I just got back Sunday night from the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference in Washington, D.C. I'm still recovering from the sleep deprivation and the rush of information, but my first report is that it was a healing and transformational experience. I've been on the verge of a big life change, and the conference overwhelmingly confirmed my direction. Over and over again, my instincts were confirmed. My own panel went well, although we had only seven people in the audience (it was at 9 a.m. the morning after the big readings and parties). That could have been disheartening, but it was actually great, because it took the pressure off and gave me a chance to practice my controversial presentation. A couple of people even told me that I should publish the paper!
The biggest confirmation I had, though, was in the direction of my writing and in my imminent plans to query. I had a strange moment, sitting at a publishing panel and listening to the authors talk about how they'd found their agents. I realized that I know exactly who I want to be my agent, if he offers representation. While I have a list of other agents to query, I just have a feeling about this one, a hunch. So much so that I almost got out of line to meet with some of the other agents. It's strange, and I know I shouldn't put my eggs in one basket, but sometimes there is inner clarity. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, and want to have my query and back up list all ready to go if agent #1 says no. And I did force myself to stay in that line and at least get some cards from people, but it was a madhouse and all the agents were swamped. I was lucky even to get the cards.
I also came back with a revived and pressing determination to finish the book already and get it ready to send. During the semester, progress is always slow, because I've made a pact with myself not to shaft my students. But I keep closing in, and I really don't know how close I am. I've now given myself a deadline--by July 31, the manuscript must be ready to send, no matter what. Hold me to that, everyone.
I somehow also managed to lose three more pounds, despite two panini's, a late night bruschetta, and seven instances of wine. And in addition to the aforementioned agent panel, I went to several other panels that were chock full of good information. Some of it I'd heard before, but much of it I hadn't, and I'll be sharing it with you in my coming posts. Thanks to those of you who encouraged me to speak my mind at the presentation, and in general to this community for your continuing support and cheerleading. It means a lot.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Buy This Book: UNDERWATER by Elizabeth Diamond
What happens when you lose someone precious in your childhood? And you don’t know what happened to them? Someone like a sibling, say, who was your center, the calm eye of the storm of hard feelings, fear and misery that was your family? And there’s no closure, only half-truths and secrets, the tricks of your memory. You live with this absence. Live over it. Do the best you can. In UNDERWATER, Elizabeth Diamond's second novel, Jane does this. She lives over the loss of her brother. Makes a life, marries, has a child. And with all of this she has in effect “fixed” the past. But the sore mystery of her brother’s whereabouts never leaves her; the wound his absence has left in her heart never heals. Still, Jane might have managed keeping all of what happened inside and all of herself together, if not for the accident that befalls her own child, the accident that renders her son, whom she adores, less than perfect. Now, like falling dominoes, her life comes apart.
The darker themes of this story are sometimes overwhelming, but as a character, Jane is exceptionally well drawn and the emotional tenor of the drama, while it is a lot of drama, rings true. As in Elizabeth Diamond’s first novel, An Accidental Light, what compels the reader is the beauty of the writing, the ever-so-delicate unfoldment of Jane’s private heart and her private pain through her relationships with her husband and son and with her mother who didn’t ever favor Jane, but doted on the brother.
UNDERWATER is an unflinching examination of the nature of our disappointment in ourselves in circumstances where we wish, even pray, to be better human beings and yet continue to fail. It is inevitable that Jane will finally be forced to search for her lost brother. It is only in finding him that she will have the answer and possible healing and closure. Does he remember the way she does? The terrible truth that has sat burning like a hot coal at the center of her being her entire life? She knows what it has cost her--nearly everything. But what has it cost him?
The darker themes of this story are sometimes overwhelming, but as a character, Jane is exceptionally well drawn and the emotional tenor of the drama, while it is a lot of drama, rings true. As in Elizabeth Diamond’s first novel, An Accidental Light, what compels the reader is the beauty of the writing, the ever-so-delicate unfoldment of Jane’s private heart and her private pain through her relationships with her husband and son and with her mother who didn’t ever favor Jane, but doted on the brother.
UNDERWATER is an unflinching examination of the nature of our disappointment in ourselves in circumstances where we wish, even pray, to be better human beings and yet continue to fail. It is inevitable that Jane will finally be forced to search for her lost brother. It is only in finding him that she will have the answer and possible healing and closure. Does he remember the way she does? The terrible truth that has sat burning like a hot coal at the center of her being her entire life? She knows what it has cost her--nearly everything. But what has it cost him?
How to Locate Indie Stores
It's one stop shopping for independent bookstores at Indie Bound. Good luck!
Ask the Publicist: ARCS and Giveaways
Where to send ARCs? After the usual suspects like PW, each book should have it's own very specialized list. It's easy to fall back on the top 50 newspapers or "best mystery bloggers" but I'd suggest -- if you have control over your own stock of ARCs -- that you spent time really researching the best places (and people) to receive your precious copies. Make the list varied and imaginative. Think outside the box.
