Even while I work a temporary day job an hour away from my home office and writing room, author events still go on. On Thursday of this week I was interviewed again by Cyrus Webb on Conversations LIVE about my memoir Leaving The Hall Light On. This year we spent a little more time on the impact of mental illness on a family, and I was thrilled to tell the audience about our son Paul's music career. Paul showed an interest in music ("I want to watch a record" "play more Cat Stevens, Mommy") from the time he was a little boy. It just blew me away that Cyrus reread my entire book in preparation for this second interview. Cyrus, you are an interviewer extraordinaire! Please listen to Cyrus and me here: Author Madeline Sharples returns to Conversations LIVE *** And I'm very excited to announce that Sonia Marsh, author of Freeways to Flip-Flops and editor of the My Gutsy Story Anthology, and I will participate on a panel to discuss "Relationship Building: The Secret to … [Read more...]
Some important events
What more can we do to boost book sales?
Right at the start of the year I received an email from my Dream of Things publisher to tell me he had scheduled some advertising for Leaving the Hall Light On since January is typically a big month for eBook sales. I was elated to have this great opportunity. Here's the list of advertising events he set up. Kindle Book Review - three posts on their Facebook page on January 2, 3 and 4, and tweets about Leaving the Hall Light On ten times in the month of January. World Literary Cafe Leaving the Hall Light On featured as "Today's Hot Title" on their website on Jan 4, 5 or 12 (exact date TBD) it occurred on January 2. Indie Author News Leaving the Hall Light On their "Book of the Day" on January 6. Digital Book Today - Leaving the Hall Light On their "Book of the Day" on January 7. Indies Unlimited - will do an article on Dream of Things memoirs and anthologies (including Leaving the Hall Light On), date TBD. (hasn't appeared yet) Kindle Books and Tips - will do a … [Read more...]
Live radio and a rave review
I was thrilled to be interviewed by Cyrus Webb yesterday on his live blog talk show, Conversations LIVE! Radio. We discussed mental illness, suicide, and finding meaning in life after unthinkable tragedy. What I took away from that conversation is the importance of having these conversations openly and truthfully without pretense. That these are hard subjects is a given. But we must bring them into the light so that others will benefit. If we say the mental illness and suicide words often enough we will have a chance of erasing stigma. Only then will people begin to acknowledge their illnesses and seek help. Only in that way can we save lives. I was also most impressed that Cyrus acknowledged his failed suicide attempt almost at the start of our interview. This shows the extent of the honesty in our discussion. Here's the interview. Please listen. As my publisher at Dream of Things, Mike O'Mary said: Could be the most important 20 minutes you spend today. And … [Read more...]
