October 4, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things! Weekend Edition and UPRISING (Children of the Gods #2) — Jessica Therrien’s New Release!

Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly celebration created by VikLit and now hosted by Lexa Cain to celebrate the happenings of the week, however small or large. You can learn all about it and sign up for it here.

Wow, I don’t know where this week went. It just flew right on by. Things to celebrate:

The Burlington Book Festival last Saturday provided two great opportunities. The League of VT Writers’ table where I was volunteering was right next to the BBF table. A woman who worked at Barnes & Noble when I did my book signing was volunteering at the BBF table. She remembered me, and we got to talking, and she invited me to do a radio interview on her show Books, Yarns, and Tales for station WBTN 1370 AM. I’d never done a radio interview before, but said sure, why not? She called me on Monday morning, and we did a live/on air interview over the phone, which included a reading from the first chapter of my book. I wasn’t expecting to do the reading. She sprang that on me without much notice, but I think it sounded okay.

Here is the link for anyone who’d like to hear it: http://www.wbtnam.us/imlogger/index.php. Where it says “Pick a Feed” choose “Books, Yarns, and Tales” from the drop-down box, then put in Monday’s date (9/28). That should pull it up. At the moment, there’s only one option, and it starts at 9:04 and runs about 46 minutes.

I also met the book buyer for the University of Vermont bookstore at the BBF. She stopped by the table, so I pitched my book to her, and she said she’d order it for the store. It will be great if I can get into the college market.

On Monday, I donated my book to four more libraries, who all accepted it into their collections. It’s fun looking up online to see if my book is being read, and right now, it’s checked out of four of the libraries I’d donated it to earlier. Whoo hoo!

I had some time to really get into the final edits for Book 2. It’s still going to be a few months before it’s ready, but I’m excited about it!

I sold a couple more books at my book signing event at Bear Pond Books in Stowe, VT, yesterday. Quite a few people came through the book store / souvenir shop / café complex, but a lot of them were from a bus of 65+ age tourists there to see the foliage. I haven’t met many senior citizens who are into fantasy adventure, so I didn’t have a lot of sales, but the people were fun to talk to.

Looking forward to the local cable channel interview on Monday and a library book signing event on Tuesday!

What other celebrations are going on out there?

UPRISING (Children of the Gods #2) — Jessica Therrien’s new release now available!

UPRISING (Children of the Gods #2)

Jessica Therrien follows up her best selling novel OPPRESSION with UPRISING, the second book in the Children of the Gods series. OPPRESSION, translated and sold around the world, was one of the bestselling YA novels of 2012.

UPRISING continues the story of Elyse, William and the Descendants. Elyse has been in hiding for most of her life. Only now she’s hiding with William, and she knows who she’s hiding from. The Council wants a child Elyse and William have yet to conceive, a child who will be the next oracle, and who will provide the final piece to a plan Christoph has been organizing for years.

Charged with leading the rebellion against Christoph and his Council, Elyse feels well out of her depth. But she has good friends and strong allies who are willing to fight with her to the end, regardless of how far they have to go, and how many lives will be lost in the process.

They have one goal: to live freely and openly with the rest of humanity, out from under The Council’s oppressive rule. The stakes could not be higher for Elyse and the Descendants longing for freedom. They’ll have to learn to fight if they want to stand up against The Council, and to find allies in a world ruled by their enemies. The hardest part of waging a war is knowing who to trust. Elyse knows their uprising will change the world. She doesn’t realize it will change her, too.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | ibooks | Kobo | Goodreads

OPPRESSION (Children of the Gods #1)

Elyse knows what it means to keep a secret. She’s been keeping secrets her whole life. Two, actually. First, that she ages five times slower than average people, so that while she looks eighteen years old, she’s well over eighty. Second, that her blood has a mysterious power to heal.

For Elyse, these things don’t make her special. They make life dangerous. After the death of her parents, she’s been careful to keep her secret as closely guarded as possible. Now, only one other person in the world knows about her age and ability.

Or so she thinks.

Elyse is not the only one keeping secrets. There are others like her all over the world, descendants of the very people the Greeks considered gods. She is one of them, and they have been waiting for her for a long time. Some are waiting for her to put an end to centuries of traditions that have oppressed their people under the guise of safeguarding them. Others are determined to keep her from doing just that. But for Elyse, the game is just beginning-and she’s not entirely willing to play by their rules.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Goodreads

Coming Soon!

REDEMPTION (Children of the Gods #3)

The Series from Acorn Publishing:

OPPRESSION (Children of the Gods #1) – AVAILABLE NOW!

