The subtitle for Booklife is “strategies and survival tips for the 21st-century writer,” and that’s basically what it is – and what makes it different to just about every other writing manual out there. Booklife is not about how to write, it is about how to Be A Writer, which actually should make it out-sell every other writing book and magazine out there if there is any justice in the world, since a large percentage of those are aimed at and sold to people who prefer the idea of Being A Writer to actually doing some writing.

The book is divided into two halves – public and private – and while the private section has some useful advice, mostly on how to try to protect your creative writing side from your ‘I want to stuff around on the Internet’ side, it’s the public half that was most interesting to me, and which I think is most worth the price of the text.

‘Your Public Booklife’ is about the time and attention you may wish to give to promotion of your newly published books, and also promotion of yourself as an author, with the tools currently at our disposal, from personal appearances to internet & social media platforms. I read the book in a couple of days, tearing myself away from other projects to do so, because it was just so engaging and interesting. In particular VanderMeer looks at the thin line between using social media or events to promote your work constructively, and how to avoid that promotion turning on you and becoming destructive to your reputation. (in short, how to be nice to people and not look like a dick while constructing and selling your brand)

He covers just about every current possibility for publicising an author, a new release or a backlist, and looks at the pros, cons and resources required for each. The emphasis is always on figuring out your strengths and needs, and avoiding situations which don’t show you or your book off to best advantage. While VanderMeer encourages you to test the waters outside your comfort zone, he also makes it clear that doing something – whether it be radio, podcasts, convention appearances, giveaways, blogging, book trailers – badly is worse than not doing it at all. It’s rather nice to have something to hold up in the face of the people who say you ‘must’ do something in particular or doom your book to obscurity.

Overall (with only a few exceptions) the tone of the book is flowing, chatty, anecdotal and will be an immensely powerful tool for writers – and editors, indie publishers, anyone who is in the position of having to balance the act of creation with the counter-intuitive act of self-publicity. Where VanderMeer senses holes in his own personal experience, he has brought in experts to balance out what he can offer, or to expand further on his own text. The appendices in particular are a wealth of knowledge, featuring articles by publicists and marketing specialists which are a goldmine of information.

Booklife stumbles in a few areas where VanderMeer is not engaged or enthusiastic enough about something to consider the possibilities they might hold for others – one of these is Twitter, which is mentioned throughout as another handy social platform, but which he never seriously addresses except to say that he finds Facebook more useful. This was a disappointment, as Booklife is exactly the place for a discussion on how something like Twitter can/should be used for promotional purposes while preserving it as a social media and not being a dick – the same topic in fact that VanderMeer explores with relation to Facebook, a platform he prefers. This part of the book would be stronger for having brought in someone who is completely engaged with the possibilities of Twitter to explain what they do, and how it works, just as VanderMeer brought in Caitlin Kiernan to discuss Second Life. ( girliejones‘s posts Facebook is not Twitter and Facebook is still not Twitter might be a start). In fairness VanderMeer does quote publicist Mark Staggs with some positive thoughts on Twitter, but the quote is brief and VanderMeer immediately adds his own bucket of skeptical cold water, which is a shame.

The second stumbling block for me was VanderMeer’s attitude to NaNoWriMo – declaring it as crazy or not something that is helpful to him would be fine, but his utter disregard that it could be of use to anyone in the context of a book about writing and writers comes off as proscriptive. It also seems odd when he presents his own version of NaNoWriMo, the ‘How to Write a Novel in Two Months’ which he declares will only work if you can put aside 6-8 hours in a day. Um… yeah. That time=productivity thing is not only individual to every writer, but to every project. This is another instance where VanderMeer has gone too far in assuming his own experience is universal.

These moments in the book are rare, though, and only stick out because the rest of it is so damned good, and so flexible. I can’t emphasise enough how much any published writer needs a copy of Booklife. Not only new writers – there are many established professional authors who make blunders when it comes to public promotion, whether it’s a convention appearance where they only talk about themselves and their books, a blog so distant and impersonal that it really would be better off as a news feed on a static website, a newsletter sent spam-like to anyone who has ever emailed them, or a public reading where they bore the socks off even their most ardent fans. (*cough* or only using Twitter as a place to put automated links to one’s blog entries, Mr VanderMeer)

In most cases, these are genuine mistakes, created because said authors are doing what they think they have to do, to ‘be professional’. They’re usually following advice, and don’t realise that a) advice about promotional activities is never universal, you have to pick and choose what works for you and b) a lot of advice about promotional activities is useless, outdated or just plain wrong.

Now there is a book to set you right. Booklife will expand your horizons and allow you to create and achieve goals in balancing all your book priorities with, oh yes, having a life. I plan to have my copy right by my side as my 2010 publishing schedule looms ahead of me. Booklife is a must-have for any 21st century writer, a textbook on how to sell yourself and your work without selling your soul.

For some tasters of what this amazing text has to offer, as well as some of VanderMeer’s best advice put into practice, check out booklifenow.com.

Tags: booklife, critical thought, jeff vandermeer, new media, reading, social media, writing