A book is born, and its journey begins. For an author there is that ecstatic moment when you are holding an actual book in your hands, the kinesthetic feel of its cover, and perhaps the annoying recognition that there are still tiny errors no editor or pre-reader caught. I’ve had this experience four times in my life, the recent one being the May 14th launch of the paperback version of The Art of Grieving: How Art and Artmaking Help Us Grieve and Live Our Best Lives. Given the technological changes affecting both the book publishing industry and the reading public, the journey to this point each time has been unique.
Today the electronic version of the Art of Grieving goes on sale on Amazon for $2.99 and my book team and I will begina Best Seller Campaign to get the word out about it. Turns out, currently, once the writing and production of a book is finished, the writer’s job is to enlist a village to promote the book and get it into the hands of those who are looking for its message. Once a book has generated a significant number of sales in a particular category, in a short period of time, Amazon’s will show it to anyone searching for a book on that topic.
In 1992, when I published my first book, there were only two possible versions of a book, a paper back or a hard cover, both versions that you could hold in your hand. In 2013, electronic copies had become a necessary option to offer the reading public, so of course my publisher made sure Warrior Motherwas available in that format as well. A couple of years later I recorded my book to offer a format that had been around since 1997, but whose popularity with book lovers was, (and still is,) increasing – the audio book. For the Art of Grieving, I reconnected with Michael Dodin, the audio expert who helped me record that book. We are holding recording sessions now with the goal of having the audio version available on Audible and other audio services in early fall.
Through the years and all the various formats for a writer’s work, there has continued to be the prediction that readershipwill disappear, and books will not be the way that people get their knowledge, inspiration, and entertainment. Yet–in 2023, worldwide book sales hit 2.2 billion units. The print book market in the US remains healthy, 788 million copies of print books were sold in 2023. Book clubs whose members buy or borrow books from the library and discuss them in small group meetings, report 5 million members meeting in person or over zoom.
According to publisher Berrett-Koehler, the annual number of new titles published each year has grown more than ten times in the last 16 years. A million books are published each year by traditional publishers and over 2 million books are self-published. In all cases the promotion of the book relies heavily on the writer and their communities.
Where does all this leave authors like me? How can we define success? Most authors want people to read their work and to have that happen, the book must stand out from the millions of other books published each year. I didn’t become a published author until I was past 40 and had had several other careers as a professional dancer, a social worker, and a university professor. For me, the seeds for each book begin when I perceive a need, like how ill prepared to take care of themselves my social work students were when we sent them into tumultuous health care settings for their field assignments. I became curious about what were the skills of self-care and how could we teach them? That book titled Stillpoint was revised in 2018 with fellow social worker and longtime friend, Christine Gautreaux as co-author resulting in the best and most easeful writing and book production process of them all. It is currently the basis of a weekly online course attended by professional and family caregivers from around the country which has become one of the highlights of most weeks.
The fact that I wrote books rather than shorter less involved booklets or white papers–I blame my favorite high school teacher, Sister Mercia. She praised my writing gifts and skills and encouraged me to develop them further. Neither she nor I could have imagined where those actions would take me.
Here’s how to help the Best Seller Campaign. During these next few days when the eBook will be on sale for $2.99:
It will take you to the page to purchase the eBook.
In deep and lasting gratitude,
Sheila
