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Image via Wikipedia Commons

I first discovered Georges Bataille – the French philosopher who would help define transgressive literature – through Story of the Eye, his groundbreaking 1928 novel that explored teenage eroticism, mental illness, and eggs, among other things. Reading Bataille, enriching as it is, often makes one’s head hurt, as if he’s dealt a blow to your brain that causes it to swell.

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For a lot of writers, marketing a book can be an intimidating process. The industry is constantly changing, and keeping up with promotional trends is daunting to say the least. Luckily for you, some techniques are time tested and proven to work. Author newsletters have been one of the most effective marketing tools available to writers for a long time. Most of us think of newsletters as spam, but I'm here to tell you, that isn't true. When utilized correctly, an author newsletter can be a beacon of hope for those struggling for exposure in a saturated market.

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Original image via Baihaki Hine

To be accurate, I’ve been a full-time author for a little over eight-and-a-half years, and a few people know who I am. If I don’t make it another year-and-a-half or if I become world famous, I’ll issue a retraction.

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Header image of a facsimile of the Codex Gigas by Michal Maňas. Inserted image of the Klencke Atlas is public domain.

While writing about tiny books a few months ago, I discovered that people can be pretty possessive about superlatives, even when it’s a race to create something so small that it can’t be seen by the naked eye.

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The right person will tell you Goodreads is like a digital coffee shop where people can chat over books.

A different, also right person will tell you Goodreads is the world’s biggest hellhole, pretending to be a literate, high-society book salon when it’s really just an excellent place to absorb abuse for having an opinion on a book (or, god forbid, for writing one).

What happened? Who’s right? Where did it all go wrong?