Wednesday Women: Cantor Gold by Ann Aptaker

Something new in the Wednesday Women feature--we will see some familiar names in the future! In order to celebrate the next book in her series, Ann Aptaker returns with her leading lady Cantor Gold. Welcome!

(Graphic provided by author)

For WEDNESDAY WOMEN, October 7, 2015

TO SCREAM OR TO WHISPER: THAT IS THE QUESTION

by Ann Aptaker

Getting a new book into the public consciousness is now part of an author’s job, a job not every author is particularly good at, or even wants to do. Writing that novel/short story/play/poem is a quiet endeavor performed alone (unless you count the noisy crowd of characters in the author’s head). Marketing, on the other hand, is a very public endeavor. An author has to put herself out there, either in person at readings and other events, or through electronic or print media: writing social media and blog posts, doing interviews, writing articles, submitting the book to reviewers, among other pushy activities. And I don’t like being pushy.

Oh, I will fight to the death to keep a word or sentence in my manuscript an editor wants to change or toss (and I win some and lose some; my editor, the brilliant Ruth Sternglantz at Bold Strokes Books, is often right), so I’m not exactly a pushover. But there’s a difference between holding your ground for something you believe in and hogging the ground to claim it for a billboard. In today’s publishing world, though, the latter must be done. Gone are the days when a publisher built and financed a PR campaign around an emerging author: buying ads, setting up a book tour, paying for the flights and hotels, and so on, unless said author writes the popular blockbuster sort of fare, and even then a publisher may not want to spend the money. Though publishers do have marketing strategies, these days those strategies require authors to carry a lot of the load.

So here I am, grateful down to my socks to Barbara Winkes for allowing me the opportunity to guest blog on her site to pitch my new release, TARNISHED GOLD, Book Two in the Cantor Gold Crime Series. But before I get to the actual pitching, a serious question must be addressed: to scream or to whisper? In a marketing environment crowded with countless other authors all vying for readers’ attention, should I simply scream louder than everyone else? Or should I talk under them, betting that a whisper will effectively drift like a wraith into readers’ consciousness. Frankly, I don’t know.

So I’m going to hedge my bets and not waste this opportunity to get TARNISHED GOLD into your consciousness and hence into your hands. Since I’m unable to decide between screaming or whispering, I will do both and trust that one or the other finds its way into your thinking and inspires you to part with your coin and buy the print edition or e-book. Here goes:

NEW YORK CITY, 1950. CANTOR GOLD, art SMUGGLER and UNDERWORLD DYKE-ABOUT-TOWN, hunts for a missing MASTERPIECE she’s RISKED HER LIFE to bring through the port of New York. She must OUTSMART the LAW that wants to JAIL her, OUTRUN the DOCKSIDE GANGSTERS who would let her take the fall for MURDER, and outplay a SHADY ART DEALER, his LOVER, and a BEAUTIFUL CURATOR who TOYS with CANTOR’S PASSION. Through it all, CANTOR must stay out of the GUN SIGHTS of a KILLER who’s KNOCKING OFF RIVALS for the missing MASTERPIECE—and STAY ALIVE to solve the MYSTERY of her STOLEN LOVE.

So, be part of the OUTLAW adventure. BUY the PRINT or E-BOOK of TARNISHED GOLD!

Thank you.

About Ann:

Ann Aptaker’s debut novel CRIMINAL GOLD, was a 2015 Goldie Award nominee. In addition to writing crime and mystery fiction, Ann also writes art related articles, is an independent curator, and an adjunct Professor of Art and Art History at New York Institute of Technology. She lives in her hometown of New York City. TARNISHED GOLD is the second book in the Cantor Gold Crime series, published by Bold Strokes Books.