This universe is what a frog thinks when it sees purple

[wolven7]

Can't sleep. Keep pondering the silences, in my life.

A question occurs to me, specifically in reference to mu* book signing chainsaw:

What price are you willing to pay for what you want to know?

I could press for answers, know what's going on, and make something happen. But it would likely damage all future working relationships with the people involved. But their silence is damaging my want to do business with them in the future. So... Do I swallow it, and just say "The Big Publishing House Holds The Cards?" Or do I demand respect and some kind of answer?

Or is there some lateral move I'm missing? Something which cuts to the heart of the dilemma?

What price do I pay to have everything I want? Everything I want?

Probably.

*"My," but I'm leaving the typo.

Comments

[opalblack.livejournal.com]

More info please. That is, if you would like the application of my brain to the question.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't give too much info, but the whole of it is that I was trying to arrange a booksigning with a Big! Name! Author! And the process of it has stalled out. I was told that, if there was going to be a full-on US tour, then we would be the first to know, and our proposal would be the first confirmed.

Well there are a number of other confirmations for tour dates, and we still haven't heard anything, one way or the other.

I have sent the e-mail equivalent of a polite cough, but received no response. So, now, I can lay down pressure, but it may be at the cost of a decent working relationship with the Publisher. And I want to do this kind of thing, in the future, and probably with this publisher, so a decent relationship with the PR person would be Very helpful.

Any clearer?

[opalblack.livejournal.com]

Hrm.
That is a frustrating situation. However, publishers never encourage or lead on anyone they really don't want to work with. If they said they'll be in touch and you're head of the list, they'll be in touch and you're head of the list, and they're genuinely just busy or not in a position to make any further headway. Polite cough has been noted, and response is pending. The PR person probably has a few higher priorities to deal with first or may not be able to confirm yet, but you can be certain they have not forgotten you and aren't giving you the run around.

Honestly. From experience on both sides.

Sideways suggestion would be to look at their roster and see who, if anyone else is nearby or touring, and approach with a hey, while we're still in the air over this idea, how about this as well. Put together a bit of a proposal/calendar of events that line up with their stuff. Be open-ended with it, author A is touring right now and you would be happy to host a signing on short notice, author Y lives nearby and how about they come in for a talk in July, and author Q has a book coming out in September so if they are planning a tour you'd be glad to host them. That way you're not looking desperate over the original thing, and you're making it clear you're interested in an ongoing thing, whilst ensuring that you have a legitimate pretext for staying in touch on a regular basis and maintaining an open dialogue on all your projects together. Let them know that if they are happy to work with you in an ongoing capacity you can begin some preliminary promotion right away, such as linkbacks and modest instore signage letting customers know that they can look forward to author appearances from [publisher], with logo & branding. Or whatever.

If you like, I have FUCKLOADS of credit at the moment so I could call you and squeeze out my PR-Brain juices at you over the phone. I mean, if you want. If you think it would be useful, I'm happy to share.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case this time. Found out that we didn't get the signing by way of the author posting the final tour schedule to his blog (literally HOURS after I wrote this, by the way).

So who knows? Maybe they're just so busy finalizing all f this that they didn't have time to inform us.

Either way, as I said on Twitter: We patch our vests, we sharpen our knives, and We Solider On.

[opalblack.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Very unprofessional move by whoever you were dealing with. I can't imagine what they were thinking, that's right at the top of the Never Do list for SO many reasons. That's douchey. Bitterness ahoy!

I can't really offer specific, solid ideas without a better understanding of the landscape and the wider vision, but I'm certain you have the pieces to not only achieve it but to do so in a way that will lave the douchey regretfully wishing they'd gotten in on the ground floor, and feeling appropriately dumb about their douchefulness.

For one thing, you can incentivise directly to authors. Let them know you've got this rad place that's both a hip, relaxed, slightly quirky venue, and a welcoming, laid back place to eat/drink/hang out safely and privately. Make it personal. Get your advertising material backstage at the big cultural venues and let the ballet and the opera find their way to you. Offer to host unconventional afterparties for artists, pianists, experimental filmmakers, physicists. Promote as if your target market is writers, the rest will follow.

For two, go DIY. Host a monthly writers' forum or slam night or some other pretentious wank. Foster the image of a literary/cultural nexus in the minds of the masses and let them manifest it. Tap your network for a few left-field names. Go direct to people who do a lot of crowdsourcing and offer them your services. Give them specifics of what you can provide, let them know they can approach you any time and invite them to pass on the details to their circle. Write a press release for your minor events highlighting your attributes as a cultural nexus and send it out. Get a polaroid camera and take photos of the guests with staff members, have them signed, and stick them up on the wall. If staff members already have signed posters or photos of themselves with celebrities such as from cons or chance meetings, stick them up to start. Throw in staff holiday snaps from exotic locations. Make a participatory photographic sigil wall and again, let the mass mind take care of manifestation.

Other than such generalities, I'd need to get much deeper into the picture to give ideas.