Feo Takahari
Auror
The good news is, my slow-paced meditation on the nature of heroism got published. The bad news is, it got published under the title Blood Price, complete with an actiony cover and blurb. I posted this comment on the publisher's newsletter:
The publisher basically just chewed me out, albeit in a really polite way. I'm not sure how much I can quote from what's probably supposed to be private correspondence, but the upshot is that he's marketing the book as an adventure story for the 16-18 market, and calling your book "slow and thoughtful" is something you should never, ever do for the 16-18 market.
What on Earth do I do now? I have no idea how to promote a book like it's gritty and actiony, to say nothing of what folks will think when they actually read it and realize they were lied to. Do I try to do so anyway, do I piss off the publisher and try to find an audience who'd enjoy it, or do I just stand back and let the publisher follow through on whatever plan he's got? (His plan apparently involves book signings and convention appearances, so I'll probably have to talk about the book at some point.)
I don't mean to disrespect you, and I've rewritten this comment a bunch of times to try to find a polite way to say this, but is it really a good move to give my story a blurb that makes it sound like a gritty thriller? Titling it Blood Price was bad enough--I'm kind of afraid the folks who'd pick it up with this blurb would be bored by how slow and thoughtful it is.
The publisher basically just chewed me out, albeit in a really polite way. I'm not sure how much I can quote from what's probably supposed to be private correspondence, but the upshot is that he's marketing the book as an adventure story for the 16-18 market, and calling your book "slow and thoughtful" is something you should never, ever do for the 16-18 market.
What on Earth do I do now? I have no idea how to promote a book like it's gritty and actiony, to say nothing of what folks will think when they actually read it and realize they were lied to. Do I try to do so anyway, do I piss off the publisher and try to find an audience who'd enjoy it, or do I just stand back and let the publisher follow through on whatever plan he's got? (His plan apparently involves book signings and convention appearances, so I'll probably have to talk about the book at some point.)