Collingswood Book Festival

For much of my adult life I lived in Collingswood, NJ, a lovely little small town in Southern New Jersey. About 10 years ago, they started having a 'book festival' were authors of all stripes could come and hawk their books.

As a book-lover, I enjoyed these days, and had that vague 'maybe some day I'll be able to do that' fantasy. This year that fantasy came true. I had my very own table at the book festival.

It was, unfortunately held indoors instead of on the 'avenue' due to the rain, but was still well attended. Several friends of mine stopped by to say hello, and a few even bought a copy of my book. The best part for me was selling the book to someone I DIDN'T know. She read the back, said 'oh, this sounds good!' and bought it. That was a thrill.

Others took my card that had the info were they could find the book, and the discount coupon my publisher gave me.

My wonderful and very talented friend made the cards and that lovely sign you see in the photo.

All in all, a very good day.

Got a lovely review from Night Owl Romance!

https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Reviews/Paulinemichael-reviews-Strange-Business-by-Carol-Leister

I'm a writer

The logical part of my brain knows that the fact Strange Business hasn't rocketed to the top of the best seller list is simply to be expected. There are thousands of books out there, many of which are written by people more talented than I, and expecting to be an 'overnight success' is on par with winning the lottery.

The emotional part of my brain is still frustrated, though.

Since the release of the book, I've been doing what I can to garner publicity on a very small budget, and it's gotten me thinking about what it means to 'be a writer'. 

For practically my whole life, my career dream has been 'to be a writer' someday. It occurred to me this morning, however, that I always WAS a writer. I've got diaries I've kept off and on since I was nine years old. I have notebooks full of short stories where history notes probably should have been. I wrote for my high school's literary and fine arts magazine, and occasionally submitted things to the paper in college. I had a Livejournal account from 2003 up until the time Facebook took over social media. (for the record, I do still update it from time to time.) I even wrote fan fiction.

To be a writer, you only have to write, is my point. What I really meant when I said 'I want to be a writer' is 'I want to be the kind of writer that other people read.'

That's harder. I am now, officially, a published author, thanks to Wild Rose Press, and I've had the thrill of holding a book I wrote in my hands. It's a wonderful accomplishment, and I am proud.

And yet. 

There's always another hill, isn't there? I wanted to be a writer. I wrote. I wanted to be a PUBLISHED writer. I got published. And now I want to be the kind of writer other people want to read. 

To do that, I need to become a marketer, a publicist, a saleswoman. That's a harder challenge. 

I think I'm up to it. I hope I am. 

This is the hard part

Well the book is out, it's been bought by friends and family. Some people have given me feedback, but not as many as I'd like, just because I really want to know what people think! I need validation!

 More importantly, Ii want someone I don't know to read and review the thing, hopefully favorably, so I can feel like I've actually made a success of it.

I did just sign up for this thing - http://www.bookdaily.com/. It's 'free', but I think I may have to fork over some money if I really want to get it reviewed. I'll give it a few days and see what happens.

It's so strange, really. I've had this 'get published' goal since I was a young person, and now I am published. Not going to be the next JK Rowling (or even the next Stephenie Meyer or EL James, which is just frustrating) but I do want to know that somewhere, a stranger has picked my book because it looked interesting, and maybe even liked it.

Funny how when you reach a goal, there's always another one right behind it.

The Big Day!

While people have been able to (and some have) buy the paperback version of Strange Business, today is the day it goes 'live' via e-book format.

In other words, it's the official release day. Woo!

I've not gotten any reviews as yet. I'm hoping - and dreading - that I will soon. For some reason I don't feel like it's officially a book until there's proof that someone's read it.

I just hope it gets decent reviews!

As realistic as I'm trying to be, there's a small part of me that dreams of Strange Business actually becoming a best-seller, and getting noticed by the masses. It's probably the same odds of hitting the lottery, so I'm not holding my breath, but I'd be fooling myself if I didn't acknowledge the hope.

Well, bring it on world. Let's see what happens next.

Bits of Everything

I've been abroad the last two weeks, visiting my spiritual homeland of England, and when we came home I discovered my first box of books awaiting me. That was a nice way to cheer myself up at the end of a holiday.

I've also signed up to do a book festival in my former hometown of Collingswood NJ in October. I'm very excited about that.

