I've been doing quite a bit more writing-focussed work lately, and I've learned a few lessons along the way. I thought I'd document them here.
ARRA Romantic Rendezvous
I went to my first Book Signing with ARRA in Sydney. It was fabulous. I met lots of new-to-me authors, chatted to readers, and learned so many things for the next book signing.
I've done a little bit of self-publishing. I popped up a small book of short stories, A Pocket of Pebbles. It had been online for a while with a dodgy-brothers cover that I did myself. I know I'm not good at cover design, but my day job is working with the programs that make covers, so I just did one being a cheapskate.
When I published Untamed Destinies with Kim and Beth, I met Patti Roberts who does book cover design and formatting. She is amazing. Out of the blue one day, she sent me a cover for Pebbles, with a lovely note that said she thought it might need a spruce up. See how lovely she is, she didn't say my cover was crap!! So I updated the cover and it got some sales. What a shock :)
And then I thought I should turn it into a print book and put my money behind my work, and try to sell it face-to-face. And, with thanks to IngramSpark, I now have some copies coming to me to onsell. The whole setting up for print was a new experience (even if it is my day job!). But I'm glad I did it. Now I have to put what I learned at ARRA into action and not be shocked if someone wants to buy it!
Guest Blog Post
And I'm being brave and linking my two writing selves together a little more. So this post on Kim Petersen's blog, is my becoming whole (outing my wild writing self). If you're interested in reading about the wild me, you can go here.
Author Talk
Kim, Beth and I were honoured to be guests at the Shellharbour City Library as speakers during lunch at the beaming in of the Sydney Writers Festival. Kim and I were in-person, and the library beamed Beth in so she was with us too. I felt like I was on the Jetsons :) We had a lovely audience who asked some fabulous questions. I was thrilled to learn that one lady had heard me speak on Radio National, and was happy to meet me in person. How exciting and unexpected!
Workshop
The wonderful Shellharbour Library is hosting Kim and I for a workshop on June 1.We're going to talk about Self-Publishing and Collaboration. So we've been busy pulling together information for this session. If you're around, we'd love to see you there. And I'll have books to sell and I promise I won't be shocked if you want to buy one (I hope!).
ARRA Romantic Rendezvous
I went to my first Book Signing with ARRA in Sydney. It was fabulous. I met lots of new-to-me authors, chatted to readers, and learned so many things for the next book signing.
- When someone is going to buy your book, don't be shocked! And for goodness sake, don't say, "Are you sure?"
- People come to book signings to buy books and meet authors. So have some of your books, sell them, be proud of them, talk about them to readers. They're there to find new authors too.
- Try to make the table look nice. Doing a dodgy brothers set up is awful. You have to make it attractive.
- Have something to give to people, it draws them in. This can be swag, chocolates, a bookmark, or someone else's free book (thanks Ainslie Paton!)
- READ the instructions for the day! I missed reading some important info about having stickers on my books (and Ainslie's). Lucky the wonderful Debbie from ARRA was prepared for vague, newbie authors.
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| My cover |
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| Patti's cover |
And then I thought I should turn it into a print book and put my money behind my work, and try to sell it face-to-face. And, with thanks to IngramSpark, I now have some copies coming to me to onsell. The whole setting up for print was a new experience (even if it is my day job!). But I'm glad I did it. Now I have to put what I learned at ARRA into action and not be shocked if someone wants to buy it!
Guest Blog Post
And I'm being brave and linking my two writing selves together a little more. So this post on Kim Petersen's blog, is my becoming whole (outing my wild writing self). If you're interested in reading about the wild me, you can go here.
Author Talk
Kim, Beth and I were honoured to be guests at the Shellharbour City Library as speakers during lunch at the beaming in of the Sydney Writers Festival. Kim and I were in-person, and the library beamed Beth in so she was with us too. I felt like I was on the Jetsons :) We had a lovely audience who asked some fabulous questions. I was thrilled to learn that one lady had heard me speak on Radio National, and was happy to meet me in person. How exciting and unexpected!Workshop
The wonderful Shellharbour Library is hosting Kim and I for a workshop on June 1.We're going to talk about Self-Publishing and Collaboration. So we've been busy pulling together information for this session. If you're around, we'd love to see you there. And I'll have books to sell and I promise I won't be shocked if you want to buy one (I hope!).
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