I remember walking in to the Festival of the Book, Missoula, Montana, for the first time. It is staged in one of the finer hotels in Missoula. I was THRILLED! Hundreds of people who love words as much as I do! I soaked up authors talking about their writing experiences, poets reading their concise reviews of life, and met authors a few publishers. The book wasn't complete at that point.
I hadn't quite noticed that the date was creeping up when a friend, Kali Star, who has a networking website, asked if I was staffing a table for the Festival. Hmmmm, thought I. Why not? I checked out the website this morning to see that 1) they're still available and 2) they're reasonably affordable...that is to say, I could probably sell enough books to pay my account back for the fee.
And best of all, I'd have to be there at the Festival the whole time! Of course my table might not be staffed all the time, but that's understandable.
The festival is later in October. In the meantime, the first weekend of October I'll be at the Flathead Writer's Conference, where I can't sell books, but I can carry a few with me as I wander around. The conference features agents, screenplay writers, children's book authors, etc, who present in panel form to a wide range of local writers and authors. I'm looking forward to it; I'll check back later.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
ROYALTIES, AT LAST!
Just the sound of the word royalties brings one to a vision of red velvet and gold tassels. When the envelop arrived from IUniverse I was surprised. I'd given up on anyone buying through them, even Amazon. But no, there it was. $52, representing an unknown number of copies purchased.
I remember imagining a writer's life as a stream of words onto paper everyday (this was before computers) with a lovely view outside her window, and royalties arriving every month which paid all her bills. I have a huge capacity for imagining the world I want, not necessarily the world as it is.
But there has been a little more activity recently. I spent a week around Whitefish, Montana, chauffeuring professional medical folks to a conference focused on "The Healing Moment" offered by Dolores Krieger, creator of Therapeutic Touch as a scientifically proven model. In between arrivals and departures I dropped into bookstores which I had already contacted by phone and postcard.
The first was very disappointing. BOOKWORKS, in Whitefish, is a small store with of course rows and rows of books without any special focus I could perceive. The owner approached me and listened to my brief spiel. "Well, you won't sell any!" she said, as if declaring God's own truth. "I'll order a couple, but they'll just sit on the shelf." I expressed my appreciation and inquired if she had a shelf for local authors. "Sure, but without publicity you won't sell any. Even with publicity only one usually sells."
Sometimes I am adept at not taking things personally; after all, she said she'd order a few. I wandered over to CRYSTAL WINTERS, an amazing store only a block away that has been open for 31 years. Craig, the owner, is an old friend of my husbands, and he recognized me with little prompting. We had a wonderful chat, then I mentioned the book. "Oh I'd love to buy some," he said, "how about four. I'll buy them outright. I'm sure I can sell them!" I was pleased to say the least. The store is not really a book store but a wonderful collection of party items, clothes, games, mobiles of crystals and bells, postcards, funny jokester items, incense and candles too. I walked out with some items I'd purchased as stocking stuffers for Christmas, and a check for four books minus the 35% discount I offer book stores.
I had a display at the workshop, and sold four and traded one. I also went to a big chain bookstore and the lovely young woman promised she'd order two from the web. She was excited by it, and thought she had two places to display it.
On the way home I stopped at Doug Allard's Trading Post in St. Ignatius on the Salish Kootenai Reservation. The woman at the counter said she couldn't purchase anything and the manager would return the following week. I gifted them a book, saying how much I was looking forward to them having one. After all, Sun Bear was the first vendor at the Arlee Pow Wow to sell books about native topics. And of course I gave her a postcard in case they wanted more.
And my dear friend Jules bought two, and insisted I take her check even though I spent the whole week in her lovely little cabin, driving in at 12 or 1 at night and leaving early in the mornings. We did slide in some good chats and one playful afternoon and a dinner too, but I'm looking forward to our next time together.
So let the checks roll in! This next week I'll leave all my books at home. We're floating the Missouri and there'll be no commercial opportunities. Hoping your summer included a wild adventure and a few royalty checks too.
I remember imagining a writer's life as a stream of words onto paper everyday (this was before computers) with a lovely view outside her window, and royalties arriving every month which paid all her bills. I have a huge capacity for imagining the world I want, not necessarily the world as it is.
But there has been a little more activity recently. I spent a week around Whitefish, Montana, chauffeuring professional medical folks to a conference focused on "The Healing Moment" offered by Dolores Krieger, creator of Therapeutic Touch as a scientifically proven model. In between arrivals and departures I dropped into bookstores which I had already contacted by phone and postcard.
