By Dana Kaye
It is my belief that most writers are “Slightly Salinger”. No, I don’t mean I think every author has a dose of brilliance. The Salinger quality I’m referring to is reclusiveness. While not all authors would shut themselves out from the world for years at a time, I do believe that there is a part of all writers that enjoys being alone, away from people. After all, no one becomes an author because they deem themselves, “a people person.”
But authors have to spend a certain amount of time in the limelight. They attend conferences, book signings, interviews, and other events filled with people. They e-mail with fans, update their facebook, and tweet about their lives. While books are written in solitary confinement, they are promoted and sold out in the real world, with the three dimensional people. The reclusive authors must smile, shake hands, and make small talk. Some play the game better than others.
I find it amusing when I see authors at conferences, the ones who are always at the bar til 2am, telling jokes and entertaining fans, and later they tell me that if it was up to them, they’d just sit at home and read and write all day. One big name author, who is always talking with readers and attending events, said he’d be content not to converse with another human being for weeks at a time. But based on his public persona, you’d never know his true sentiments.
While all of us might be “Slightly Salinger”, networking and schmoozing is part of the game. And the key to it all is not showing that you’d rather be cooped up in your writing bunker. Put on a smile, shake some hands and kiss some babies, because if you want to keep writing those books, you have to connect with your readers.
