November 4, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

IWSG — Back Cover Blurb 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 working on the back cover blurb for Book 2: Trouble By Any Other Name. The problem is that there are so many important elements to the story — how do you include them all and still keep it short, yet interesting enough to entice readers to take a chance on the book? Obviously, some of the elements have to be left out, because there’s just not room enough on the back of the book. Therein, lies my frustration.

I craft a blurb and think, wow, this is great. Then something else occurs to me that really should be included. Back to the drawing board. Okay, now I’ve got it… but, wait, I need to include this other detail. Back to the drawing board. Okay, this one is really good… oh, wait… You get the idea.

Trying to condense a complex 600-page book into a couple of paragraphs is an exercise in hair pulling and teeth gnashing. But if it’s not right, no one will buy the book, even though it might be something they’d like.

I know every writer goes through this, but man, it can sure drive you nuts. Oh, well. Back to the drawing board…

October 7, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

IWSG — How Do You Get a Bestselling Author to Review Your Self-Published Book?

Recently, I was looking through the listings of newly published fantasy books. One in particular caught my eye. It was written by a new author, and what got my attention was the review quote posted along with the blurb — or rather, not so much the quote itself, but the fact that it was from a NYT bestselling author. I didn’t look to see if both were published by the same house, but I did wonder who secured the bestselling author’s review. The new author’s agent? Editor? Publisher?

Then I wondered how a self-published author would go about getting a prominent author to review his/her book? Do you go to their website or wherever, find contact info, and just ask?

Has anyone who has self-published done this? If you did, what kind of response did you get? Were you taken seriously, or were you shot down because of the stigma associated with self-publishing? I’d love to hear about anyone’s experiences with this!

September 11, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

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.

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 2, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

IWSG — Book Two Blues

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 5, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

IWSG — Books Over Breakfast!

My insecurities were in full force this morning as I was driving to the local WCAX TV station to do the Books Over Breakfast interview. I didn’t know what questions the news host would ask, so I’d spent some time the night before coming up with answers to possible questions and kept running them through my head. Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep.

I’d been told to arrive at the station by 6:30 for make-up and to talk a little bit about the interview, which was scheduled for 6:55. I arrived at 6:25 and went in to find the station deserted. It looked like no one was there. Then Gary Sadowsky, the weatherman, came out from the studio where they were filming the early morning newscast. I told him why I was there, and he said to just wait where we were (my kids were with me), and someone would come get me. We sat in the waiting area, and he went back into the studio.

I got more nervous as the minutes ticked by and no one came out. I wondered if they had forgotten about the interview. (It had originally been scheduled for next Wednesday, then changed to today.) We could see on the TV screen the newscast being filmed live. Around 6:40, a cameraman came out and brought me into the studio. He gave me a microphone to attach to my shirt and said the newscaster who would be doing the interview would be over to talk during a break in the broadcast. I asked about the make-up session. He said he didn’t know anything about that and didn’t think there was anyone there in that department.

At 6:45 or so, Eva and Ali, the newscasters introduced themselves, and Eva took about 30 seconds to run her intro and a couple of questions she’d planned to ask by me. Then they had to hurry back in front of the camera for their news wrap-up. A few minutes later, Eva led me to a nearby set with two comfortable chairs facing each other, we sat down, and were on the air live at 6:55. She did her intro and asked her questions, most of which I was prepared for.

In three minutes, we were done. She thanked me again for coming and went on to her next gig. I took off the microphone and gave it back to the cameraman. We exited through the empty lobby and drove away.

The whole thing was such a whirlwind experience. As I was driving home, I tried to replay it in my mind, but found I couldn’t remember what I’d said. The kids had watched from backstage, so I asked them how they thought it went, i.e. did I look okay, did I sound intelligent, etc. They assured me everything looked and sounded fine to them. They were happy it went well and thought it was cool to be in a TV studio.

I couldn’t wait to get home and watch the broadcast for myself. I was glad to see I didn’t look as nervous as I felt, and I was happy not to have stumbled over my words, though I did say “um” a few times. Next time won’t be nearly as hard.

But just the same — whew, I’m glad it’s over with!

Here’s a link to the interview:

WCAX Books Over Breakfast!