The first was very disappointing. BOOKWORKS, in Whitefish, is a small store with of course rows and rows of books without any special focus I could perceive. The owner approached me and listened to my brief spiel. "Well, you won't sell any!" she said, as if declaring God's own truth. "I'll order a couple, but they'll just sit on the shelf." I expressed my appreciation and inquired if she had a shelf for local authors. "Sure, but without publicity you won't sell any. Even with publicity only one usually sells."
Sometimes I am adept at not taking things personally; after all, she said she'd order a few. I wandered over to CRYSTAL WINTERS, an amazing store only a block away that has been open for 31 years. Craig, the owner, is an old friend of my husbands, and he recognized me with little prompting. We had a wonderful chat, then I mentioned the book. "Oh I'd love to buy some," he said, "how about four. I'll buy them outright. I'm sure I can sell them!" I was pleased to say the least. The store is not really a book store but a wonderful collection of party items, clothes, games, mobiles of crystals and bells, postcards, funny jokester items, incense and candles too. I walked out with some items I'd purchased as stocking stuffers for Christmas, and a check for four books minus the 35% discount I offer book stores.
I had a display at the workshop, and sold four and traded one. I also went to a big chain bookstore and the lovely young woman promised she'd order two from the web. She was excited by it, and thought she had two places to display it.
On the way home I stopped at Doug Allard's Trading Post in St. Ignatius on the Salish Kootenai Reservation. The woman at the counter said she couldn't purchase anything and the manager would return the following week. I gifted them a book, saying how much I was looking forward to them having one. After all, Sun Bear was the first vendor at the Arlee Pow Wow to sell books about native topics. And of course I gave her a postcard in case they wanted more.
And my dear friend Jules bought two, and insisted I take her check even though I spent the whole week in her lovely little cabin, driving in at 12 or 1 at night and leaving early in the mornings. We did slide in some good chats and one playful afternoon and a dinner too, but I'm looking forward to our next time together.
So let the checks roll in! This next week I'll leave all my books at home. We're floating the Missouri and there'll be no commercial opportunities. Hoping your summer included a wild adventure and a few royalty checks too.
Monday, August 16, 2010
GIFTS OF JOY
What I'm enjoying most about having books on hand is giving them away! They are a precious gift of myself that I hand over with no agenda whatsoever. The powerful cover and intriguing topics speak for themselves.
Earlier this month I had the opportunity to gift the woman who purchased the land that Sun Bear lived on for many years in Northwestern Washington. She was the officiant at a wedding we were attending near Colville. She's a tiny woman whose face reflects a quality of listening and attention we rarely encounter. We had maybe met in the past, for we both said how familiar the other looked. When I returned from our car with a book tears filled her eyes. Now we are sisters and will remember the grace of our relationship. I hope we get to sit down and visit at length in the near future.
Another opportunity came when an old friend of my daughter's arrived yesterday. We hadn't seen her in seventeen years. She is still as beautiful and even more competent in the world, speaking perfect Chinese in the business world of China, raising an adopted daughter and creating fantastic art for marketing. She had no idea of course that I'd published; in fact, she didn't even know I wrote! Her astonishment was a delight, and having my red and black bundle ever-handy, I giggled at all she will come to find out about me!
This next week I'm attending a gathering of professional practitioners of Therapeutic Touch, a process of healing using the hands in the body's field that is used for pain relief, relaxation, and sometimes diagnostic reflection. I'll have the opportunity to join the dialogue and offer the book several afternoons during the week. I'm looking forward to spreading MR seeds to the East and West Coasts!
So instead of coveting the money each copy brings, I am offering them as tools for transformation. In that act perhaps they will travel, seed and I will see the sales increase without me! By the way, the next 4 boxes of books have arrived. Now where will I store them for the short (!) time they will be with me?
Earlier this month I had the opportunity to gift the woman who purchased the land that Sun Bear lived on for many years in Northwestern Washington. She was the officiant at a wedding we were attending near Colville. She's a tiny woman whose face reflects a quality of listening and attention we rarely encounter. We had maybe met in the past, for we both said how familiar the other looked. When I returned from our car with a book tears filled her eyes. Now we are sisters and will remember the grace of our relationship. I hope we get to sit down and visit at length in the near future.
