Some Thoughts on Silence and the Word

Would appreciate your thoughts on this. I skimmed through Silence and the Word last night, as we were getting ready for the digital release, and I was thinking about marketing niches, and I wonder if we should pull a few of the pieces.

When I put this book together, decades ago, I was just putting in everything that I’d written at that point (that hadn’t been collected before), and so there’s a little lack of coherence, I think?

If I’m imagining a reader and how I’m pitching this book to them, well, it’s something like:

• writing (stories, poems, and essays) about love and relationships, or just

• writings about love and romance

Especially given that erotica is specifically troublesome to publish on Amazon right now (gah, can’t believe we’re still fighting this fight), and much of the book isn’t actually erotic anyway, I think maybe downplaying that aspect and aiming more towards the love, romance, relationships aspects might make sense. What do you think?

If so, maybe I should also pull a few of the pieces that are tonally very different. I’d have to look more closely, but a few pieces that jump to mind are:

• The Poet’s Journey (there’s a sequel, The Poet and the Mathematician, which is a romance, so we could, in theory, include both)

• Amanda Means Love (really not about love at all, more about child neglect/abuse, honestly)

What do you think?

(Current draft of cover below, for those who haven’t seen it yet.)

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