July 1, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

IWSG — Library Records for Self-pubbed Books?

I donated a copy of my self-published book, Lady, Thy Name Is Trouble, to my local library. They said they’d be happy to include it in their inventory, but they need it to have a library cataloguing record out there somewhere, such as in the Library of Congress or on WorldCat.org, for them to download into their system.

I’ve spoken with people at the Library of Congress (LOC), and unless you apply for Cataloguing in Publication or a Preassigned Control Number from the LOC before the book is published, the only way to get LOC cataloguing information for your book is to send them print copies through the copyright registration process and be fortunate enough to have the LOC select the book for inclusion in the Library. No acceptance, no cataloguing info.

I’ve done some research online and found a few companies who will create library Publisher’s Cataloguing-in-Publication (PCIP) / Machine Readable Cataloguing (MARC) records for a price.

For anyone who has self-published a book — how did you obtain library cataloguing info for your book? Did you go through the LOC ahead of time or use some other method? I’d love to hear about it!

June 3, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

IWSG — Cash or Charge?

I’m in the process of signing up for some events where I can showcase and hopefully sell my book. My question for this month is: what forms of payment should I accept? Is it better to do cash only? Or should I invest in a machine to handle credit/debit card transactions?

The cost of my book, including tax, is $18. I’m concerned that people may not carry a lot of cash and would prefer to use a credit or debit card. I don’t want to take checks, because I don’t have the time or the desire to deal with the rubber ones, which are always a possibility.

With accepting credit/debit cards, though, I worry about data security. So many large companies with top-notch security systems have had breaches that it makes me wonder how I would prevent it. Of course, at this point, I’d be such a tiny fish in a small pond that maybe I wouldn’t have to worry about it.

I’d love to hear from other authors who have sold their books in person. What forms of payment do you accept? If you have a credit card machine, what kind is it and how has it worked for you? Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you!!

May 6, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

IWSG — Book Signings, Promotion, and Marketing, Oh My!

Now that my book is finally published and I’ve done some online promotion with a blog tour, I need to think about doing promotion in person. Both the local independent book store, which is carrying my book, and the local library, which has also agreed to stock my book, host meet the author/book signing events if I want to schedule them. I know I should do this, but the idea scares me half to death.

How do other introvert writers handle this sort of thing?

April 1, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

IWSG and A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 1: Anne of Green Gables

I took a couple of my print books to the local independent book store and talked to the manager about stocking them. I was nervous, but he was friendly and encouraging and said the store was happy to support local authors. He took the books on consignment and said he’d let me know if and when they needed more. Deep breath.

I’d love to hear about other self-published authors’ experiences with indie book stores and what worked for them.

Now on to the A to Z Challenge!

A is for — Anne from Anne of Green Gables

Anne Shirley, the lively, imaginative orphan girl of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 classic, Anne of Green Gables, enchanted me when I first read her story many years ago. I was a schoolgirl myself at the time and loved reading of her adventures. Who can forget Anne’s cracking her slate over Gilbert Blythe’s head when he called her red braids “carrots,” or her walk along the ridge-pole of a neighbor’s roof on a dare, or her accidentally dying her hair green?

Her wild imagination and indomitable spirit endeared her to me. Of course, the fact that she was a budding writer made me love her even more. Montgomery wrote several sequels, which I also enjoyed, and Anne’s story has been portrayed in numerous TV series and in film. My favorite of those I’ve seen is the 1985 CBC TV mini-series with Megan Follows as Anne — a must watch for Anne fans.

Photo Credit: http://anne.sullivanmovies.com/films/anne-of-green-gables/

March 4, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

IWSG — I Did It!

After so many years of working on my book, it’s finally published! There’ve been snags and setbacks along the way, including a major formatting snafu with the e-book on release day, but I’m not focusing on that today. Nor am I thinking about all the insecurities that have increased a hundredfold now that my book is actually out there for all to see.

Right now, I just want to say Whoo, hoo! and Yes!! and dance around the house with glee.

On Friday, the print proof should arrive in my mailbox. I’ll get to hold the actual book in my hand, and it will finally start to sink in. I am a published author!!! Whoo, hoo! (More dancing around the house…)

And all aspiring authors take note — if I can do it, so can you. Just take that dream and make it happen. 🙂