Another opportunity came when an old friend of my daughter's arrived yesterday. We hadn't seen her in seventeen years. She is still as beautiful and even more competent in the world, speaking perfect Chinese in the business world of China, raising an adopted daughter and creating fantastic art for marketing. She had no idea of course that I'd published; in fact, she didn't even know I wrote! Her astonishment was a delight, and having my red and black bundle ever-handy, I giggled at all she will come to find out about me!
This next week I'm attending a gathering of professional practitioners of Therapeutic Touch, a process of healing using the hands in the body's field that is used for pain relief, relaxation, and sometimes diagnostic reflection. I'll have the opportunity to join the dialogue and offer the book several afternoons during the week. I'm looking forward to spreading MR seeds to the East and West Coasts!
So instead of coveting the money each copy brings, I am offering them as tools for transformation. In that act perhaps they will travel, seed and I will see the sales increase without me! By the way, the next 4 boxes of books have arrived. Now where will I store them for the short (!) time they will be with me?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
RE-ORDERING BOOKS
The old platitude "strike while the iron's hot" must come from horse shoeing, iron being maellable when red hot. In this case IUniverse is the red hot iron, and today I'm ordering 100 more books at a 50% discount with free shipping. The discount ends Friday.
Once I'd banked enough book profit to pay back my dear lender (who said it was an open ended gift/loan) the question arose: pay her back or take half the money and get more books. Thanks to my friend Elisabeth Hallett (THE LADY IS DELICATE) who informed me of the IUniverse deal, I'm going for it.
Not that books have been selling like hotcakes. But they will, any month now. It's like panning for gold. Keep sloshing the water through the pan, looking for glints and sparkles, which means keep searching all the leads looking for a vein that will lead to a great audience knowing about my book.
And I've committed to the Flathead Writer's Conference in October which might lead to something. Last time I went I found an agent who actually "loved" the book. Unfortunately she couldn't find anywhere to "shop" it, so our relationship was short. But it gave me the confidence that I had written something valuable to someone "in the know!"
Okay, I'm putting aside the platitudes to make the call to IU. Here we go again! May they all be sold by February, 2011!
Once I'd banked enough book profit to pay back my dear lender (who said it was an open ended gift/loan) the question arose: pay her back or take half the money and get more books. Thanks to my friend Elisabeth Hallett (THE LADY IS DELICATE) who informed me of the IUniverse deal, I'm going for it.
Not that books have been selling like hotcakes. But they will, any month now. It's like panning for gold. Keep sloshing the water through the pan, looking for glints and sparkles, which means keep searching all the leads looking for a vein that will lead to a great audience knowing about my book.
And I've committed to the Flathead Writer's Conference in October which might lead to something. Last time I went I found an agent who actually "loved" the book. Unfortunately she couldn't find anywhere to "shop" it, so our relationship was short. But it gave me the confidence that I had written something valuable to someone "in the know!"
Okay, I'm putting aside the platitudes to make the call to IU. Here we go again! May they all be sold by February, 2011!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
SUMMER LEISURE
It's the hot days of summer, although we've had a cool one so far here in Montana. I've been wondering if folks still read all day during the summer like I did as a child. My hangout was the public library. I was quite content to be rummaging around the stacks alone and often spent days on end just reading. I adored Nancy Drew mysteries until I got on the the rhythm of them, and could figure them out ahead of time!
I've just finished THE HELP, which I found fascinating. I uncharacteristically spent several mornings in my lovely recliner absorbing the tales of Southern aristocracy through the eyes of their black maids. I loved the various personalities of the female characters. (I want to develop that facility to truly delineate one character from the next.) And I felt the humidity, the seething rage, and the suppression of 1962 for people of all skin colors whether they were aware of it or not.
Now I'm diving into MAO'S LAST DANCER, an autobiography, that takes me to rural China during the worst Maoist period when children who drew on walls with chalk were considered counter revolutionaries and their (starving) families were threatened with dire consequences. My privilege and freedom humble me.
But I have also been looking for independent bookstores around Flathead Lake since I'll be up there for 10 days in August. I found quite a list on the web and the phonebook. I felt confident and ploughed right in sending my MEDICINE ROCK post cards and emails. A few weeks later I followed up with phone calls. The recession makes its inroads: BORDERS, closed; three other stores: phones dead; one, used books only. So I guess it's the "walk in cold" approach to the ones still standing when I get up there.
I've decided to go to the Flathead Writers' Conference in October. I attended two years ago and truly enjoyed rubbing elbows with other people who worship words like I do. Prior to the gathering I submitted a MR synopsis & other information to an agent from Tennessee. When my appointment time came (15 minutes allowed), the first thing she said was, "I love it! Believe me, I don't often say that at gatherings like this!" Well, I was just floating for over an hour afterwards wandering around the grounds of the junior college catching my breath. A professional loved my work. Wow!
