Attention! Attention! My Life is....

 

Most writers are desperate for publicity. We need our books to sell, so we feel compelled to participate in the sharing of personal information. What are your thoughts on how much writers should share? 

Writers are told that readers want to feel as if they have gotten to know writers personally. And I’m actually okay with that. I’m met a lot of fans and have always found it a real pleasure. I don’t mind if they know something about my personal life. But how much? I will talk about where I live and where I have lived, what I like to do when I’m not writing, my favorite music and art, how long I’ve been married, my relationship with my son. So where does it end? 

 I’m fascinated by writers who make a living from not just their writing, but who they are. In other words, some people are famous for being famous. One example is Joyce Maynard, who came to fame because of her relationship with J.D. Salinger. I’ve talked to her in person, and she’s really congenial, and completely open about that relationship, which many found scandalous. Scandal = attention. I wonder if each novel she writes would have gotten the same attention had she not been famous first. I don’t mean to denigrate her. Maynard writes perfectly good novels. But I’ve read a lot of better novels that didn’t get that much attention. 

 There are many other examples. People who were famous in other ways—musicians, politicians, painters, spouses of famous people, actors… And invariably they get a lot of splashy publicity. The question is in order to sell our books, do we feel compelled to participate in the sharing of personal information? Well, fine, I’ll share. 

But quite frankly my life hasn’t been that interesting. I’ve done a lot of traveling, including on our boat, and that was pretty wonderful. But…are people going to read about those adventures and run out to grab my latest Samuel Craddock novel? Probably not. I worked for the CIA for three years. So? Will that make them want to snatch up my domestic suspense novel? 

 I was raised in Texas by a pretty ordinary family—except that Mary Karr wrote a much-acclaimed book, The Liar’s Club, about just such a family. When I read it, the setting, plot, and characters were so familiar that I wondered if she lived down the street from me. 

 Bottom, line I don’t think sharing my personal information is particularly useful for selling books. 

 Maybe I should make up some juicy personal information: Which of these would bring me the kind of attention that sells books? 

- I once hitchhiked all the way across the country, from California to New York. It took me six months and I had incredible adventures along the way. 

-At the age of sixteen I was captured by a gangsters who wanted me to pretend I was his wife so he could slip past a roadblock. 

-When I was in my 20s, I starred in a Broadway play under a different name. 

-I have two husbands and two different families. Neither family knows about the other one.

 ….I could go on. But would that really sell my books? I actually believe the most important thing is to write a good book first. And then try to figure out what the latest and most exciting publicity scheme is (which is a completely different issue). But revealing personal information? Probably isn’t going to do much for my sales.

And speaking of sales, my latest thrill, DEEP DIVE came out last week. Check it out (thanks to fellow "mind" for the great promo ad). 

Now, let me tell you about the time I was diving and wrestled a shark....