Some of you have already seen the amazing book trailer Keith Strunk put together for my book, The Witch of Zal! I love it, and I hope you do, too.
Without further ado, I present: The Witch of Zal book trailer!
The Witch of Zal Book Trailer!
March 3, 2016 By 2 Comments
Book Launch! But what to read?
February 11, 2016 By 1 Comment
Exciting news, everyone! My official book launch will be March 19th, 5pm-7pm at the amazing Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown, PA. Although The Witch of Zal has been available for a few months, March 19th will be the celebration of my debut novel.
I’m starting to make the plans. I’ve ordered a cool floral arrangement from Vintage Oceans Wedding and Event Flowers (a book launch is an event!), and am searching for some fun takeaways to go along with my bookmarks. I need to figure out the technology to run my trailer at the event, and the food to snack upon. And what to wear. And how not to embarrass myself in front of what I hope will be a large number of people.
One of the hardest things to decide, though, is what excerpt of my book to read. I suppose that not reading one is an option, but at an event celebrating the book that feels rather like sending the birthday girl to her room while we all sing “Happy Birthday to You” in the dining room. So I got to thinking what I could choose.
This excerpt would not be the same one I would read to a group of kids. Kids would want more funny or more action. So do I simply start at the beginning of the book, or find some other place?
Choosing an excerpt from farther into the book can be dicey. I don’t want to have to explain too much in the way of setup, or the listeners will get bored (or confused). And choosing an emotionally charged scene can backfire, too, since the listeners are not yet emotionally invested in the characters and may not react as hoped.
So I rummaged around and finally hit upon a good excerpt—one that I think will speak to my audience of writers and booklovers yet pull them in to want to read more. What is it? You’ll have to come and listen! If you’ve read the book and want to take a guess in the comments, feel free.
Now that the decision is made, I will have to practice reading the excerpt aloud. I need to handle the words, the rhythm, the pacing. I want to be able to do this with confidence and give my audience good entertainment value.
Anything else I need to do for the launch event? Of course, I need a thank-you speech. I have so many people to thank, it might take up the entire 2 hours!
If you can, even if you’ve already bought the book, come celebrate with me—I’d love to see you there.
Marketing Flurry
February 4, 2016 By Leave a Comment
After digging out of 20” of snow a week ago, this week found me hit with a marketing flurry. I have felt out of my depth since I hit the marketing side of publishing. Even though I’ve read a ton about it, when it came to actually making a plan the details overwhelmed and paralyzed me. So I’ve waded into the fray, rather than jumped.
This week started off with receiving my book trailer from Keith Strunk, who put it together for me. I had an unplanned public unveiling of the trailer at the Willow Grove Writers Coffeehouse, and people seemed to like it. I know I sure did!
So one thing I did this week was start a YouTube channel for myself. At the moment, however, the channel has no content, as I am having the dreaded “technical difficulties” loading the trailer to the channel.
Coming Soon to a Viewscreen Near You!
The next marketing task that surfaced was an interview I did with Linda C. Wisniewski for the Bucks County Women’s Journal. My first interview as a professional author!
The interview of course kicked off a round of social media posts announcing it—Facebook, Twitter, Google+. I also hopped onto my website and added the link to my News & Events page—which I managed to do without breaking the Internet!
Finally, because I felt the need to have some focused marketing help, I joined BadRedHead Media’s 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge. The amazing Rachel Thompson sends us one tip and how-to every day for 30 days, and we then implement them. We are 3 days in, and so far I have spruced up my Twitter bio and header, pinned a tweet to my feed, and begun Following people with a more targeted focus.
So my week has been filled with flurries—marketing flurries. It’s good, though, because I feel a little more settled in my marketing mindset. I may never be a marketing powerhouse, but I am moving forward—and that’s what counts.
How about you? Did you dive in the deep end with marketing, or wade in hesitantly?
