Where Have All the Readers Gone?

I never thought this would happen.  I figured that once I wrote something -- something big -- there'd be people to read it.  It never occurred to me that I'd have trouble getting people to read it.  Why?  Because people have been reading my short pieces for months.  My blog, individual chapters from my novel, short stories, and poems have all been read by different folks on different sites.  But now that I've got a longer piece of writing to read, no one seems interested.

At first I thought it was because no one wanted to pay for a copy.  Silly me.  That's not it.  I offered to give review copies away and still no one is interested.

Then I thought, it's because there's no paper copy.  That might be true -- up to a point -- but no I don't think that's it either.

Is the novel no good?  Maybe.  But no one will know that until they read it so if it's not been read who can tell?

Are people too busy?  Yes.  That's more likely.  I spoke to several people I know who have expressed interest but who have not purchased the book yet.  They have some story to tell all them.  The fact is people have lives and my book being published is just one more thing in a flood of events that make up our lives.

The other factor, I think, is I'm not famous.  If this was a new Stephen King novel or even another J K Rowling, Harry Potter book, I'm sure lots of folks would have dashed out and got a copy.  But it's not and I'm still working on building my audience.

I'm told it takes time to build an audience and be recognized by name so I'll just have to wait and keep looking for ways to get my name out there.

In the meantime, if anyone reading this wants a review copy, let me know at rfeitelberg@gmail.com.  Thanks.