Selling books is easy for desperadoes

There is an air of the desperado about an author in the weeks before Christmas.

The slithering writer may be seen painfully pursuing sight of a published work in bookshops so they may place it in a more advantageous position, sales wise, going forward.

That way, someone will surely buy a copy.

One hopes.

And perhaps they will, unless a prowling assistant returns it to alphabetical order in the stacks, whence it came

For myself, I like to make my own display of as many of my eight published books as I can find on the shelves.
Once arranged to my satisfaction, I ostentatiously shoot pictures of the display on my phone camera.
This to impress the passing intelligentsia with how important the work by this author is in the world of letters, and semi colons.

Much of this is smoke and mirrors and nothing at all to do with writing a book.
But a book is not written until it is read.
And that person must be an unrelated buyer.

Else.
It's all for nothing, this typing of words.

The neophyte believes that to write a book is sufficient.
A publisher who has taken the work and made it their own with suitable branding and hoopla will take care of the child book as it would one of its own.
This, the new writer believes with reckless enthusiasm.
Alas, for ambition.

For modern publishers behave as if making a physical book from the mishmash of words and perambulating punctuation is sufficient.
Not for them the tacky selling of this latest addition to their publisher's list.
No.

If a bookseller somehow hears about the title and contacts the publisher they will send a copy to the store for collection by the aspirant reader.

And so, the desperado author is born.

 

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Nice shoes

I decide I will take this walking a little more seriously.

People are looking at me as I walk along with intent and a faraway look in my eyes. I discard the heavy hiking boots and purchase some runners for my feet. And since I don't feel easy with the concept of runners I opt to call them trainers.

That name suggests there is an alternative for me somewhere down the road. A short cut I may explore in lieu of pounding the main drag with serious people who move with their heads down.

In winter, some buy little lights for their heads so they can run in darkness, in conflict with nature which dims natural light so we may remain indoors and vegetate, while watching outdoor videos.

However, many winter moons have passed since it was easy to walk into a shop to buy a pair of anything for your feet.

Trainers there are in dozens by price, maker, colour and many more definitions that are hard to follow unless you are indoctrinated by the manufactures' marketing people.

I even have special insoles moulded to suit my feet which, I am assured, have developed lazy arch muscles because of a decades-long pause in anything approaching a serious work-out.

They turn out to be so comfortable that I walk on air, a giddy sensation, not unknown to liberated men escaping the shackles of domesticity.

The assistant says she will email me the readings of my feet for my own records; handy to have if I ever forgot what my feet look like and have to search for them.

But she never does, even though she is very careful of the spelling of my address.

I may just walk back there in my trainers to see what happened to my missing feet.
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