I love book giveaways. Love them. If at all possible, when my clients do radio or TV interviews, I ask the show if they would like a few books to giveaway. This means that the book will be mentioned again ("the next caller ....") and often posted on the show's web site. Cheap no frills PR. And I encourage clients to do limited giveaways on their blogs of autographed copies. I don't know that you can monetize giveaways but at the very least they build good will and help get the word out.
I love book giveaways. Love them. If at all possible, when my clients do radio or TV interviews, I ask the show if they would like a few books to giveaway. This means that the book will be mentioned again ("the next caller ....") and often posted on the show's web site. Cheap no frills PR. And I encourage clients to do limited giveaways on their blogs of autographed copies. I don't know that you can monetize giveaways but at the very least they build good will and help get the word out.
Buy This Book: "The Weird Sisters" by Eleanor Brown (No problem a library card can’t solve!)
There are certain imprints I keep my eye on because I know I'm probably going to love any books that wear them. Even though I'm sent half a dozen free books every week - an embarrassment of riches - I still go out and buy from these publishers: Shaye Areheart (sadly no more) at Crown, Unbridled (I'm a subscriber, so their tasty delights are delivered to my doorstep), and most recently Amy Einhorn Books at Putnam. Their first title was The Help
by Kathryn Stockett, followed by Sarah Blake's The Postmistress
, which is fresh out in paperback this week and well worth a trip to B&N. I just sampled Eleanor Brown's debut novel, The Weird Sisters
on Kindle, promptly hit the buy link and can't wait to devour the rest. The style is smart, accessible and engaging, and I have high hopes for the story. I mean...it's an Einhorn, after all.From the website:
The Andreas sisters were raised on books – their family motto might as well be, ‘There’s no problem a library card can’t solve.’ Their father, a renowned, eccentric professor of Shakespearean studies, named them after three of the Bard’s most famous characters: Rose (Rosalind – As You Like It), Bean (Bianca – The Taming of the Shrew), and Cordy (Cordelia – King Lear), but they have inherited those characters’ failures along with their strengths. Now the sisters have returned home to the small college town where they grew up – partly because their mother is ill, but mostly because their lives are falling apart and they don’t know where to go next.If I love it, I'll buy a copy and ask Bobbi to do a proper review here on the Octo. Meanwhile, you can read an excerpt here and visit the Putnam site for more about Amy Einhorn Books.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Ask the Publicist: Indies
How do you make an impact on Indies? Four simple words ..... gas up the car. Indies are all about relationships -- with their customers and with authors. If you take the time to come by and introduce yourself and your book, it's a HUGE deal.
This summer, one of my clients, Sam McLeod, spent several weeks driving around the south promoting his book, Big Appetite: My Southern-Fried Search for the Meaning of Life. He either did a signing or a drop-by at just about every Indie from Memphis to Chapel Hill. And the Indies of SEBA said thank-you by selecting the book as a Summer Okra Pick.
I wish I could say that mailings would do the trick, but it's the very rare book that takes off because of a mailing. And I know the thought of hitting the road is daunting. So start close to home. Make a list of bookstores in your area (both Indie and chain). Call the store, tell them you're a local author (or an author passing through town) and ask if you could come by and sign stock. If they don't carry your book, politely ask if it would be possible to drop off a copy for them to read. This is hard humbling work, but look at it as an investment for the future. Good luck!
This summer, one of my clients, Sam McLeod, spent several weeks driving around the south promoting his book, Big Appetite: My Southern-Fried Search for the Meaning of Life. He either did a signing or a drop-by at just about every Indie from Memphis to Chapel Hill. And the Indies of SEBA said thank-you by selecting the book as a Summer Okra Pick.
I wish I could say that mailings would do the trick, but it's the very rare book that takes off because of a mailing. And I know the thought of hitting the road is daunting. So start close to home. Make a list of bookstores in your area (both Indie and chain). Call the store, tell them you're a local author (or an author passing through town) and ask if you could come by and sign stock. If they don't carry your book, politely ask if it would be possible to drop off a copy for them to read. This is hard humbling work, but look at it as an investment for the future. Good luck!
Author Web Site Tips
Web sites are an author's public face. When media gets a pitch for you and your book, they'll visit your web site. If it's dull, boring or dated, don't count on getting an interview.
Here are three of my clients whose web sites -- while very different -- have all been successful. Sam McLeod, Masha Hamilton, Alexander Rose.
1. Hire a designer. Just because you got an A in 8th grade art does not mean you can design a web site. One great place to get ideas to pass along to your designer is the Romance Writers of America site. They link to literally hundreds of author sites -- a treasure trove of both design inspiration and what-not-to-dos.
2. Make it lively. That means updating text and pictures.
3. Include video and audio. Media as well as folks looking for speakers want to see and hear you.
4. Offer something ..... a chapter from your upcoming book, a newsletter, giveaways.
5. Too much information can be a bad thing. When I check out an author's site before doing an interview, it makes me crazy nuts to be drowned in pages of "stuff." Information offered in tiny type also puts me in a foul mood. So edit, edit, edit.