So I'll set up a table this time and see what happens. And glean evermore ideas on how to proceed. I'm pretty convinced there's a "back east" connection out there with a big email list, or blog, or twitter, or whatever, that will begin a new limb of sales for MR on the east coast. But I'm a little impatient! It would be an excellent book to read summer or winter, actually. But road trips are usually in summer!
I've just finished THE HELP, which I found fascinating. I uncharacteristically spent several mornings in my lovely recliner absorbing the tales of Southern aristocracy through the eyes of their black maids. I loved the various personalities of the female characters. (I want to develop that facility to truly delineate one character from the next.) And I felt the humidity, the seething rage, and the suppression of 1962 for people of all skin colors whether they were aware of it or not.
Now I'm diving into MAO'S LAST DANCER, an autobiography, that takes me to rural China during the worst Maoist period when children who drew on walls with chalk were considered counter revolutionaries and their (starving) families were threatened with dire consequences. My privilege and freedom humble me.
But I have also been looking for independent bookstores around Flathead Lake since I'll be up there for 10 days in August. I found quite a list on the web and the phonebook. I felt confident and ploughed right in sending my MEDICINE ROCK post cards and emails. A few weeks later I followed up with phone calls. The recession makes its inroads: BORDERS, closed; three other stores: phones dead; one, used books only. So I guess it's the "walk in cold" approach to the ones still standing when I get up there.
I've decided to go to the Flathead Writers' Conference in October. I attended two years ago and truly enjoyed rubbing elbows with other people who worship words like I do. Prior to the gathering I submitted a MR synopsis & other information to an agent from Tennessee. When my appointment time came (15 minutes allowed), the first thing she said was, "I love it! Believe me, I don't often say that at gatherings like this!" Well, I was just floating for over an hour afterwards wandering around the grounds of the junior college catching my breath. A professional loved my work. Wow!
So I'll set up a table this time and see what happens. And glean evermore ideas on how to proceed. I'm pretty convinced there's a "back east" connection out there with a big email list, or blog, or twitter, or whatever, that will begin a new limb of sales for MR on the east coast. But I'm a little impatient! It would be an excellent book to read summer or winter, actually. But road trips are usually in summer!
Friday, July 2, 2010
GOOD FEEDBACK
This past week I've had lovely feedback about the book from folks around town: "It moves right along!" Another woman remarked "Can you believe it? I used to receive MANY SMOKES back in the seventies!"
I was pre-occupied in the grocery store when I felt a soft arm around my shoulders. "Hey Star, I'm reading your book. Got it at the public library!"
How the book was submitted to the library is a mystery. I certainly didn't approach them, but I probably should have. It's on their "New Books" shelf, available for 10 days. What a concept, my book in the library! You should understand, my middle school years were spent in our local library wandering around, reading whatever struck me, doing research about various topics, and loving the quiet and order. Libraries are places of stability and predictability to me.
Another friend told me our mutual acquaintance who is an author approached Hastings Bookstore to move his book closer to the cash register. He added some money to the offer, and up went book sales. I'm trying that one next trip into Missoula.
Like mushrooms popping up after drenching rains, these serendipitous reflections offer delight to my heart and inspire me back to the computer.
I was pre-occupied in the grocery store when I felt a soft arm around my shoulders. "Hey Star, I'm reading your book. Got it at the public library!"
How the book was submitted to the library is a mystery. I certainly didn't approach them, but I probably should have. It's on their "New Books" shelf, available for 10 days. What a concept, my book in the library! You should understand, my middle school years were spent in our local library wandering around, reading whatever struck me, doing research about various topics, and loving the quiet and order. Libraries are places of stability and predictability to me.
Another friend told me our mutual acquaintance who is an author approached Hastings Bookstore to move his book closer to the cash register. He added some money to the offer, and up went book sales. I'm trying that one next trip into Missoula.
Like mushrooms popping up after drenching rains, these serendipitous reflections offer delight to my heart and inspire me back to the computer.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
NEGLECTING THE BABY
After my son died, I had years of dreams in which I would be tending a baby, then called into some other activity, then would remember the baby and not be able to find him. My subconscious was working on overtime with guilt.
