Duranies unite! My Duran-loving friends, I could use your help.
Good news first: There will be a Duranalysis book. And it’s not going to be just a bunch of repackaged blog content, either; this is going to be 100% original material. It’s going to be jam-packed with premium, uncut, all-new Duranny goodness. Nothing but the absolute best for you guys.
The bad news: I’m having trouble finding an agent to represent the project. Over the summer, I put together a slick, funny, insightful, meticulous, airtight, comprehensive, fifty-page book proposal, complete with a chapter-by-chapter breakdown and sample material, and last month I started cautiously sending it around. Here’s the first and thus far only response to the proposal: This sounds like a great project but I don't see that you have the social media numbers in place that will be needed to really convince a publisher.
Okay, then.
I have a whole lot of thoughts on this subject, but the one I’m going to share here is this: Fair enough. Good to know. While visitors to my Duranalysis posts have numbered in the tens of thousands, I’ve kept my Twitter and Facebook pages pretty small and low-key; nobody has ever accused me of being a social media dynamo. Right now, that’s hurting my chances of getting a Duranalysis book published.
To rectify this, I’ve set up a brand-new Duranalysis Facebook page. If you get a kick out of Duran Duran, if you think a Duranalysis book is a good idea, please head on over there and click “Like”. I’m going to make an honest attempt to update it five days a week with fun, funny, short-form Duran-themed content; my lengthy Duranalyses will, as always, still be posted here. Hang out there, look around, leave comments, post your own links to Duran-themed stuff.
And spread the word to your Duranie friends! If you belong to any Duran-themed groups or message boards, let everyone know about it. I could use a massive signal boost. Massive.
What happens if I never land an agent for the project? No worries. In that event, I’ll publish it through my company, Luft Books. I’ve been hesitant to do that, because there are rights and clearances issues when dealing with books about real people* that I don’t have to worry about when publishing fiction, but one way or another, this is going to see the light of day.
*I’ve been assured by various reliable sources that the members of Duran Duran are all, in fact, real people. Yes, even Nick. I remain only about 65% convinced of this.
That’s my sales pitch. There's not much to add, so I’m going to go straight to the video of the week to take everyone into the weekend with grace and style. Because this is the last Friday Roundup before Tuesday’s election, this video is the obvious pick:
Have a great weekend. Get out and vote, everyone.
Comments
as i look at it, there's only three likes on that facebook page?! three likes?! that's not right. i'm going to have to make a mousie account and Generate Comments, aren't i. but since i always go on and on in comments, i'm not sure whether you'll be heartened or threatened hearing that... i just want to talk about all the things i'd like to! which a lot of times seems like literally all the things. ;_; i feel like i should try cutting them down to maybe three topics/paragraphs, in the future. how does that sound?
or better yet, if people actually end up looking at duranger i'll tell them all to like your page. that's much less artificial-sounding. (duranger is, as you probably guessed, where i've been all this time! i'm ringing in election day with... the back ten pages of duranger finished, plus whatever i get done between now and tuesday. not where i was hoping to be pre-matthew, needless to say. but i'm making christmas eve, dammit!)
and speaking of going on for forever and talking about everything, i now know that i've been pronouncing duranalysis wrong this entire time! i've been saying dur-ann-al-uh-sis (so it sounds like "duran" and then "alysis") instead. :O this will take some getting used to.
unrelatedly, a couple weeks ago i was dealing with the bag the food package came in... and i realized looking at it, you spelled my last name right on the first try! nobody ever does that. even when my name is in front of them! it made me irrationally happy, so thank you. XD
But honestly, don't feel it does anything for me personally (which is different for someone like you who can use it to gain an "audience")
Ok, forced my husband to like it, sent it to the one duranie-friend I have, sorry, no big help there,
But I religiously check your website to read the duranalysises, they are sooooo good for my mood, leave me in tears of laughter every single time!
Love your writing (and your books as well) and I really hope we will see the Duranalysis-book realized some time in the near future!
I'll keep my fingers crossed
Asphyxia
Good luck😃
Yeah. I have, as I mentioned above, a whole lot of thoughts on the topic of agents refusing to take on authors without a hefty social media base. So many thoughts! If I start airing those thoughts, we'll be here all day. I do understand it, to some extent: If an agent can't interest a publisher in a book unless the author comes with a built-in readership, then that agent isn't going to be able to make a living. Fundamentally, I think it's a sign of an industry that's on entirely the wrong track, but that's the industry I have to work within if I want to get a Duranalysis book traditionally published, so I'm trying very hard not to complain to much about it. One way or another, the book will get published.