Writing books and more specifically getting them published is an activity that exposes the author to all sorts of things they might not have prepared themselves for. Books then belong to readers in a way (or at least readers get that impression), where reader expectations meet market complexity and then I get lost in my own head about what I write.
I’m hoping to quickly write this and then get back to my characters who need me! When books don’t sell, authors ask themselves what they could have done differently (when logic dictates it was out of their control – we can’t tell the future or read minds. All we can do is write from the heart and hope people find us). When books sell well, they inevitably end up being read by an audience that wasn’t quite expecting that book (unfortunately I think this happens to me a lot). Algorithms and Amazon ads rely on linking similar titles and then providing the reader with suggestions based on what they’ve been reading, but to be honest, I’m not entirely sure mine have ever been properly pigeon-holed.
The answer I think is to continue to write what I write, what speaks to my heart and brain, even if that means there is nerdy language stuff and characters with complex challenges rather than cocktails on the beach (there are occasionally cocktails). It’s not all happy and lovely in my books (although the ending is always happy and the couple always gets together, they have a lot to overcome first and no character is perfect at the beginning). I can romanticise the setting because I genuinely love to travel, but sometimes the most fascinating parts of an ‘aspirational’ setting are not the expensive, exclusive things, but the quirky details.
I have travelled too much to be able to invent a place made entirely of cosy recognisable images, but I still think the world is a beautiful place to explore, especially the overlooked places.
Unfortunately overlooked places don’t sell books! I can’t complain because the book market is cutthroat at the moment and almost everybody is struggling to sell books. But occasionally I ask myself what I’m doing wrong that so many people never try my books. I am incredibly thankful for the people who have gone back and read my whole back catalogue after enjoying a book. You are my people and I treasure you! You have made such a difference to my success as a small-time author.
I can only hope that there are more people out there who give my books a go and discover they like them. I don’t think it’s possible for me to try to copy other successful books in an effort to get them in front of valuable reader eyeballs – and to that ‘click’ phase where they land on someone’s ereader. I think my books will always be just a bit… different and that’s not a good thing from the algorithm’s point of view (and it’s difficult for marketing!)
But for a little author who started with a small, unknown (at the time) publisher in the middle of the pandemic, I’m proud of what I have achieved with my weird stories and hopefully it’s just the beginning.
Leonie Mack 