Are You a 'Real' Author?

I went to a party this weekend. Didn't know anyone besides the hosts (awkward - hate that!). But when people asked what I do for a living, I told them about my day job. Opportunity lost! Why, oh why didn't I grab the chance to tell them I'm a writer, and shove one of my bookmarks at them?

The answer is legitimacy. I'm with an e-publisher. Yes, you can also get my books in print, but you can't walk into Target or an airport bookstore and find them on the shelf. And that is hard - and tedious - to explain to the random public. Despite all the articles out there on how e-publishing and Kindle sales are booming, it is still an unknown topic to many people. Attempts at explanation often fall flat. If you have one minute to sell someone on your book, you can't spend half that time educating them on the e-publishing trend.

Do I ever accost random strangers and tout my book? You bet! On a cruise this winter, I wore a t-shirt that read Be Careful - You Might End Up In My Novel. It was a conversation starter, and I ended up promoting myself to a lovely couple from Canada while on a catamaran shore excursion in Haiti. If that doesn't prove I'm determined to self-market, I don't know what can. But I find myself taking the temperature of people I chat with, deciding whether or not they'd be open to hearing about my book. Is that self-defeating? You bet! But there is still a hazy air of illegitimacy to e-publishing, and I don't always have the chutzpah to step up and proclaim to everyone that I am, indeed an author - no qualifiers necessary. I promise to work on it, if you all promise to do the same.