My relationship with MEDICINE ROCK sort of parallels this process. It has been my baby, birthed in February, that I've been tending every day which includes sending out copies, setting up readings, trying to get book reviews and entering "first novel" contests. The last two weeks has seen a lull in the activity as I continued training for a mental health center position, and concentrated on some health issues. And yes, guilt is arising. I know from Sun Bear, and subsequently from my own life, that if you don't water a creative project, it just don't grow!
I'll be in Billings, Montana, on Saturday to say hello to the Independent Bookstore there (Barjon's), but the time frame was too short to set up a reading. (Maybe they'll buy a few copies.) And I'm setting up readings in the Flathead area in late August. Our local "health food" store asked for a display, which I thought was so lovely of them. And there's always the web, of course.
When Sun Bear would come to a standstill on a project he was invested in, he would start going around stirring up information. So my next phone call will be to a book agent who works on an international scale. A visit with her should give me a jump start. And perhaps contacting the two Bear Tribe folks in Spokane who contacted me but couldn't come to the reading.
The fertilizer for doubling my effort is in the amazing feedback I'm receiving from my readers. The most common: "It brought back so many memories of that time." Or "I couldn't figure out how you were going to end it, because obviously your life goes on!" (But of course, we have phases, don't we?) And another one cropping up is how different that era was from our current political climate. As if yeast and honey had been dropped into flour and water, the culture was bubbling up; the bacteria were gobbling and growing in the women's culture, in minority cultures, in awareness of the environmental issues we had created, in sexual morays...EVERYTHING in motion. And we all thought the lasting changes would be made within five or maybe ten years. That was adolescent thinking!
Here we are with a President who refused to bring race into his campaign, with an environmental spill unprecedented in history, with a planet undergoing catastrophic changes, with women still being raped, with children still being abused, with aging baby boomers who don't want to attend meetings.
Do I feel the pangs of guilt? Perhaps we should be called the guilty generation even though many of us have worked long hours in various political and cultural efforts and still do. We didn't create this, but marching or not, we are deeply committed to creating the new paradigms that will move us all forward.
In the meantime I sent books to Wind Daughter to sell at the North Carolina Medicine Wheel Gathering in July. I've sold well over 100 since March. And I'm going to keep on keepin' on towards compassion, justice and book sales!
My relationship with MEDICINE ROCK sort of parallels this process. It has been my baby, birthed in February, that I've been tending every day which includes sending out copies, setting up readings, trying to get book reviews and entering "first novel" contests. The last two weeks has seen a lull in the activity as I continued training for a mental health center position, and concentrated on some health issues. And yes, guilt is arising. I know from Sun Bear, and subsequently from my own life, that if you don't water a creative project, it just don't grow!
I'll be in Billings, Montana, on Saturday to say hello to the Independent Bookstore there (Barjon's), but the time frame was too short to set up a reading. (Maybe they'll buy a few copies.) And I'm setting up readings in the Flathead area in late August. Our local "health food" store asked for a display, which I thought was so lovely of them. And there's always the web, of course.
When Sun Bear would come to a standstill on a project he was invested in, he would start going around stirring up information. So my next phone call will be to a book agent who works on an international scale. A visit with her should give me a jump start. And perhaps contacting the two Bear Tribe folks in Spokane who contacted me but couldn't come to the reading.
The fertilizer for doubling my effort is in the amazing feedback I'm receiving from my readers. The most common: "It brought back so many memories of that time." Or "I couldn't figure out how you were going to end it, because obviously your life goes on!" (But of course, we have phases, don't we?) And another one cropping up is how different that era was from our current political climate. As if yeast and honey had been dropped into flour and water, the culture was bubbling up; the bacteria were gobbling and growing in the women's culture, in minority cultures, in awareness of the environmental issues we had created, in sexual morays...EVERYTHING in motion. And we all thought the lasting changes would be made within five or maybe ten years. That was adolescent thinking!
Here we are with a President who refused to bring race into his campaign, with an environmental spill unprecedented in history, with a planet undergoing catastrophic changes, with women still being raped, with children still being abused, with aging baby boomers who don't want to attend meetings.
Do I feel the pangs of guilt? Perhaps we should be called the guilty generation even though many of us have worked long hours in various political and cultural efforts and still do. We didn't create this, but marching or not, we are deeply committed to creating the new paradigms that will move us all forward.
In the meantime I sent books to Wind Daughter to sell at the North Carolina Medicine Wheel Gathering in July. I've sold well over 100 since March. And I'm going to keep on keepin' on towards compassion, justice and book sales!
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