind that most critics are drowning in publicity requests. You have the one (or whatever number) project to promote. The critic is receiving hundreds or thousands of queries, ARCs, etc. You can’t expect the critic to a. want to review/cover every single thing or b. remember every single pitch or c. be able to give you a definite timeline for when they will cover your book.

Also consider what you’re promoting. Do you need to tell your audience about every single thing you do, or maybe just about the more substantive stuff you do? Your choice, but it’s something to think about.

Finally, and this is just me, but I think it’s good to show how that you’re part of a literary community. This does not mean you should kiss ass or “like” everything or have sanitized opinions. Check out my Goodreads reviews, for example. I am pretty honest when talking about books, even those of my friends. Instead of being fake and weird, do show that you consume as much as you produce. Who are you reading and why? Spread the good word about other writers if you are so moved. If you’re not, that’s fine too. Just… give as much as you take, in whatever way you are most comfortable doing so.

HERE ARE SOME FREE BOOKS FOR YOU.

Read More

Rusty Toque Short Fiction: Issue 2

Fri, 31 May 2013 17:27:19 -0400

THURSDAY NIGHT BY BONNIE BOWMAN
COMICS BY BOB FELLDRIP BY RICHARD FULCO
GOON PACK BY LEE HENDERSON
SHUT IN BY INGRID KEENAN
JOY BY DEEPA SHANKARAN
HATCHETMAN BY ANDREW SULLIVAN

Rusty Toque Short Fiction: Issue 3

Fri, 31 May 2013 17:25:50 -0400

EVERYONE LIKES A LITTLE GUY
by Rebecca Rosenblum

YOU HAVE TO THINK OF ME WHAT YOU THINK OF ME
by Matt Rader

BARE-CHESTED MEN IN PUBLIC MAKE ME UNCOMFORTABLE
by Roxane Gay

GOING TO A PARTY IN YOUR MID-TWENTIES
by Suzanne Sutherland

Rusty Toque Short Fiction: Issue 4

Fri, 31 May 2013 17:23:00 -0400

Enjoy some short fiction from The Rusty Toque from Issue 4

NOBODY
by T amara Faith Berger

SOUVENIRS
by Kelli Deeth

CLUTTER
by Julie Paul

FROM FROZEN
by Jen Sookfong Lee

HYPER-BALLAD
by John Duncan Talbird

Jonathan Goldstein’s writing has appeared in The New York Times...

Fri, 31 May 2013 17:07:58 -0400

Jonathan Goldstein’s writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine and Nerve. He is a columnist for the National Post and a frequent contributor to the PRI’s This American Life. He’s the author of the short story collection Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible! and the novel Lenny Bruce is Dead. His CBC Radio show, WireTap, is now it its ninth season. In his most recent book, I’ll Seize the Day Tomorrow, Goldstein recounts the highs and lows of the last year in his thirties.

RUSTY TALK WITH JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN

Melanie Chambers: What is your writing process like?
Jonathan Goldstein: I’m fortunate to have the radio producing aspect of the job to toggle between, so when writing isn’t coming as easily, there’s always other things to do such as cutting tape, hopping in and out of the studio—sometimes they’re welcome. And sometimes they can be distractions. It’s hard to tell when you should just push through or give up and do something else.

Ania Szado’s acclaimed second novel, Studio Saint-Ex...

Fri, 31 May 2013 17:05:31 -0400

Ania Szado’s acclaimed second novel, Studio Saint-Ex (Viking Canada/Knopf USA) has been sold to five countries. Her debut novel Beginning of Was (Penguin Canada) was regionally shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Best First Book. Her short fiction has been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologized in All Sleek and Skimming (Orca, ed. Lisa Heggum). Ania’s nonfiction has appeared in the Globe & Mail and Flare Magazine. She lives in Toronto and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from University of British Columbia and an AOCA from Ontario College of Art. Visit her website or follow her on Twitter: @AniaSzado.

RUSTY TALK WITH ANIA SZADO

Kathryn Mockler: What is your first memory of writing creatively?
Ania Szado: I remember writing the copy for a “Best of the West” newspaper that covered the goings-on of the cowboy action figures that my brother and I played with when we were little… but my strongest early memory is less pleasant. I wrote a poem in the style of Dr. Seuss. It must have been pretty good. My teacher insisted that I had to have plagiarized it, though I hadn’t. That soured me on writing for a while.

"I begin to think my fascination [with sharks] is in direct proportion to my preoccupation with ideas..."

Fri, 31 May 2013 15:07:36 -0400

““I begin to think my fascination [with sharks] is in direct proportion to my preoccupation with ideas of sentimental, obsessive, unrequited, and true love. The hopes and dreams I’ve held around love have an oblique counterpoint. My dread of sharks is my fear of loneliness, vulnerability, violence at the hands of something stronger, unemotional (and hungry). Also in the wings is the fantasy of submission, the danger of longing to be consumed by something strange. … Simply admitting that you’re looking for love means accepting that you want to enter something that can bear you up and break your heart, means needing to take off all your clothes and let go and get in. That’s not easy or dreamy, it’s scary.””

- Leanne Shapton - Swimming Studies (via zoewhittall)

johnstortz: Opened up a Society6 shop. Head there to get this...

Thu, 30 May 2013 13:32:27 -0400

johnstortz:

Opened up a Society6 shop. Head there to get this print and others from my recent work.

Shop here.

