A great book launch

Last night {Pages} a bookstore hosted me for the launch and book signing of Papa's Shoes. And it turned out to be a huge success. We used up all the available chairs and still there were people standing while I spoke and read. And we sold a bunch of copies of Papa's Shoes plus two copies of Leaving the Hall Light On as well. i couldn't be happier. and that is saying a lot since I churned about it for days and days. I kept revising and going over my script, I practiced reading the four pieces I had picked to read for my audience, and I woke every morning for the last week or so at three with my heart pitter patting while I went over my script in my mind. Now, just to let you know, I've gone through this exact same thing for other speaking occasions, and I knew from experience that all would go well - it always has. So why should i put myself through this again? Especially the waking up so early in the morning. But now that's over, I'm proud to show you a few of the 144 … [Read more...]

Happy rebirthing [via Eleanor Vincent]

[This is a reblog of Eleanor Vincent's post today - by permission] I'm throwing a party for the rebirth of Swimming with Maya. Thanks to the power of networking, it has a new life as a paperback and eBook. But in 2010, the future of my book did not look bright. Capital Books, the independent publisher that issued the hardback in 2004, was closing its doors. My beautiful book about raising daughters and rebounding after loss would be pulped. I tried everything I could think of to sell the remaining hardback copies and had some success. But even if I sold them all, the book would still slowly fade and die. I considered the Author's Guild program Back in Print that creates print-on-demand books for authors in situations like mine. But I'd have to live with a generic book cover and format, and no marketing support for the book. Sadly, this story is not uncommon. Small publishers close their doors with alarming frequency. And big publishers those consolidated megaliths can … [Read more...]

Book marketing – is there ever enough?

Okay, I'm on to another marketing project. I was overwhelmed and indeed impressed by the numbers of blogs Jessica Bell is going to visit during her two-week book launch blog tour for her soon to-be-released, String Bridge. And that got me thinking I hadn't visited nearly enough blogs at the time of my book launch. I visited one blog a day for about three weeks, and she's going to have interviews and reviews on up to seven or eight blogs a day for two weeks. Plus she's going to have a whole lot of these same folks and more hit Amazon on the day of the book's release. Now that's using the network to the fullest, I would say. With my friend Susan at my book launch with Ben in the background I asked her how she amassed such a list and she admitted it was a lot of work. She reads and comments on all the blogs on her list regularly. And that's why she felt she was justified in asking them to do this book marketing favor for her. I know that's true. Jessica visits and comments on … [Read more...]

A book launch and signing – what’s that?

Paul's Bench I'm going to write about the book launch and signing of Leaving the Hall Light On in three parts: Preparation, The Actual Event, and Lessons Learned. Part One: Preparation I think the worst part of the preparation stage was waiting for the book signing to happen. I booked it for the first Thursday after the book's release at Pages, my local independent bookstore, several months in advance, and I started to stress right away. I always stress before speaking in public and always end up calming down right before I speak, so it's really the waiting time that drives me to drink. I also arranged for publicity in our local newspapers, "The Beach Reporter" and "Easy Reader." "The Beach Reporter" interview happened the Monday before the event and appeared on the day; "Easy Reader," though it got a review copy of my book, has yet to print something. Well, as I said to them in my email today, it's never too late. Then I sent out invitations. I created an event on … [Read more...]

One month to go until launch. So what’s on my list of to dos now?

Last Friday at exactly 6:29 pm, my publisher sent off my manuscript to the printer. And exactly one month from then, my book will be launched. And right now I'm feeling overwhelmed with thoughts of what should I be doing to get ready, and even if I know what things I should be doing, will I know how to do them? When the book I co-authored, Blue Collar Women, came out in 1994 I don't remember doing anything to market the book. My co-author had done the research so she did a few radio interviews and that was it. She used the book in her college classes, but other than that, sales were poor. I certainly don't want to have a repeat of that poor success. With that book I didn't even get fifteen minutes of fame. So far in preparation for my new book's launch I've actively participated in Facebook I have a friend page, I have a fan page, I joined two poetry groups, I joined a group of other parents who had an adult child die, and I regularly comment on pages related to my book's … [Read more...]

First booksigning – May 12, 2011

I have scheduled my first booksigning at a wonderful one-year-old independent bookstore in my hometown, Pages! I hope you'll attend. The venue is great and the refreshments hosted by Dinah Alcon will be delish! To RSVP please call Pages at 310-318-0900 or go to my event page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=189497844418284 and click away. Time Thursday, May 12 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm Location Pages Bookstore 904 Manhattan Ave. Created By Lucky Press, LLC More Info 310-318-0900 info@pagesabookstore.com (email) www.pagesabookstore.com (website)www.luckypress.com/madelinesharples.html (book information) … [Read more...]

Pre-release jitters

As the days get closer to the release of my memoir, I seem to be getting more and more anxious. Though I got my first endorsement yesterday from one of the reviewers and it was absolutely terrific, I keep thinking what facts did I get wrong, what people did I offend by writing too much or too little about them, and how will I be able to handle the books signings and interviews that will surely be on my calendar in the weeks after its release. I wonder if these are common thoughts for authors especially of memoir. I took a class a while back from Maureen Murdock who calls memoir unreliable truth that it, it is my truth versus anyone elses. For instance my husband has been reading a review copy and he is sure that the snowstorm that I write about didn't happen in New York City when I say it happened. Well, I definitely stand by my memory, but it makes me wonder how many other things will he think I'm just flat-out wrong about. Besides having these about-to-be-released jitters I … [Read more...]

Look for my book out two months from today!

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