Link:
Paperboy excerpt in Newport Review
Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel • Author: Bob Thurber • Pub. Date: May 1, 2011 • Publisher: Casperian Books LLC • Format: Paperback, 262 pages, 9x6 • ISBN: 1934081310 • ISBN-13: 9781934081310
(c) Bob Thurber
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
My advice: Ignore the Excerpts, Read the book
A couple of quick thoughts.
1) The Excerpts
My first agent believed the book, because of its subject matter, would be a hard sell and virtually impossible to market. And I think he was right on both counts. I know the excepts I've released are all "soft" and don't hint at the emotional experience of the whole. Frankly, I don't know what to do about that. (I refuse to release any sections with "spoilers," and I wouldn't dare release the harsher sections as excerpts, which would also give perspective readers the wrong sense.) Lately I feel like I'm showing a few fragments of a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle in the hope that people will be enticed by the picture they can't yet see.
2) Reader comments:
Meanwhile, a steady stream of notes continue to pour in.
Here are a couple more:
"I just finished reading your book. Devastating! Of course, I recognized Jack in the wounded part of myself, which is what made the story so painful, but also so necessary. Finding the right words to capture the truth of a terrible childhood is the greatest challenge a writer faces, and many back down or flinch before they get to the end. Not you. Bravo!
I admire you for staying with your subject for an entire book."
* * *
"Poor Jack. I wept my eyes out."
* * *
all best wishes,
Bob
1) The Excerpts
My first agent believed the book, because of its subject matter, would be a hard sell and virtually impossible to market. And I think he was right on both counts. I know the excepts I've released are all "soft" and don't hint at the emotional experience of the whole. Frankly, I don't know what to do about that. (I refuse to release any sections with "spoilers," and I wouldn't dare release the harsher sections as excerpts, which would also give perspective readers the wrong sense.) Lately I feel like I'm showing a few fragments of a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle in the hope that people will be enticed by the picture they can't yet see.
2) Reader comments:
Meanwhile, a steady stream of notes continue to pour in.
Here are a couple more:
"I just finished reading your book. Devastating! Of course, I recognized Jack in the wounded part of myself, which is what made the story so painful, but also so necessary. Finding the right words to capture the truth of a terrible childhood is the greatest challenge a writer faces, and many back down or flinch before they get to the end. Not you. Bravo!
I admire you for staying with your subject for an entire book."
* * *
"Poor Jack. I wept my eyes out."
* * *
all best wishes,
Bob
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