I’m telling the truth. Yes, I will indeed tell you why you’ll love my novel, Monster Talk, available to the on-line book buying public very shortly, a week or two, perhaps, after the publication of this blog entry, and available immediately, like right this minute, at the iUniverse bookstore. But I want to begin by talking about self-publication and the unavoidable weirdness that follows, that of self-promotion.
So, if you’ve been following the blog you already know this, but if you’re just popping in for the first time, I’ll give you a short recap. I’m publishing my second novel first through iUniverse because I don’t have the time on the planet to exhaust like I did on my first novel–trying to find an agent who will then try to find a publisher who will then make me do what I have to do anyway as a self-publisher: promote my own thing. I just re-read that last sentence, the part about not having time on the planet. I don’t want you to misunderstand: I’m not dying–any more or less than anyone else who is about my age and health. It’s just that I found that publishing through the conventional means might take me the rest of my life. I have dismissed the illegitimacy issue. I have looked at my work and decided it is good. It is worthy of readers. I have embraced the brave new world of do-it-yourself-with-the-help-of-a-company-that-provides-everything-your-book-could-possibly-need-plus-the-means-to-get-it-into-the-marketplace technology. I have decided that, in the end, there is nothing different about publishing your own novel than producing and selling your own music recording, which is what musicians have been doing from time immemorial. That was the process and those are the subsequent conclusions. Now, having fulfilled my new year’s resolution in just 5 short months, as of today I have a book out that people can hold and read or use as a coaster, paper-weight, door-stop. It’s so good, though, I’m pretty certain people who buy it will be reading it. You, especially, will love it and will want to share it with others. More on this later.
So now I have to promote. Promoting your own work, promoting yourself, trying to make your thing desirable to others, creating a kind of personal brand, is a strange, awkward, uncomfortable business. On the surface, it’s really no different from writing an entrance exam or an essay, written or spoken, for a job opening. You are a product, a product that has a variety of positive characteristics that someone else will want to take advantage of in exchange for some monetary or material reward. As strange as that sounds, it’s pretty normal. In the case of a work of art or a piece of music or a novel, there are some distinct differences. I am not my novel. My novel is not me. It is an artifact that came from me, a collection of many moments moving through me over time. You would think that would make it easier! But alas, not all of us are adept at separating the art from the artist, and our babies are kind of like babies. If someone hates our baby, we feel hated by proxy. And that’s scary. But despite that, if we want anything like success for our creative endeavors, we’ve got to get out there and shout our barbaric yawps over the rooftops of the world, saying, in essence, this thing I made is awesome and you need it and will love it and please give me money for my thing.
This thing I made, a novel called Monster Talk, is awesome and you need it and will love it and please give me money for my thing. There, that wasn’t so hard. Let’s see if I can keep this up for a while.
Why You Will Love My Novel:
#1. Look at this cover. Lovingly created by my friend Curtis Settino, it is a quirky, inventive, and fitting illustration.
The novel’s main character is not someone who has a heart-shaped head–but the heart-shaped head captures an element that might be something else, beyond the cover, that you’ll love about my book. More on that later, perhaps. I want to talk more about this cover. There are other things about the cover that you’ll also love, I think. There’s a handsome picture of me on there. You’ll love that, I’m sure. I’m no beauty queen, but I’m no slouch either. You’ll also love the text on the cover. There’s a short little author biography, which you’ll love; there’s an excerpt on the back cover from the second chapter which, while setting up nicely the premise for the novel, thereby creating interest for you, the reader, will probably also make you laugh; and on the back of the softcover and on the inside flap of the hardback, there’s a lovely little synopsis that will pique your interest without giving anything away. I think you’ll really love this cover, and while they say you should never judge a book by its cover, all of us do anyway, and if you judge my book initially by its cover, you’ll probably end up wanting to read the thing and in the end you will end up loving it.
#2. You will love the fact that my novel was inspired by another novel you love. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is about the best, most underrated, most under appreciated, most misunderstood because of a history of cultural misrepresentation, most influential novel of 19th century English literature. And if you’re not down with the preceding, Monster Talk will help you get down with the preceding. You will love that. If you are already down with the above, you’ll love it even more, because Monster Talk honors but doesn’t copy its predecessor. Except where it copies it. A little bit. You’ll love all of that.
#3. There are so many things you’ll love about my novel, I could go on and on, but I’m going to try to stop at my usual 1000 word or so blog entry limit. So let me just share one more thing you’ll love about my novel: Whatever predictions you may have about a novel by Michael Jarmer inspired by the great gothic genius of Mary Shelley will likely be wrong. And you’ll love that. You are a beautiful and intelligent reader and you like surprises. That’s all I have to say on the matter at this time. Onward. Yawp. Please go to the following link:
http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000540201/Monster-Talk.aspx
michael jarmer 