Featherstone 
Self-Publishing with Guitar: A Creative Book Performance
A book performance?
That’s what happened when self-described musician, producer, playwright, thespian, wordsmith and author, Michael John Bryant invited people from the lunch crowd to join him on stage to read from his book. As they spoke into the microphone, he accompanied them on guitar.
Each reading unfolded differently, depending on who stepped forward and the passage they read. Some volunteers were tentative. Others threw themselves into it. All of them brought the words to life in their own unique way, giving emphasis to certain words and meaning through their tone…and perhaps their own life experience too.
The book itself, 99 Pages of Mistakes for Comfort, matches the creative performance in print form. The author typed out the work on an old typewriter, left in the mistakes, and kept the bold, as well as faded patches where the ribbon had worn thin or the ink was heavy. He scanned the pages exactly as they were and published them through IngramSpark, errors included.
The back cover doesn’t shy away from the creative unruliness either:
“99 Pages of Mistakes for Comfort are the binding threads of thought that this…author composed to deal with his lack of confidence, paralysis of perfectionism, committed procrastination and all time grandiosity.”
Bryant even wrote his own endorsement, giving himself permission to create and share on his own terms:
“This book is here to bring comfort to the reader. It’s a conversation with the author and the critic within. And it’s a brilliant waste of time.” – MJB
This playful embrace of determined imperfection cuts through and echoes something Rebekah Lambert shared on the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast about zines… that the act of simply attempting something can spark creativity.
Combining his music and his writing this way felt inspired. As book marketing goes, it’s a unique way to gain visibility and spark awareness for an indie title. It was a book performance I was glad I was there for.
You can find the author and his music on Instagram at mikeybee_mt.
For more marketing ideas, stay tuned, I have a book on book marketing in the works! But in the meantime, there are plenty of helpful ideas in Look-It’s Your Book!
Let your creativity loose people!