The Rusty Toque Collaborative Poem Project: First Lines April 1-30, 2013

Sat, 04 May 2013 10:05:55 -0400

It helps that she’s pretty.
but it helps more if you aren’t
And really, who has seen the wind except under a microscope of black storm?
Who is exposed, loneliest and pale for the explaining
Who is opposed, homeliest and frail for the restraining.
We get what we deserve
who decides
What lay ahead
whose commentary’s accepted
swallow the stones, by the spoon, by the fist

The Rusty Toque Collabortive Poem: Day 29, 2013

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:43:01 -0400

Join in on our collaborative poem:

April 29, 2013 Line:

“dans toutes les langues”

Hey we’re writing a collaborative poem exquisite corpse-style.

Each day for the month of April, we’ll put up a new line for you to respond to (which will be the last line we received the day before). We’ll publish the whole thing at the end of the month on Rusty Blog.

Post your line in the comment section on our website. Note that you won’t see you’ll line but we’ll add it to the poem.

http://www.therustytoque.com/8/post/2013/04/rusty-toque-collaborative-poem.html#comments

The Rusty Toque Collaborative Poem Project: April 27, 2013

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 19:15:10 -0400

Join in on our collaborative poem:

April 27, 2013 Line:

“Everybody wins”

Hey we’re writing a collaborative poem exquisite corpse-style.

Each day for the month of April, we’ll put up a new line for you to respond to (which will be the last line we received the day before). We’ll publish the whole thing at the end of the month on Rusty Blog.

Post your line in the comment section on our website. Note that you won’t see you’ll line but we’ll add it to the poem.

http://www.therustytoque.com/8/post/2013/04/rusty-toque-collaborative-poem.html#comments

The Rusty Toque Collaborative Poem Project: April 22, 2013

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:59:18 -0400

Join in on our collaborative poem:

April 22, 2013 Line:

“Don’t lose out, just lose it”

Hey we’re writing a collaborative poem exquisite corpse-style.

Each day for the month of April, we’ll put up a new line for you to respond to (which will be the last line we received the day before). We’ll publish the whole thing at the end of the month on Rusty Blog.

Post your line in the comment section on our website. Note that you won’t see you’ll line but we’ll add it to the poem.

http://www.therustytoque.com/8/post/2013/04/rusty-toque-collaborative-poem.html#comments

The Rusty Toque Collaborative Poem Project: April 20, 2013

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:56:45 -0400

Join in on our collaborative poem:

April 20, 2013 Line:

“and habits are those for which we are made”

Hey we’re writing a collaborative poem exquisite corpse-style.

Each day for the month of April, we’ll put up a new line for you to respond to (which will be the last line we received the day before). We’ll publish the whole thing at the end of the month on Rusty Blog.

Post your line in the comment section on our website. Note that you won’t see you’ll line but we’ll add it to the poem.

http://www.therustytoque.com/8/post/2013/04/rusty-toque-collaborative-poem.html#comments

Photo

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:13:12 -0400

The Rusty Toque Collaborative Poem Project: April 19, 2013

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:09:38 -0400

Join in on our collaborative poem:

April 19, 2013 Line:

“and I’d have a no need for directions. Getting lost would be bad habit”

Hey we’re writing a collaborative poem exquisite corpse-style.

Each day for the month of April, we’ll put up a new line for you to respond to (which will be the last line we received the day before). We’ll publish the whole thing at the end of the month on Rusty Blog.

Post your line in the comment section on our website. Note that you won’t see you’ll line but we’ll add it to the poem.

http://www.therustytoque.com/8/post/2013/04/rusty-toque-collaborative-poem.html#comments

The Rusty Toque Collaborative Poem Project: April 17, 2013

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:25:39 -0400

The Rusty Toque Collabortive Poem Project: April 17, 2013

April 17, 2013 Line:

“I’m not drunk, I’m just disoriented”

Hey we’re writing a collaborative poem exquisite corpse-style.

Each day for the month of April, we’ll put up a new line for you to respond to (which will be the last line we received the day before). We’ll publish the whole thing at the end of the month on Rusty Blog.

Post your line in the comment section on our website. Note that you won’t see you’ll line but we’ll add it to the poem.

http://www.therustytoque.com/8/post/2013/04/rusty-toque-collaborative-poem.html#comments

The Rusty Toque Collaborative Poem Project: April 13, 2013

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:11:00 -0400

April 13, 2013 Line:

“concerned but not panicked”

Hey we’re writing a collaborative poem exquisite corpse-style.

Each day for the month of April, we’ll put up a new line for you to respond to (which will be the last line we received the day before). We’ll publish the whole thing at the end of the month on Rusty Blog.

Post your line in the comment section on our website. Note that you won’t see you’ll line but we’ll add it to the poem.

http://www.therustytoque.com/8/post/2013/04/rusty-toque-collaborative-poem.html#comments

The Rusty Toque Collaborative Poem Project: April 12, 2013

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 23:58:01 -0400

April 12, 2013 Line:

“Replace your snivel with the snail of your gentleman’s Katmandu indefensibility”

Hey we’re writing a collaborative poem exquisite corpse-style.

Each day for the month of April, we’ll put up a new line for you to respond to (which will be the last line we received the day before). We’ll publish the whole thing at the end of the month on Rusty Blog.

Post your line in the comment section on our website. Note that you won’t see you’ll line but we’ll add it to the poem.

http://www.therustytoque.com/8/post/2013/04/rusty-toque-collaborative-poem.html#comments