No Sense Of Mystery
I wonder if we’ve gone too far. If authors are too accessible to the public. If, as readers, we know so much about the person writing that we can’t always separate that from what’s being written.
If you have a favorite author you can now track that person to the ends of the Earth. Really, with Google Earth you can actually see the author’s front lawn via satellite. Between blogs and websites and author newsletters and publisher sites and booksignings…well, let’s just say what your favorite (or least favorite) author is thinking, doing and in some cases what meds she’s taking are no longer great mysteries.
Maybe it’s too much information. Maybe we’d be better off in promotional terms and readers would be more interested in what comes next if everything wasn’t right out there to see.
An example of the theory of "less is more" is John Twelve Hawks author of The Traveler. I’ve written about Hawks before here not because I’m excited about his book - frankly, I’ve read 8 reviews of this book in 8 different magazines and still don’t know what it is about. I don’t know much about Hawks either but what I’ve read grabs my interest:
- He got a seven figure deal for his first book.
- Spielberg is making the movie.
- His editor is the same editor of The Da Vinci Code.
- His agent and editor have no idea what he looks like or who he really is.
- John Twelve Hawk is not his real name - he changed it legally for the sake of anonymity.
- When he speaks with his agent, he uses a voice scrambler so even his agent doesn’t know what he sounds like.
Overkill? Strange? Lunacy? Probably all three. But the guy has the mystery thing down and maybe, just maybe, knowing less instead of more benefits him, his career and his readers. It’s also possible that sense of mystery helped get that seven figure deal.
July 21st, 2005 at 8:23 am
I think you may be onto to something. I do think that we learn too much about the authors. There is one author (not romance) who has a column in an online publication. In her column she gave me too much info about herself. Most of it highly controversial, but really stuff that I don’t want or need to know. I’m not sure that I can read another one of her mysteries.
Having said that, I understand that authors need to be accessible, in that they usually do their own marketing. And I think that readers today demand that authors be accessible. We want to know when the next book is coming and what future projects are coming. We want webpages and blogs.
So I guess it’s “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”
July 21st, 2005 at 8:55 am
I agree and I think I’m a TMI offender (although one person’s TMI is not enough info for someone else).
However, I plan to have a separate author website and keep my let-it-all-hang-out blog on the down low.
I would also say, though, that there is just as much risk in being too bland as there is in disclosing too much. Work too hard to avoid TMI and you’re guaranteed to be boring. I can only take so much of the ‘my book this, my book that, friend’s book this, friend’s book that’ before my eyes cross.
It’s a fine line to walk. Be professional but not too much. Be genuine about your life but not too much.
Who defines too much?
M
July 21st, 2005 at 11:30 am
So you remember when the book Primarey Colors was released? By Anonymous. One of the greatest marketing/publicity schemes of all time. That book drew more attention because people thought it could be someone very high up in government writing it. The allure was in the mystique.
I think the author of The Traveler has created the same aura of intrigue. Of course, it’s something that wont work for everyone and often. I mean, if everyone did this, it would become pedestrian.
July 21st, 2005 at 6:09 pm
It certainly makes one curious. If I was attempting to compete with the likes of Dan Brown, I’d try to come up with an interesting gimmick too. I’m sure this whole ‘Mission Impossible’/'Charlie’s Angels’ thing will work for him.
July 21st, 2005 at 9:33 pm
I’m not sure what the answer is but in this age where the thought is “you must be everywhere” it’s interesting to see someone achieve such success while hiding behind voice modulators and fake email addresses.
Forgot all about Primary Colors…another good example.
July 31st, 2005 at 1:52 pm
I found your blog through Alison Kent’s mention of your wonderful RWA conference coverage. Thanks for the synopsis!
If you have any interest in the Traveler at all, we’ve got three ARCs hanging out in the back of my store. No one is going to comment if one finds a home.
Email me your address if you are interested.
BSC