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. 🙂

July 17, 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.

It’s been another busy week in the book marketing and selling departments, and it’s going to be a busy weekend, too. Things I’m celebrating:

I did a fun interview on Celine Jeanjean’s blog, Down the Rabbit Hole.
I sold five books in 2 ½ hours at the local Farmer’s Market Craft Day! Whoo hoo! Three people paid cash, and two paid with credit/debit cards. The Square worked perfectly and was quick and easy to use. Thank you to everyone who suggested I get one!!
I sent press release/calendar event info to the surrounding newspapers and put flyers up around town for the Barnes & Noble book signing coming up. I don’t know how many of the papers will actually include the info, but it was a good exercise in publicity.
In a fit of madness, I called the local WCAX TV news station and got myself on their Books Over Breakfast program, which is a brief segment where the news person talks to authors about their books. It’s scheduled to air on August 5^th at 6:55 AM. Eeep.
On Saturday, I’ll be going to the League of VT Writers Summer Retreat and Member Showcase in Albany, VT, to attend some interesting workshops and hopefully sell more books.
On Sunday, I’m taking my son, the NASCAR nut, to the Sprint Cup race in Loudon, NH, as an early birthday present. My daughter gets to spend the weekend with grandparents, and she’s excited about that.

I also enjoyed some lovely weather this week.

What other celebrations are going on out there?

July 16, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Guest Interview on Celine Jeanjean’s Blog

Today I’m being interviewed by the fabulous Celine Jeanjean on her blog, Down the Rabbit Hole. The interview is part of her “What interesting things did you find while researching your book?” series. Hop on over to read about spooky swamps and having fun with swords. 🙂

Here’s the link:

https://celinejeanjean.wordpress.com/2015/07/15/an-interview-with-lori-maclaughlin/

Hope to see you there!

July 10, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

I’m celebrating big news this week. I scheduled a book-signing event at Barnes & Noble! It’s coming up on July 24^th. Whoo hoo! I’m excited and nervous and wondering what on earth I’m going to wear. B & N is ordering my books to have on hand, and the event is listed on the store’s website: http://stores.barnesandnoble.com/store/2776?page=1&size=10&month=Month&day=Day&type=all

How cool is that!!

I’ve also signed up for three more book events coming up: a local Farmer’s Market Craft Day on July 16^th, the League of VT Writers Summer Retreat and Member Showcase in Albany, VT, on July 18^th, and the Bookstock Literary Festival in Woodstock, VT, on July 25^th. It’s going to be a crazy month.

More celebrations for the week — spending a Sunday afternoon swimming and visiting with good friends, cooling off at Sandbar beach on Monday, and celebrating IHOP’s birthday on Tuesday with 57-cent pancake stacks!

All in all, a pretty good week.

What other celebrations are going on out there?

July 3, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

Some great things to celebrate this week, not the least of which is sunshine!! June was such a rainy month here that it hasn’t felt at all like summer.

My first book event last Sunday, The Craft of Small Publishing in Vermont at the River Arts Center, went well. It was a small venue, which was great for me for a first event. I wasn’t half as nervous as I thought I’d be, and I sold a book! Yay! I know one book doesn’t sound like much, but for me it was a success. I like to set small goals, so I’m less likely to be disappointed.

I visited Bear Pond Books in Stowe, VT, yesterday and dropped off two copies of my book for their shelves. Hooray for independent book stores!

We stopped at the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory on the way home from Stowe and got ice cream cones to celebrate. I can personally attest to the fact that B & J’s salted caramel blondie ice cream is delicious!

Looking forward to the Fourth of July parade tomorrow and good times with friends at the fireworks. Happy Birthday, America!!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

What other celebrations are going on out there?

July 1, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

IWSG — Library Records for Self-pubbed Books?

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 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 24, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

The Square and Upcoming Book Event!

Based on the overwhelming advice I received on a previous post (thank you!!), I ordered a Square credit card reader from their site: www.squareup.com. After several days, the Square arrived in the mail! I attached it to my Android smart phone through the headphone jack, downloaded the Register app, and set up the register with my items and tax percentage. It was really easy to set up and has the simplicity of e-mailing receipts to customers. I did a $1.00 test run charge on my credit card, and it worked perfectly. Very quick and easy.

I hope to get a chance to use it this weekend. On Sunday, I’ll be participating in The Craft of Small Publishing in Vermont event at the River Arts Center in Morrisville, VT. It’s a celebration of small publishers, self-publishers, and book artists and illustrators from around the state with presentations and activities for all ages. I’ll get to mingle with the writing community and maybe sell a book or two. Even if I don’t sell anything, it will be a great learning experience. I like that it’s a smaller venue, since I already know I’m going to be nervous. We’ll see how it goes. Thinking positive thoughts! 🙂

June 5, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

I can’t believe another week has flown by. Today, I’m celebrating:

Final editing and proofreading work on Book 2 has begun! Yay!
I attended a seminar on cyber security for small businesses. That was an eye opener.
One of the libraries we go to will be giving away free books this weekend! We are so there.
National Donut Day! This year I celebrated with a maple crème filled sugar donut. Absolutely delicious! (The Boston Crème wasn’t bad, either.) 🙂

What other celebrations are going on out there?

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!!

April 17, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things! and A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 15: Olaf from Disney’s Frozen

Today, I’m celebrating independent bookstores! Here’s my book, Lady, Thy Name Is Trouble, on an actual brick-and-mortar store bookshelf! Phoenix Books (in Vermont) is carrying it at both their locations, the Burlington store on Cherry Street and the Essex store in the Essex Cinemas shopping plaza. Yay! (Happy dancing!)

Phoenix Book Store

And now for today’s A to Z —

O is for — Olaf from Disney’s Frozen

“Hi, everyone. I’m Olaf and I like warm hugs!” Olaf, the animated snowman, stole the show in Disney’s hit movie, Frozen. Talk about comedy relief. Just about everything he said and did had me in stitches.

From the beginning when he meets Anna and Kristoff on their way to find Elsa, to his receiving his own personal snow flurry at the end of the movie to keep him from melting, Olaf infuses the story with warmth and humor and a childlike innocence that makes me smile even now as I’m thinking about it.

So many hilarious moments — that first meeting with Anna and Kristoff; Olaf’s middle and bottom parts running away from the snow monster and leaving his head behind; when Olaf tells Anna to run from the “rocks” Kristoff is talking to; and when he slides down the hill toward the town after being told by Kristoff to keep a low profile and you hear a scream from someone as Olaf says hello to them.

Olaf is one of the funniest and most endearing characters I’ve ever met. My favorite Olaf moment is when he tells Anna that “some people are worth melting for.” Wise words from a true friend.