UPRISING (Children of the Gods #2) – Released October 2, 2015

REDEMPTION (Children of the Gods #3) – Coming November 2, 2015

September 25, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

This week has been just beautiful, sunny and cool, the way I like it. Fall is finally here, and I have lots of things to celebrate:

Fun at Vermont Comic Con this past weekend! You can read all about it HERE. (And see the photo of Groot!)
A great opportunity presented to me at the Milton Farmer’s Market yesterday evening! I sold 5 more books and was invited to do a guest interview on LCATV, the local cable access channel. Whoo hoo!
Making progress on my final edits!
The Burlington Book Festival coming up on Saturday! I’ll be helping out at the League of VT Writers table and maybe selling more books!
A day to sleep in! My kids didn’t have school on Wednesday, so we all slept late to make up for having to get up early both weekend days for Comic Con.

What other celebrations are going on out there?

September 23, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Tyrean Martinson’s Dynamic Writing 1 and VT Comic Con Wrap-up

New from Tyrean Martinson!

Dynamic Writing 1– 161 Lessons for Middle School Students by Tyrean Martinson – is a full year curriculum for home or classroom use, studying journal, essay, fiction, and poetry writing. Available in paperback at Amazon. The First Fifteen Lessons Are Available for FREE at the website.

Tyrean’s description of the book:

Dynamic Writing 1 is available in complete form in paperback through Amazon. Containing 161 Lessons for Middle Grade Students, this curriculum is meant for a complete year of home-school, home-school co-op, or classroom use. Eighteen of the lessons are “double” lessons and may be split over two days worth of time to extend the school year to 179 days with a planned celebration day at the end. Teaching notes, grade sheets, a resource list, and extra writing prompts are included in the text, as well as an answer key at the back of the book for the writing exercises. Within a year, students will study journal writing and essay writing, with short forays into fiction and poetry. Specific instruction in sentence variations, similes, and other writing concepts is spread over the course of the book and reviewed throughout the year so that students can wrestle with these concepts over the full course.

Be sure to check out Melissa Sugar-Gold’s stellar review!

Vermont Comic Con Wrap-up

What an interesting weekend it was at VT Comic Con! There were large crowds on both days, and the cosplay was amazing. So many people dressed up as comic book and video game characters. My favorite — and the crowd’s favorite (he won the people’s choice award) — was the 8-foot-tall Groot.

Photo Credit: Nancy Mock
of Hungry Enough to Eat Six!

I didn’t know if my book would sell at this kind of event where the focus was more on superheroes and such, but I wanted to try it as an experiment. As it was, I sold six books, and I saw that two e-books sold over the weekend. A lot of people picked up my book cards for, hopefully, future purchases. It was good practice in getting out there and talking to people. Even though I didn’t sell that many books, I think it was worthwhile.

Two questions to ponder before signing up for next year’s event:

Should I have sold my books at a discounted price?

I considered selling them for $10, rather than the cover price of $16.99, but decided to see how they sold at regular price. All the people who asked me how much it was were interested enough to buy it. Next time around, I might try the discounted price and see if it gets any impulse buys. Of course, it would help if I remembered to put out the sign that says I can accept credit card purchases. I put it out on Sunday, but forgot on Saturday. That might have made a difference.

Should I sell the sword charm necklaces I made separately?

I displayed the necklaces with a sign that said free with book purchase. Anyone who bought a book got a necklace to go with it for free. Several people asked about buying the necklaces. I chose not to sell them that way, because I don’t want to go into the jewelry business. I would have made more money if I’d sold them separately. I don’t really know what would be an appropriate price for them. I’d have to do some research. Something to think about, anyway.

The best part of the experience was when one of the people who bought my book said they had seen it on Amazon. Apparently my book had popped up as a suggestion for her to buy, being similar to the book she was buying on Amazon. I thought that was pretty neat!

I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts on both selling and buying at these kinds of events! For those selling — would you discount or sell at regular price? And would you have sold the necklaces separately? For those buying — would a $10 book cause you to make an impulse buy? Please let me know what you think!

September 18, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

We’ve had tons of sunshine this week, though it’s been a bit on the warm side. Things to celebrate:

Apple picking! We made our traditional trek to the orchard and loaded up with apples, cider, and donuts (of course).
Vermont Comic Con! My great friends reminded me that it was coming up this weekend (I had completely forgotten about it), and I was able to reserve the last available vendor table. Not only do we get to have fun, but maybe I can sell some books, too!
More book events! I scheduled two more book signing events, one at an indie bookstore and one at a library. Should be interesting.

