Most authors prefer thinking, daydreaming, researching and writing. And refining, time and again, every part of the manuscript which he or she has been working on for a year or more. The next stage is the most challenging: publishing and promoting your work.
The first thing to do is find a publisher, unless you already have one. Contracting a literary agency with the proper connections helps a great deal. Publishers roughly fall into two categories. The first one performs paid publishing services, which means the copyright remains yours and you have to pay for every step in the process. The other is one who you sell your copyright to. They take the risk and generally charge you a modest start-up fee. Understandably, royalties will be far less in this case, because a publisher needs to make a profit and cover his risks.
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| start screen of the slide show |
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| Relaxing with a cup of coffee before starting |
In the last stages of production and printing, the next hurdle is publicity: press releases and lectures. In lecturing and presenting there is a great deal of fruitless work, because one can never predict the amount of, or lack of success. I have occasionally prepared a lecture where, despite ample advertising, no one turned up! On the other hand, I often addressed an audience of dozens of people. It isn't for nothing that my publisher urges his authors to keep faith in their book, even if there is an occasional setback. Some book presentations are arranged by your literary agent, but it pays to do your own scouting and to mobilise your social contacts.
What else do I do in the way of publicity? I write this blog, I have a website (https://tedpolet.com), and I create video trailers like the one above, and thus increase my internet footprint.
Social media supposedly work as well, but not for me. I tried Facebook, but despite the fact I only posted my profile and a photo of my boat, I had repeated trouble with one of their stupid algorithms blocking my account for unknown reasons. Goodbye Facebook. Now, my literary agent Hanneke van de Water takes care of Facebook for me.
Reviews and critics
By now I have seen many reviews of my books (in the Dutch language domain, that is). Most of these were very positive – I even received four stars out of five in the Thriller and Detective Guide of a Dutch national newspaper for my latest book Two Fathoms Deep (the English version is available from Amazon, as a paperback and as an e-book). My other books The Cargo and The Batavian also received commendable reviews, which of course is very welcome to an author.
However, naturally one or two reviewers don’t take kindly to your book or your style of writing. Well, you can’t please everyone, can you? The problem is that an unfavourable review is potentially damaging to your book. You work like a slave for a year or more to create it – believe me, it is very hard work! – and then someone writes something that makes your toes curl... Criticism can be functional however, and you have to cope with it and try to learn from it. Naturally not everything in your book can be top notch, and there isn’t always a happy match between an author and a reader or a reviewer. But the most important thing is to keep faith in your book, despite what some people write of it.
Those confounded American bestsellers
Generally, a Dutch language author does well if he sells a few hundred copies. This means he is in eternal competition with translated English language novels, many of them written by American bestseller authors who easily sell a hundred thousand copies. They are translated into Dutch and sell a few thousand more copies over here, supported by a powerful marketing strategy. Those translations crowd Dutch booksellers’ shelves and the literary pages in mainstream newspapers. In consequence you’ll always be at a disadvantage, similar to ‘niche’ English language authors, who struggle as well. In the Netherlands, with probably a thousand or more excellent authors, there may only be a few dozen who can actually can live off their writing.
Writing therefore is an expensive hobby to most authors. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, unless you dream of generating an income from your books. I don’t break even with any of my books, but the nice thing about authorship is that sometimes a reader approaches you, saying he or she couldn’t put your book away. I often maintain that a book’s quality can be measured by the lack of sleep of your readers.
Regrettably there are one or two disappointing books even by famous bestseller writers, who clearly haven’t done their homework. Bad homework is what I try to avoid at all cost, which means I spend a great deal of time researching the background of my books. I will write some more about research in due course.
Lectures and press releases
Last week I was a guest at a community centre in my home town of Leiden, where I gave my first lecture after a long time. I spoke of writing and researching, and also made an early announcement of my new book ANANSI. It proved to be one of my most satisfying book lectures ever, for an audience of about fifteen people, most of them over sixty years old. They asked excellent questions, some even disputing my views, resulting in deep-ranging discussions. Such questions give me energy and new ideas.
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| having fun, talking to my audience |
Meanwhile my agent Hanneke van de Water, who did the initial editing rounds of the ANANSI manuscript and also takes care of press contacts for me, wrote a press release. This is what she wrote, roughly translated:
Following the appearance of his debut novel ‘The Batavian’, Ted Polet gave several lectures on his book and on seafaring in general. Everywhere he went he managed to capture his audience. His lectures radiated fun and an unmistakable passion. At the publication of his second novel ‘The Cargo’, the Covid pandemic threw a spanner in the wheels, but now he is back again. With a new book and new lectures!
Last week he spoke in a community centre in Leiden, and once again he addressed a very interested audience, nor was he shy of interaction. More lectures will follow.
Ted’s most recent book was last year’s ‘Two Fathoms Deep’, which once again turned out to be a thrilling novel, in which past and present are matched in a fascinating way. And... there is even a new book on the way now, in which he turns another corner. Where his previous books all were present-day thrillers with a seafaring theme, Ted now goes all historical.
His new book will appear in June, entitled ‘ANANSI’. It is an historical novel against the background of the slave trade and Suriname’s sugar plantations at the end of the 17th Century. Ted Polet proves to be the master of more than one kind of theme, which is proven without doubt by ‘ANANSI’ – so watch the appearance of this beautiful novel!
Note that the English
version of ANANSI is now being prepared - I recently completed the basic
translation of the manuscript and at present I am doing the
first of several reviews, re-reading the manuscript and weeding out all
the grammatical and content glitches. Naturally, it will take
a considerable time before I am satisfied enough to ask a few friends to
review and correct it as I have done with previous books. Watch this space!
