Chatting with Readers is Refreshing!

Today I had the pleasure of meeting face-to-face with a group of readers who belong to a book club at the local library. It was so much fun! I needed this. I needed to connect with real people, people who enjoy books, but aren't authors.
I've met some wonderful authors in the past year, as I've joined the publishing industry. But so many of them have been in cyberspace only. And often I've felt that I was caught in an endless loop of authors promoting to authors.

It was good to meet people who enjoy reading and were willing to spend a few minutes listening to me talk about my books. They happily took bookmarks and asked question. They thumbed through the books and declared them to be interesting and well-written!! YAY! This is a big deal, because, I'm sorry to say,  several of them mentioned having seen self-published books that were embarrassing in their lack of professionalism. That, I'm afraid is an uphill battle.

The other big battle for a self-published author is getting in front of readers, finding an audience. So, I'm very grateful to the library for inviting me, and to the lovely ladies for indulging me. I think I've got a second wind now! Maybe this would be a good time to tackle that next chapter! :-)

A Year of Big Events and New Novels!

So, 2013 comes to a close. What a year it’s been for me. It started off with a bang – I became a published author!

Last January, I published my first novel, Unexpected Legacy. How fun, after months of writing, editing, agonizing over cover options and formatting the thing, to finally hold the finished product in my hands!

The novel didn’t skyrocket to the top of the NY Times Bestseller list, but it made it through a few rounds of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition. It got some great reviews, and got some positive feedback from both adults and teens, broadening its audience base. All good things.

In March, I published book number two, a clean contemporary romance titled Meetings of Chance.

Then a couple of big events happened that had nothing to do with writing. My husband and I celebrated our thirtieth wedding anniversary (why, yes, I was a child bride!), and we got to see our daughter graduate with honors from Cornell University. That was a very proud mama moment!

I watched a lot of tennis, and saw my son win second place in the state doubles championship. More parental pride.

Then I switched gears a bit, and launched a new novel in a new genre. The Storm Within was my third novel published in 2013. It’s women’s fiction, which meant I had to reach out and connect with a different kind of reader.

Which brings me to Marketing – the biggest challenge of 2013, and I expect that will continue into the new year. I’ve met a lot of other authors and readers along the way, and that has been much fun. I’ve gained friends and fans and followers, and learned a lot.

So what’s on the agenda for 2014? More of the same! More marketing, of course, and more writing. Hoping to publish at least two new books, the second in the Women of Whitfield series, and at least one contemporary romance.

My son will graduate from high school and start college. My daughter will launch her career and perhaps a PhD program. I’ve no doubt it will be another busy year.

As I ponder 2014, I’m thinking about all the unfinished manuscripts I have, and the stories I want to write.

I’ve said before that writing is making me a hermit, and it’s true. Sure, I see friends, go to lunch, etc. But, as others are planning their New Year’s Eve parties, dinners and festivities, I’m wondering if I can ring in the new year by finishing a book. :-)

On gatekeepers

I read an article a couple of days ago that has stuck with me. Actually, I’ve decided it offended me. It was about gatekeepers – agents, editors and publishers as gatekeepers. About the need for gatekeepers to regulate who gets in and who doesn’t.

All of this is with respect to self-publishing, of course. Because without gatekeepers, mediocrity will reign, and books and publishing will go to hell.

I have to agree with one point: without the gatekeepers keeping people out of the book business, there’s going to be some trash out there. I believe that’s true. But so what? Isn’t one man’s trash another man’s treasure? I’ve paid good money for books I ended up disliking. I’ve read published books I thought were trash. I’ve purchased many a product over the years that didn’t live up to its billing or my expectations. Don’t we live in a buyer-beware society?

Here’s my problem with the gatekeepers. They’re the brick wall (the last lecture by Randy Pausch). They may be keeping people from achieving a dream. How long does an author have to wait to get through the gate or over the wall? Is it a certain number of years? Must they have a certain number of dusty manuscripts under the bed? Or a specific quota of rejection letters? A certain amount of money spent on workshops, classes and conferences? What’s the measurement?
 We hear all the time how busy and overworked agents and editors are. It seems to me, there simply aren't enough to go around.

This is America, where we’re supposed to be able to follow our dreams. We tell our children they can be anything they want. Yes, that might require a lot of years of hard work. It might mean making some sacrifices, but we tell them it will pay off in the end, that hard work and perseverance will make their dreams come true.

But what if it doesn’t? What if Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, had decided sixty rejections were as many as she could stand? She’s said it was number sixty-one that finally gave her a chance. What if an author never finds that one agent/gatekeeper that clicks, and agrees to crack open the door? Why shouldn’t an author have other options?

Now, I happen to love libraries and bookstores, and I want to see them survive, even thrive. And I really want to see one of my manuscripts published and sitting on the shelves in one of those places some day. I would like to feel the validation of being plucked from obscurity by a gatekeeper. But that’s not to say I’m willing to beat my head against the brick wall indefinitely. Finding a way to go around the wall, or punch out a brick or two, to take another path is the way of survivors and entrepreneurs. Having an alternative is a good thing.

website workday

Just scheduled an all-day work session with my critique partners! Yay! Can't wait. We may do a little reading and critiquing that day, but mostly, we're going to design a website. Since we all write some form of romance, we're teaming up to create one site that will give each of us an online presence in addition to our individual blogs.
Published or not, agents and publishers say all writers need to build a platform and start reaching an audience on line. Yes, it takes away from writing time, but it's part of the bigger picture, the whole package.
Already we're building a backlog of ideas and articles to include on the site. Key lime pie, anyone? Watch for a great recipe from J that ties right into her novel set in fabulous Key West. We'll introduce ourselves, our stories and our characters, and share blogs and thoughts on writing, romance and publishing. And, hopefully, we'll have a little fun in the process.
Stay tuned!