The San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times both chose to decry Nani Power's excellent new book, The Sea of Tears. These are periodicals that enjoyed her previous work, and this new novel is the best one yet. So, what the hell is the problem? For a positive review, read mine, here.
It's got to be tough to be Nani Power today. Her books just keep getting better, but all people want to talk about is her first book. Everything gets compared to Crawling at Night. That would get old. "Hey, I wrote that five years ago, ok? Read the new book!" It would be tempting to publish under a pseudonym, and not have the preconceptions. Dye your hair, change your name, and win acclaim with book after book, for being the talented freshman.
When Cindy was at the publisher's conference in September, she asked the rep from Counterpoint/Perseus about Nani Power, and they just gave her a blank stare. Who? Ugh. Know your own authors, damn. How are you to promote the product? I mean, even if a rep dislikes a work personally, familiarity with their - small number, ahem! - of authors would help promote sales, and isn't that the bottom line?
I think in the end, The Sea of Tears will meet with acclaim. But right now, it seems like slow going. One day, after her fifth book appears, the right person will read it. The fiction buyer from Borders will decide to champion the book, ala The Da Vinci Code, and zoom, right to the top of the charts and next thing you know there's a movie deal, and all the old books are suddenly on Oprah. An overnight success after ten years of crummy reviews.
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