Tuesday, May 25, 2010

BEA and I'm not there...

Book Expo America. Everybody who is somebody in the publishing industry. Corporate people saying dumb things, writers taking notes. Happens every year. Life goes on.

I was telling my wife that I am glad I am not a bestselling writer. What an incredible burden, sitting in all these panels, vying for attention, having to listen to protectionist ideas of what a book should be and which way the industry should go. As I've moved farther along the path of my career and chucked more of the "conventional wisdom" overboard as I went, I've been a lot happier. Naturally, I'd love the big checks and armies of readers that come from fame, but fame is a type of slavery. Doesn't fit the Taoist desire for detachment.

An interesting blog on author branding at Blood Red Pencil, talking about the "soul of the brand." Simple notion, identify the quintessential self you are putting in your work. For me, it's simply "What are we here?" The journey of faith and love and meaning. Big, unanswerable questions. And that's why I have so little patience for disposable, mindless entertainment as I age. I don't know whether it's because I know I have less time, or because I have less mind.

The Scott brand: be a better man. Maybe I should be writing self-help guides for hopeless romantics...

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2 comments:

Regge Ridgway said...

money and fame are over rated anyway.

Author Scott Nicholson said...

yes, but are we morally sound enough to embrace it and then let it go? hehe