We do many things, expecting no response. The job you apply for that you don’t think you should get, the love letter that doesn’t say what you wanted it to, the blog that doesn’t capture the moment, the book you have worked on for years, doesn’t find a publisher, so you self publish and it doesn’t find readers.
Of course we know it’s all about marketing but if we are not marketing naturals, don’t like blowing our own trumpet and making a nuisance of ourselves, we are stuffed, floating in a barrel in our own wort.
I have been writing about the history of brewing for decades. I stopped, because I had nothing new to say and felt I would become boring. In truth, I was bored of the genre so got off the roundabout. Then I had a change of heart and over the last five years, reworked my books, updated and republished. The effect was anything but staggering. I had got off the roundabout so had gone from an international expert to a nobody.
This month, though people suddenly started downloading the Stout book and the definitive guide to Pale Ale history. If only I knew why, I’d do it again. But suddenly readers want to delve into the past to see where to go next.
Clive and Eva La Pensée 