Reflections: Publicity or Publishing

Yesterday, I attended the Well.Lit Session. The discussion was all about Jane Austen and her works. One the questions posed was ‘Which is more important: Sense or sensibility?’ The discussion was animated, interesting and everyone agreed that Austen’s works had a universal and enduring appeal.

I like this play on words – sense and sensibility. Hence the title of this post: publicity and publishing.

In today’s NST, in an article called ‘Stars fade in a flash of scandal’, Chok Suat Ling asks three very interesting questions:

• Indeed, shouldn't the people we celebrate and look up to, those who serve as role models -- whether they be celebrities, teachers, leaders, and especially politicians -- be controversy-free and have pristine reputations?
• Or should artistes be judged solely by their ability to entertain, and leaders their ability to unite the community and serve their needs?
• Should their actions, even if not against the law, negate their contributions to society and country? Or are their private matters no business of the public?

All these questions make me wonder . In the publishing industry, which is more important: publicity or publishing? Over the years, I’ve had many things said to me about this issue. Here are some of my observations:

Some authors get published first, then work on the publicity.

Some authors work on the publicity, then get published.

One non-fiction writer told me that it’s important to have a non-fiction work published first. With the publicity from that, his fiction work was published without delay.

To succeed financially as an author, you need publicity.

A published author who gets loads of publicity is not necessarily a great writer.

The publicity an author gets doesn’t necessarily have to be good publicity. Sometimes, authors who have bad publicity find more success in the industry.

Sometimes, the publicity is so bad that it destroys some authors.

Sometimes, the bad publicity is more about the personality of the author than the author’s work.

The publicity about an author doesn’t always have to do with the work in questions.

As you can see, there are so many permutations to this issue. I have made no conclusions. I What I’d like to know is, do you have anything else to add to this list?