My husband's co-worker bought a copy of Strange Business for his wife and apparently she likes it. She said it was a bit like the show 'Angel'. I'll take that as a compliment, that's for sure.

Speaking of reviews, Strange Business will be reviewed in The Book Breeze in July. I'm really nervous and excited about that.

I did get my first rating on Goodreads - 3 stars. Not too shabby.

It's funny when you put your book out there, it's just completely on its own, and you can't help but hope that it does well.

Well, if I'm honest with myself, what I really hope is that it becomes a runaway best-seller and Oprah mentions it on her show. Probably won't happen, but a girl can dream.

Wherein I worry about reviews.

My book, in paperback form, can be found on Amazon.com, even though the world-wide release isn’t until July.

 

It's a very nerve-wracking prospect, now that I know people can (and hopefully will) read my book. I know it's good. I worked hard on it, my editor worked even harder on it, and yet I can't help but be plagued with doubt.

What if they think it's stupid? What if they hate it? I worry more about my friends not liking it than I do strangers, in some ways, because my friends will want to spare my feelings. Some stranger isn't going to worry that they're making me sad with a bad review.
I also worry about me and my reactions to the inevitable less than stellar review. I know on an intellectual level, that someone is bound to not like it, or not get it, or whatever. I like to think I'm mature enough to rise above it, and take the criticism in the spirit in which it is given, and not let it get to me.

I don’t want to be that person who can’t handle a bad review, a person who only reads the positive reviews, but at the same time, I don’t want to read negative criticism, because, well, who does, really?

The point I’m rather randomly making, is eventually someone’s going to post a review. If it’s a friend, they will probably sugar-coat it as much as possible, or say only nice things. If it’s a stranger, it may well be more honest, and therefore it might be a bit harsh. I just hope I’m strong enough to deal with both ends of the spectrum.

Selling Yourself

Being published by a small press has it's upsides and downsides. The upside is the personal attention my editor gave me, and the fact that they had the time to even consider me at all. 

The downside is they don't have the biggest budget for promotion and so, while they will do some of the work, a large portion of it falls to me.

I'm a fairly outgoing type human, so I'm not exactly paralyzed with fear at the very concept of selling myself, but at the same time I'm just not so sure I'll be very good at it.

As much as we would like to think the work can and should speak for itself, we know that isn't always the case, especially not in these modern times. There are a few recent authors whose work got popular more due to their knack for marketing then their actual writing talent, and good for them, really. They know what to do to put their work out there, and in the best possible light.

I'm very proud of my work, and I want very much for it to be read by people outside of my supportive friends and family. This means I really need to buckle down, push myself out of my comfort zone, and do my best to get my book out there.

HOW I'm going to do this remains a mystery at the moment, but I am determined to try.

Wish me luck!

Well that's just nifty

My book is officially on the website of Wild Rose Press.

This thrills me more than I can say. I've been dreaming about this for ages, and since November I've been mired in editing,, and waiting, and editing some more and it still doesn't seem completely real to me.

But then today someone asked me about how they can get the book when the time comes, and I went to the website to copy/paste the URL and, totally not expecting to see anything, I clicked on my name. And there it was!

Strange Business at Wild Rose Press

I'm an author. I mean, sure, it's a small publishing company, and I have no illusions of becoming the next JK Rowling or even the next Stephene Meyer (even though my book is WAY better. Just saying..) but it's there. I wrote it, and now people will be able to read it. And hopefully like it.

And if it outsells Twilight I'll be a happy camper. :)

Welcome to my author blog!

Never really thought I'd be here, actually. I've wanted to 'be a writer' since I was eight years old, and I wrote off and on in high school in college - poetry, short stories, that sort of thing.

As a grown up I started more than one novel, and I did, for a while, think that maybe I'd get something published, but I didn't, and life got in the way, and I stayed at wanting.

Then, in 2010, I actually sat down and started writing a story, based on an on-line conversation I'd had a year of so before. It started coming together, and before I knew it I had a first draft.

That I promptly ignored for another year.

They say that's a good thing, and maybe it was, because when I went back to it, and edited, and revised, and finally got it to a point where I thought 'now what do I do?'

A dear friend from college had been published by Wild Rose Press, and she encouraged me to submit to them as well. Which, after some dithering, I did.

It was rejected.

Okay, not really. The editor told me to make some changes and resubmit - and I did. And she liked it.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

There's more to the story, of course, but this is a good place as any to stop.