Coffee Novelist

With the overwhelming amount of information available to us, we are more reliant than ever on categorization, labels and shortcuts- these can bring us a sense of security in shrinking the world to make it more manageable- A writer does not value safety or sameness.

 

A label

This quote from Rick Rubin has been visiting my mind for a while. I think it has to be because I recently sent in my application for a spot in this year’s Columbus Book Festival.

They stopped accepting applications on January 31st and so the waiting begins. I learned a lot last year when I hit the road to promote The Trier and by extension Tripio. There are a lot of venues, or landing spots as I like to call them, for a coffee novel. That is one reason I chose to move ahead with the Trier as opposed to my YA novella, Ironjaws. I worked hard on Ironjaws and had gotten as far as getting blurbs for the cover, the manuscript professional edited and all that. But I was hesitant to move on from there because I did not see a lot of ways to get the book to readers. I did not see much hope in setting up a book table at a bait shop or at a fishing tournament.

 

 

 

The label

But there are 38,400 coffeehouses in the USA alone. So, I reasoned I could find a few of them to set up my table. And I did. Some events were better than others, and as the novelist in residence, for at least a few hours, I was able to drink free coffee as I sold and signed (on not) my books. I love coffee, so there was not a lot to be learned there. However,  did learn that the most successful events financially involved a customer base with an intent to buy. I usually do not walk into my local coffeehouse with the hope that an unknown guy with a novel is going to ask me to spend 15 bucks. Lesson learned.

The Columbus book festival will include a population with an intent to buy. About now you are thinking, what the hell does this have to do with the Rubin Quote? Here it goes. Each book festival that I ‘ve applied for a table asks you for your books’ genre, category etc. Well, I ain’t got one. In fact, I call myself America’s Premier Coffee Novelist partially as tongue-in-cheek reference to just that. In fact, I often add the line, until I hear otherwise.  All well and good until you have fill out the application form and don’t see where you fit in.

My label

So, as I wait for the Columbus Book Fair to let me know if they want an uncategorized book vendor among the romance, thriller, sci-fi, murder mystery etc, I wonder if it is worth it? Worth it to try something new and different. Like the quote says, I do not value safety or sameness, as least as far as writing goes. I’ll just have to wait and see if the folks in Columbus do.