What other celebrations are going on out there?

September 11, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

I never thought I’d say this, but this week I’m celebrating book promotion!

I signed up for the Burlington (VT) Book Festival at the end of this month. I’ll be manning the League of VT Writers table again and hopefully doing some selling.

I’ve also signed up to have my book displayed at the Independent Publishers of New England table at the Boston Book Festival in October. As a member of the IPNE, I get to have my book listed in their catalog as well as having it on their table for thousands of people to see. It’s a great opportunity to get the book out there, even if I’m not there in person.

In November, I’m scheduled to participate in my local artists’ guild’s craft show, and in two weeks I’ll be back at the local Farmer’s Market for their craft day. All the towns around me have Farmer’s Markets, so I’ve been checking out the possibilities there, too.

This morning I signed an agreement with the book distributor of my local Kinney Drugs to display my books in the Milton store. I had noticed in the past that they’ve had VT author books on their counter and asked if they would stock mine. They said yes!

And best of all — thanks to Cherie Reich’s September IWSG post, I learned about the Readers’ Favorite book review site. I submitted my book for review the next day and received my review yesterday. Now I get to display this on my site!

Link to Review

Whoo, hoo! I’m still happy dancing around the house!

What other celebrations are going on out there?

September 4, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

We’re settling back into the school routine, and I’m getting over the weirdness of having both kids in high school. This week I’m celebrating:

End of summer fun at the Champlain Valley Fair! We went on lots of fun rides and had our traditional ice cream cones and maple donuts. I took my son to the Double Figure 8 Race/Demolition Derby event, and he loved it. I have to say it was quite entertaining.
I donated copies of my book to 8 more libraries. On my way home, I stopped at a country store/deli for a sandwich, and after talking to the owner about my book in casual conversation, he bought three copies to sell in his store! Boy, was I surprised. You never know where opportunities will pop up.
Went to my local library and couldn’t resist checking the online catalog to see if my book was back. I discovered it had been checked out again. Yay!
Had my traditional IHOP back-to-school breakfast. Yum! 🙂

What other celebrations are going on out there?

September 2, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

IWSG — Book Two Blues

Today’s the day for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) where, on the first Wednesday of every month, writers get together to share their insecurities and offer encouragement. The IWSG was created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, and you can learn all about it and sign up for it here.

I’ve been trying to finish the final edits on Book 2: Trouble By Any Other Name, but the past month or two, I haven’t accomplished nearly as much as I wanted to. Summer was just too busy. Now that the kids are back in school, I’m hoping I can pick up the pace.

Sometimes I worry if I’ll lose the small audience I have if this second book is delayed beyond the six-month time frame in which I’d hoped to publish it. I’m hoping readers will still be interested when it finally does come out.

But then I worry, what if they read it and don’t like it? What if they think it’s not as good as the first one? I know it’s pointless to worry, but sometimes I can’t help it.

How many others out there worry about these things?

August 28, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

I went to Barnes & Noble today, the first chance I’ve had to go back since my book signing on July 24^th. I wanted to see if they’d put my book out on their shelves. When I had first approached them about stocking my book, they had said they made decisions about stocking books based on how book signings went. They ordered 30 books for my signing event, knowing they could return the leftovers to the distributor.

I don’t know what they consider a successful signing (I sold 8 books), so I’ve been watching the sales/returns at Ingram to see if they’d send the books back. As of this morning, they hadn’t.

So, what did I see on their shelves?

A dream achieved. Whoo, hoo! (Happy dancing!)

What other celebrations are going on out there?

July 28, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Barnes & Noble and Bookstock

What a crazy time these last several days have been, running around advertising, trying to get everything together for the big events, and trying not to get too stressed out over them.

Barnes & Noble was up first on Friday night from 6 to 7 pm.

I had a case of nerves ahead of time and stressed over last-minute things. Once the event started, though, I calmed down. About a dozen people came throughout the event, all friends and family (thank you!!!), which gave it a much more relaxed atmosphere and helped me not to be as nervous. I sold 8 books, and it was fun signing them. The store wasn’t busy, and I don’t think anyone came to the Marvel Fangirl event that was supposed to run after my event. It was a nice night weather-wise, so I imagine most people were out enjoying it. It may not have been a packed house, but it worked for me, getting my feet wet for the first time. It was a great experience.

