What is hardest – getting published, writing or marketing?
Marketing. I mean, getting published is technically hard or technically easy. Getting into the big publishing houses is certainly really hard but then again, you have huge companies like Amazon and Apple that will now let you sell their books online for free, so publishing as far as a “distribution tool” is easy.
Writing is easy. I’ve, worked in factories, warehouses and even as a janitor in a hospital. Trust me, writing’s fucking easy.
Which leaves marketing. It’s necessary but I’m horrible at it and I don’t enjoy it all that much. I like creating the covers, material, taking the pictures, or doing the designs, the aspect I have a hard time with is running after people screaming “Buy my shit! Buy my shit!” There’s a way to do it with class, and then there’s SPAM.
What marketing works for you?
I like blog tours. They are cheap, efficient. You get to talk about more than just a book or just yourself and, most of all, it sticks around on the internet pretty much forever now.
Do you find it hard to share your work?
I wouldn’t share something that I’m not satisfied with. Once the work is ready to be shared, it’s because it reached the editing point and editing/beta readers is a necessary part of writing, so no.
Is your family supportive? Do your friends support you?
In every possible way. I do feel blessed because of this. That said, most of my friends are artists in one way or another, so we all understand.
Do you plan to publish more books?
Hopefully, at least one a year. That’s the plan anyways.
What else do you do to make money, other than write? It is rare today for writers to be full time…
I have my daily grind just like the rest of us. I’ve been lucky to work for a coop (or co-op, depending on where you live). It’s still warehousing, but we have pristine conditions.
What other jobs have you had in your life?
Store clerk, park ranger, dish pig, industrial laundry operator, hospital janitor, warehouse clerk, forklift driver, assembly line worker… I’ve worked a lot of odd jobs, but it’s mostly warehousing to be honest.
Most of the workers who used to be in factories work in shipping now or trucking. All the shit’s made in China these days but they still need to sell it to Americans (or Canadians, in my case) and shit.
Maybe I was lucky to work one of the last factory line in the city, didn’t feel lucky at the time but hey, at least I got a job. Can’t complain.
If you could study any subject at university what would you pick?
Film production. I love writing, but I have these images in my mind that I wish I could translate to film.
If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
Probably Japan, but I don’t think I could spend too much time living there. I do love Montreal. If you only read the news, you’d think this city’s a corrupt pile of crap (and it is) but if you lived there long enough, you figure out why people stay.
How do you write – lap top, pen, paper, in bed, at a desk?
It’s pretty much an “anywhere anytime” kind of thing. I get more work done early, early in the morning (around 6am) because I have a family and a kid. Before that I used to write super late at like 3 in the morning but I found that I’m in a similar emotional state of calm around 6 am and that’s good to just get a chunk of words out.
When I edit I print out a copy of my work that I carry everywhere and I actually get most of the editing done in my commute to work. I try to have a pen and any sort of paper because you don’t want to be caught without it if inspiration strikes. Life around you happens and it’s where you get your most brilliant moments, the rest of the pages just serve as filler between these moments.
“All they really wanted to do was fuck
around, be creative, listen to music, skateboard or go to shows. People
kept telling them growing up was supposed to be tough but it’s not like
they didn’t know that already. Timmy had listened. Timmy had finished
school and got himself a job. That didn’t stop him from running his van
into a pillar one night so what was the fucking use? Nobody seemed to
have an answer.“
Conor and his friends are growing up in a
one factory town where the most likely employment prospect is the
assembly line or the farmer’s coop. Aiming higher than the local
college, Conor finds himself spending more and more time in downtown
Montreal, discovering himself through punk and hardcore music. But as
his girlfriend wants nothing to do with the city and his friend Jake
loses his brother when the factory closes, Conor’s ambitions could
require him to burn bridges he might not be ready to burn.
With A Teenage Suicide, Ian wanted to
write a story about kids making decisions and kids making mistakes.
Stylistically, it is fair to mention influences of Truman Capote and
Mordecai Richler. Imagine of the “cold-hard-fact” descriptions of In
Cold Blood mixed with the realistic and witty dialogue of The
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.
Ian Truman is a hardcore kid turned
writer. He proudly claims to be from a working class family and has been
straight edge and vegetarian for at least a decade now. He hopes to
bring the passion, verve and dedication of hardcore into the art form of
the novel. Born and raised in Montreal, he is a graduate of Concordia
University’s creative writing program. A Teenage Suicide is his third
novel.
Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords
Genre - Literary, Coming of Age
Rating – PG13
More details about the author and the book
Connect with Ian Truman on Facebook
Website http://www.iantruman.com
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