We won’t get fooled again

So, I am now moving the blog focus onto the writing of my next book, titled, Home Free. It will be about the crazy national book tour that Mr. Bones and I conducted to the lower 48 states from mid-2022 to about mid-2023. The blog will continue to touch on the insanity of trying to promote my first book.

For those of you who like the weekly theme song, the format of the blog will continue to feature old rock and roll as well as other great hits of the past that somehow illustrate the point or capture the emotion. This week the song is “We won’t get fooled again” by the Who, from their 1971 hit album, “Who’s Next.”

Who’s Next album cover. Very mysterious.

The song was about change and the hope that it brings for progress and a better life, balanced against the cynical observation that new politicians resemble old ones, and that new bosses are often the same as old ones. The lyrics by Pete Townshend describe one young man’s desire to be satisfied with what lies ahead and not get fooled again.

“I’ll get on my knees and pray

I don’t get fooled again!”

 In my case, I harbor a number of high hopes: that writing the new book will be easier than the first one; that I will know enough about editing and rewriting to avoid making some of the mistakes from the first book; that I will be wise enough to write a book people want to read, instead of a story I want to tell; I might actually find an agent and a publisher if I can demonstrate that there is a market for the new book; I will know enough about launching and promoting a book that it won’t be a total disaster like the first.

 At the same time, I am aware that even some of the most successful and skilled authors struggle to go from one success to another. So, realistically, I have to keep my expectations in check and be prepared for whatever lies ahead. I feel a little like a captain taking a ship out to sea for a long voyage. I hope for good weather and calm seas, but I have to be ready for storms and gigantic waves crashing over me.

I have this dread of giant waves of failure washing over me

For now, I can’t even seem to get started on the second book, because I have so far failed to launch the first book successfully. It is sinking fast on Amazon and I don’t know why. I expected, unrealistically, I suppose, that it would sell better after the rewrite and the redesign of the cover and the interior. But it seems that either no one is aware the book is available, or they know about it but aren’t interested.

I am somewhat persistent when I start something, so it is very hard for me to write off the first book as a total loss, forget it, and just move on to writing the second book. There are arguments in favor of dropping the first book, such as the saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” Or, presumably referring to the same horse, “There’s no use flogging a dead horse.” I don’t know if the horse died due to thirst when it refused to drink. It would be tragic for the poor horse to die right next to a cool stream.

What if a beaten horse died next to a cool drink of water?

Back to being persistent: I just can’t give up on the first book until I try everything possible to promote it. I am now looking into the newer methods to promote books, such as book tubes and book toks as well as Bookstagram. The younger generations are into online book promotion using new technologies, and it behooves us old folks (Be hooves? The horse? Again?) to get with the program and learn to use them. I find myself resisting the new ways, but I ask myself, why would I refuse to engage with new readers? If older writers refuse to seek new audiences, their books will die when the older audiences are gone.

So, I find myself torn between a dogged pursuit of every possible avenue of promotion of the first book, and a desire to get started researching and outlining the next book. I once thought I could do both at the same time, but there are not enough hours in the day, and I now realize I don’t have the band-width. So, the new book may remain on hold until at least this fall, by which time I should have explored every avenue of promotion for the first book. Or, I might manage to squeeze in some work on it before then.

 If I had a publicist and a large budget, I could hand off the promotion campaign and focus on the next book. However, I don’t have a publicist, and I still don’t know one that I would trust with my first book. And, I don’t have the kind of money that you need to launch a major book promotion campaign. I have read that you should budget spending $1 for every book you plan to sell. I want to sell $10,000, but I don’t have $10,000 in loose change lying around. I’d love to sell 25,000 but I certainly don’t have that.

 The risk of waiting too long to write the next book is that the idea may go stale in my head or I might lose the inspiration I once felt for the topic. That would be a disaster of sorts for me. So, I struggle each day trying to figure out the best way to move forward with my new writing career, such as it is. I remain the most famous author no one has ever heard of. A legend in my own mind. The next great unknown.

 I think that’s about all I have to say. I don’t want to get fooled again. There’s an old saying about fools. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I’m a presidential candidate … or an author.” Or something like that.

This expression now belongs to George W. Bush