When setting up the event, I had the choice of sitting near the front of the store at a table and just being available to sign books or using the event space on the second floor to have a book discussion, in addition to the book signing. The event space was an open space on one side of the selling floor with a podium and chairs set up for an audience. I decided to go with the latter and have the discussion. I’ve heard that straight book signings can be awkward, and I didn’t want anyone to feel pressured into buying my book. I also thought a discussion would be a better way to engage potential readers and get them interested in the book. I don’t know if it was the right choice or not, but it seemed like the right one at the time.

The Bookstock Literary Festival was another interesting experience, even though I didn’t sell any books. I manned the League of VT Writers table to promote books by League members, including my own. Part of the reason for no sales, I think, was the location of the table. The festival organizers had canopy tents set up along a walking path on the green. The tables that fronted the walkway got a lot of business, but those around the sides didn’t get as much traffic. The LVW table was on the side and also toward the back, close to the used book sale tent. By the time the people got to our end of the green, they saw the big “Book Sale” sign and made a beeline for that tent. In their defense, I probably would have done the same thing, though I would have gone back and checked out the places I’d missed afterward. Oh, well. I’ll have some good feedback to give them about the experience, anyway.

On to the next event!

July 22, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

League of VT Writers Meeting Recap and Barnes & Noble Prep

I really enjoyed the League of VT Writers “Into the Words” Retreat and Member Showcase I attended last Saturday. The Northeast Kingdom of Vermont was just lovely, and the rain held off until right after the close of the meeting.

VT poet Jerry Johnson’s restored schoolhouse home in Albany, VT
Photo Credit: Jerry Johnson

By the time I arrived and got my table set up with my book display, the meeting was already in full swing. Unfortunately, I missed the first round of seminars/workshops, but I still had three more sessions with four or five workshops each from which to choose. I brought my teen son with me, and he did a great job manning the table, so I could lose myself in a wonderful literary summer camp.

In “Blogging Boot Camp,” VT author J.P. (Joy) Choquette went over the basics of blogging, the various platforms, and how important social media is to a good marketing strategy. I learned there is a tool called a Website grader that will analyze your site and tell you what’s up to snuff and what needs work. Here are a couple of links that list several graders: https://blog.bufferapp.com/website-graders-content-scores and http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29274/HubSpot-Launches-Free-Marketing-Grader-Tool-to-Replace-Website-Grader.aspx. I haven’t tried any of them yet, but I plan to at some point.

“Performance Techniques for Writers” with retired theater arts and public speaking teacher J.S. Grant was chock full of tips and tricks on how to prepare yourself for a public reading of your work. J.S. showed us muscle relaxation techniques, such as shoulder rolls and gentle neck stretches, and deep breathing techniques to help with nervousness and projecting your voice. Saying “me mo me mo…” and “fa-da-da-da” repeatedly is an old actors’ trick that helps loosen your lips and tongue.

J.S. was engaging and funny as she led us through these preparations and then had us practicing our articulation with tongue-twisters. I discovered that I am incapable of saying, “The sea ceaseth us and sufficeth us.” And spitting is good. It means you’re enunciating your “t’s” and “p’s” properly. One other great tip — if you are doing your reading in front of a microphone, always inhale through your mouth. If you inhale through your nose, everyone in the audience will hear it.

In the last workshop I attended, author M. Larose read from her YA fantasy novel, The Flower Eater. Keeping in mind what I had just learned, I thought she did a great job. Later, she and I swapped books with promises to read and review. I sold four books, in addition to the swap, and I also picked up a copy of Stella Rose, by Tammy Flanders Hetrick. She was the author I had observed at her Barnes & Noble book signing in May and later blogged about it HERE. It was fun meeting her (she had found my blog and commented on it), and we shared a laugh over it.

And speaking of Barnes & Noble, I’ve been contacting area newspapers and other media outlets and submitting press release info for my book signing event Friday evening. I wrote the release info with the who/what/where/etc. in three formats: bullet form, paragraph form, and as an ad, to fit each media’s requirements. I put up fliers around town. Don’t be afraid to ask about putting up fliers. You never know who will say yes. Besides the library, the local Hannaford grocery store put one up on their bulletin board right where everyone leaving the store can see it. Even the dentist I’ve been going to for years said they’d put one up for me.

I’ve also been getting my swag together. I have book cards, personalized pens (with book title and author name) from PenFactory.com, and I’m in the process of making cord necklaces with gold and silver sword charms, which I love. What’s really neat is that the swords fit into the hands of my Lego book characters. (I made Lego people that look like my three main characters.) Now if I could just figure out what I’m going to wear, I’ll be all set. 🙂