Here are three of my clients whose web sites -- while very different -- have all been successful. Sam McLeod, Masha Hamilton, Alexander Rose.
1. Hire a designer. Just because you got an A in 8th grade art does not mean you can design a web site. One great place to get ideas to pass along to your designer is the Romance Writers of America site. They link to literally hundreds of author sites -- a treasure trove of both design inspiration and what-not-to-dos.
2. Make it lively. That means updating text and pictures.
3. Include video and audio. Media as well as folks looking for speakers want to see and hear you.
4. Offer something ..... a chapter from your upcoming book, a newsletter, giveaways.
5. Too much information can be a bad thing. When I check out an author's site before doing an interview, it makes me crazy nuts to be drowned in pages of "stuff." Information offered in tiny type also puts me in a foul mood. So edit, edit, edit.
Buy This Book: "Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert ("Nothing but faith, faith and freedom.")
On this day in 1857, Gustave Flaubert was acquitted in the Paris obscenity trial that probably did more to promote his career than twitter could have. After the story was serialized in La Revue de Paris, powers that be threw the book at Flaubert, saying that Madame B "challenged public mores, blasphemed against the Church by trying to justify the mortal sin of adultery, and included provocative images intermingled with religious affairs, therefore promoting the concept of a fictional utopia devoid of decency and moral values." (Go, Madame B!) Flaubert was acquitted, Madame Bovary was published in book form, and the rest is literary history.
This Norton edition includes sixteen essays on the novel's central themes by thoughty thinkers including Baudelaire, Henry James, and Roland Barthes.
And here's the perfect Flaubertism to start your writing week: "Art requires neither complaisance nor politeness; nothing but faith, faith and freedom."
Ask the Publicist
Book publicity these days seems to be all about questions. Even clients who have logged thousands of media miles are calling to ask: do I need video on my web site, what do you think about using Skype to connect to book clubs, should we concentrate our efforts for the next book on social media? Does anyone really know what makes a book sell in the era of Facebook and Twitter ….. if you do, please call me.
I like to think my clients are lucky to have someone to ask -- even if my answer has to be, “I have absolutely no idea. But I’ll try and find out.” These days, most authors are left to navigate the publicity waters on their own and that often means setting off without a map or any real idea where they should be going. And that makes me angry. Too many wonderful books are doomed to failure simply because authors don’t have the money to hire a publicist.
So for the month of February, I’ll be open for questions. The only exception being, “how do I get on Oprah?” If I could have guaranteed that to my clients, I would now be retired on a beach in Maui. Other than that, ask away!
I like to think my clients are lucky to have someone to ask -- even if my answer has to be, “I have absolutely no idea. But I’ll try and find out.” These days, most authors are left to navigate the publicity waters on their own and that often means setting off without a map or any real idea where they should be going. And that makes me angry. Too many wonderful books are doomed to failure simply because authors don’t have the money to hire a publicist.
So for the month of February, I’ll be open for questions. The only exception being, “how do I get on Oprah?” If I could have guaranteed that to my clients, I would now be retired on a beach in Maui. Other than that, ask away!
Contest Winners for The Lincoln Lawyer
Last week, I promised to draw the names of five lucky commenters, each of whom will receive one free copy of the new paperback edition of The Lincoln Lawyer, along with a snazzy poster for the movie version, coming in March and starring Matthew McConaughey.
Winners, I will need you to contact me at boxocto@gmail.com by no later than Wednesday with your full name and mailing address to claim your prizes.
Without further adieu, here's the list:
Rita
Jeanna Thornton
Elen Grey
Lark Howard
Terry Blain
Don't forget to contact me with your information as soon as possible! Thanks for playing, everyone!
Winners, I will need you to contact me at boxocto@gmail.com by no later than Wednesday with your full name and mailing address to claim your prizes.
Without further adieu, here's the list:
Rita
Jeanna Thornton
Elen Grey
Lark Howard
Terry Blain
Don't forget to contact me with your information as soon as possible! Thanks for playing, everyone!
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Friday, February 04, 2011
, just because I felt like it.
Buy This Book: Tea Obreht's "The Tiger's Wife" is #1 Indie Next pick for March
From the starred review in PW:
"The sometimes crushing power of myth, story, and memory is explored in the brilliant debut of Obreht, the youngest of the New Yorker's 20-under-40. Natalia Stefanovi, a doctor living (and, in between suspensions, practicing) in an unnamed country that's a ringer for Obreht's native Croatia, crosses the border in search of answers about the death of her beloved grandfather, who raised her on tales from the village he grew up in, and where, following German bombardment in 1941, a tiger escaped from the zoo in a nearby city and befriended a mysterious deaf-mute woman. ... Obreht is an expert at depicting history through aftermath, people through the love they inspire, and place through the stories that endure; the reflected world she creates is both immediately recognizable and a legend in its own right."
Check out the full Indie Next list here.
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