January 27th is the Day

     I know there's a shitload going on now in the political world and I will be blogging about it, probably later on today. But I wanted you to know about the contents of an email that I got in response to a question I'd put to my contact at Publisher's Weekly over the weekend.
     Now, I'm sure that even those of you who aren't in the publishing business know about Publisher's Weekly. It's the biggest trade periodical out there for those who are in the publishing business. Well, a part of their online presence is an entity called Book Life (Facebook page and Twitter account) and they offer a variety of services to writers. One of them is to submit your book to their editing department and hope they'll accept it for a free review on Publisher's Weekly's and Book Life's sites.
     So, that's what I did in 2019 and that's when things took an interesting turn.
     I'd submitted Tatterdemalion last year then got back to what I was working on.
     The first rejection came in one morning last November. Then the second one came in minutes later. Then the third one came in about 11 minutes after the first one.
     I let them know in no uncertain terms what I thought about three rejections in a row streaming in for a book that's been roundly rejected by literally hundreds of literary agents in about six countries as well as quite a few publishers both big and small as well as over a dozen film production companies.
     Ergo, knowing how stupid and colossally ignorant are the grand poobahs of the publishing punditocracy and at how they make bad decisions on a constant basis that come back to bite them in the ass later on, I self published Tatterdemalion and continued trying to get an agent to rep it, small press publishers to publish it. I'd had three close calls, all of them offering contracts until I found out how creepy and sub-legitimate they really were. And, I've been encouraged by the 13 reviews from readers who had given it 4 stars and up (there are also two one star reviews but those are trolls sent by my stalker Dave Chadwick that Amazon patently refuses to take down even though it's screamingly obvious they had neither read nor bought it).
     I believed in this book when I was drafting it, I believed in it when I was line editing it five times in a row for 15 straight months and I believe in it now more than ever. I'd spent nearly two and a half years of my life working on this one title to the exclusion of almost all else. For a guy in his mid-late 50's, that's a shitload of time to spend on one title but that is how much I believed in this novel and still do.
     Then late last year, I'd somehow found out about a place called Book Life and after poking around their site for a little while, I discovered they were an arm of Publisher's Weekly.  A bit more poking around brought me to this promotion they were offering of a free review of submitted books that passed muster. So on September 4th, I'd submitted it.
     Fast forward to November when my novel got rejected by the same guy three times in 11 minutes. I gave them a piece of my mind, keeping in the back of that mind all the times the same project had been rejected multiply by literary agencies who should repurpose their employees as restaurant waiters or gas station attendants. I also had sent them another email asking them how I could delete my account considering they gave no insight whatsoever on the matter.
     Within a few days, I got a letter from a rep at Publisher's Weekly who wanted to put oil on the waters. He offered me for free a short term (one month) publicity gig that ordinarily costs $149. In this deal, you don't get an actual review but they give you the next best thing. I'll just copy and paste what they say on their site:

For just $149 your book cover and synopsis appear in front of thousands of book-sellers, librarians, agents, publishers, film producers and production companies... When you pay $149 to participate in PW Select, your book appears in:
- Publishers Weekly's print and digital edition
- the home page of PublishersWeekly.com
- the home page of BookLife.com
- BookLife's weekly email newsletter to 23,000 recipients
- BookLife's Twitter and Facebook channels
Plus you receive:
- a six month digital subscription to Publishers Weekly
- a one year digital subscription to Publishers Weekly's PW Select monthly supplement
- a free copy of the Publishers Weekly print issue in which your listing appears.

     I don't think it's worth $149 for just one month's worth of publicity that vies with many other authors and titles (unless it pays off in actual dividends, such as getting noticed by any of the aforementioned "book-sellers, librarians, agents, publishers, film producers and production companies" that had roundly rejected Tatterdemalion for going on five years). However, with Publisher's Weekly's ordinarily paid stamp of (retroactive) approval, it may widen some eyes. Then again, it's a purely mercenary service with no one reading your work and therefore no editorial gatekeeping, and anyone who has 149 bucks to blow on paid publicity is probably someone who can't for some reason or another sell or legitimately place their books, either.
     However, it's still a savvy marketing move because essentially, PW is getting paid handsomely to make friends in the business and if their paid service has a saluatory effect on an author's bank account, they may wind up making a (paying) friend for life.
     From my end, the irony has not been lost on me that Publisher's Weekly, due to their fuckup, is now being forced to take a bite of their own shit sandwich and paying $149 for the privilege because yours truly stood up for his dignity. They're now going to have to pimp for a month, at their own expense, a book they would have been better off accepting for a free review last fall. I've known about the future listing since last November but couldn't say anything until I had a publication date (although I couldn't help crowing about it on Facebook for the delight of my 3700+ friends, most of whom are also writers).
     So, whether or not you're subscribers to Publisher's Weekly, you now have the links. So bookmark this page and on January 27th, the day it drops, I'll make another announcement and provide more specific permalinks to the various posts they'll make on their social media accounts.
     The lesson, boys and girls? Never stop standing up for your rights and dignity and never underestimate a corporate entity's concern for their bottom line and negative publicity (which I most certainly would've given them on both my Facebook and both my Twitter accounts as well as here).