The Best of The Goose’s Quill 2015
January 7, 2016 By Leave a Comment
At the beginning of a new year, we typically look forward to the year ahead. Sometimes, though, it is helpful to look back in order to see how far you have come, and evaluate how you did in the past year. I examined my top 20 posts this past year and found that readers read a good mixture of craft and marketing, as well as some of my more personal writing-life posts. In case you missed any, here are the Best of The Goose’s Quill 2015. Enjoy!
And my #1 post of 2015:
Thank you for reading in 2015—I hope you continue to join me in 2016!
The New To-Do List
November 19, 2015 By 4 Comments
First, I want to take a moment to recognize the tragedies in Beirut, Paris, and Nigeria. The loss of life is horrific, and the grief is universal no matter what continent you are on. The terrorists wish to inspire fear and hatred and chaos. I choose not to let my fear turn to hate. I choose to stand with the grieving and raise my voice with those speaking for peace. The terrorists fear our unity and seek to splinter us. United we stand.
I attended my first conference as a published author this weekend. The NJ Association of School Librarians sponsors
an Authors’ and Illustrators’ Alley where you can display your wares and talk with the conferees. I’ll admit I was terribly nervous—my anxiety was running in high gear. But once I got there, it all went smoothly. Chatting with the librarians and teachers was fun, and I learned a great deal about presentation from my friend and table-mate Donna Galanti.
So now that is over and I turn my attention to the other things that need to be done now that THE WITCH OF ZAL is a real, live book. What sort of things are on this to-do list?
Updating my website: I need to get the cover on the front page, and add buy links, and some of the blurbs. I need to update my events page as well.
Book Trailer: I’ve sent the elements of the trailer to Keith Strunk, whose company will be putting it together for me. As a long-time professional editor, I actually did the trailer myself but my editing software is so old it does not support true High Definition, which is necessary.
Reviews: I have no reviews yet, but I do have a list of bloggers that I am ready to reach out to and ask for reviews. I have the emails mostly ready, I just need to add some final details (like the cover) and send them out.
School visit presentation: I need to sit down and concentrate in detail on what I want to say and cover in a school visit. I have a firm idea of the topic now (thanks again to Keith Strunk), but I need to think about the flow and the details I need to cover.
School visits: After that, I need to actually book some school visits. A big issue is payment—so many of the librarians at the conference said they simply have no budget for author visits. So, do I work for free and accept the book sales as payment enough? That’s a question each author needs to answer for themselves.
Interviews: I have at least one interviewer who has sent me questions, so I need to get those done.
Distribution: I have contacted the Doylestown Bookshop about handling pre-orders for my school events, and thankfully they have said they can handle that for me.
Taxes: I seem to have all the paperwork in order, but I am still unclear on how collecting sales tax works in states outside of my home state. So more research is needed.
Copyright: I need to register the copyright of my book within 3 months of publication. Some authors may say not to worry about it, but for $35 it’s worth having the extra protection. (Fees vary depending on how you register.)
Launch party: Now that THE WITCH OF ZAL is out, I need to celebrate! I’ll keep you apprised of developments there.
So, those are some of the things on my new to-do list. Oh, and write. Gotta keep doing that.
Anything I forgot that should be on my list?
THE WITCH OF ZAL Cover Reveal and Surprise!
November 12, 2015 By 8 Comments
Hey, everyone! I am so excited to share the wonderful cover for THE WITCH OF ZAL! My publisher, Evil Jester Press, did a fantastic job.
And…SURPRISE! My book is available for purchase RIGHT NOW in paperback and Kindle.
I hope you love the cover as much as I do–and I hope you have as much fun reading the book as I did writing it!
I’ll keep you posted as my journey continues. Thank you all for coming along for the ride!
Adventures in the Land of Zal
October 22, 2015 By 2 Comments
This week’s post is going to be short and sweet, because I am neck-deep in reviewing the galleys of my book THE WITCH OF ZAL.
What’s a galley, you ask?
Before a book goes to print but after it has been formatted, they create a galley of it—an uncorrected proof of the text. The author then goes over the galley to catch any last-minute typos or issues that might have been missed earlier. Since there is a substantial lag time between turning in the final edits and reading the galley, the author can see it with fresh eyes.
I found that the galley, which uses a different font and formatting than my final submitted manuscript did, makes mistakes easier to find. Thankfully, I am not finding many! I have to read both the print galley and the ebook galley. I’ve read the print, and hope to finish the ebook today.
The other exciting news is that the cover is finally finished! I saw a sneak peek earlier this week, and am eager to share it with the world. Having a cover makes the book very real.
And I’m glad it is real, because I have booked my first conference, at the New Jersey Association of School Librarians (NJASL) conference November 15th. Discussing books with hundreds of librarians is going to be a thrill, and I can’t wait to meet them. After all, I’ve known since I was young that libraries are magic and librarians are magicians.
THE WITCH OF ZAL is almost at the finish line, and the next phase of my writing life will begin!
My Biggest Takeaway: 2015 Philadelphia Writers’ Conference
June 18, 2015 By 5 Comments
Every year, after the dust of the Philadelphia Writers’ Conference has settled, I look back and see what my biggest takeaway is. After all, it’s good to see what you’re getting out of any experience so you can judge your return on investment. In past years, my takeaways have included a lessening of my pitching panic and a creative awakening.
This year, I met a lot of people, including some I only knew from social media. That’s always fun, to finally meet someone in real life! I didn’t get to spend as much time chatting with them as I would have liked, but it was nice to put a voice with the face. Now I can read their posts and hear their voices.
Even on my limited budget, I managed to buy a few books which now reside in my To-Be-Read pile—in line right after the library books. I bought one craft book and one fiction book, and I’m still deciding which to read first.
And of course I learned a lot. All those workshops…my head was spinning by the end of each day! I really enjoy learning how different authors approach the various stages of writing, from brainstorming to editing. Sometimes I pick up a tip that resonates with me, and other times I know immediately that their process would never work for me. But I still like learning about it so I can refine my process.
This year, the one idea that my brain keeps circling back to is from Fran Wilde’s Short Story class. She spoke about raising the stakes and said that your character should be in more danger BECAUSE they fulfill their need. In other words, fulfilling Need A allows them to go after Need B, which is harder and more dangerous than Need A. Getting Need B kicks them up to the even more difficult Need C, and so on.
I had never thought of it like that before.
I knew, of course, that your stakes have to consistently raise throughout a story. But I always thought of it as somehow a random thing. For instance, “Okay, my hero achieved something, but now I need something harder than that. All right, send in zombie unicorns.” I think I thought of the new threats, the higher stakes, as coming from external forces not necessarily tied to the inner stakes, although I knew they had to raise as well.
This idea of stepping-stone stakes tied intimately to fulfillment of the hero’s needs intrigues me. Fran was talking about short stories, but I can see how this would work as well for novels. By arranging the hero’s needs in a hierarchy and then starting with his most basic need and working his way up, there is a natural build to the stakes. And the tight cause-and-effect structure makes for a more solid story overall.
I’m in the middle of a massive revision right now, and once I’m done this phase I will go back and look at my stakes in light of this new understanding.
So my biggest takeaway this year was a structural revelation. What was your biggest takeaway?
Focus Forward
As 2015 draws to a close, I have a lot to be thankful for. My family is healthy and happy. I am comfortable in my life. And my first novel, THE WITCH OF ZAL, debuted from Evil Jester Press!
Now 2016 looms large ahead, and my focus is turning to the future. What do I want to accomplish in 2016? I decided to keep it simple and focus only on things I could control, because to do otherwise is an invitation to stress and frustration.
So what are these goals?
And that’s it!
Three things.
I can do that.
What are you looking forward to in 2016?