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Category Archives: Book launches

Shared Virtual Book Promo Key during COVID-19 Lockdowns Part 2

28 Jan

Mystery fiction author Rosemary McCracken and I are taking mutual marketing of our new books in another direction. Interviewing each other about our latest books and posting the interviews on each other’s blogs. So her interview with me is on her Moving Target blog and my interview with her will be on this blog here. Right now I am in the process of interviewing her.

And if you are thinking what the heck does a mystery have to do with a memoir? Besides both genres beginning with an “M”? Well, I do brand myself as The M and M Creator of Mystery and Memoir. And my memoir The Enemies Within Us – a Memoir does have some mystery in it – an old unsolved murder case in the Toronto Police files, which my friend, The Bully and I, became fixated on. The murder victim was a girl, age 12. The Bully and I were 10. And I delve into some of the other occurrences in my childhood that would end up pointing me into a writing career – both nonfiction (journalism) and writing murder mysteries.

Some of the stories in Beyond the Tripping Point got their idea from things that happened in my childhood and later – fictionalized with events that never happened, and characters way off from the people in my life. Plus many characters not based on anyone in my life – at least that I recall. For example, the father in “Porcelain Doll” is very loosely based on my own father, except the fictitious dad was mean and criminal. My dad wasn’t that. The fictitious dad didn’t die of cancer. My dad did. Much of The Enemies Within Us – a Memoir deals with my relationship with my beloved Daddy and what cancer did to that.

But that was my first Beyond book and it won’t be my last. However, right now I am getting the word out about The Enemies Within Us – a Memoir. So, I will send you over to Moving Target and Rosemary McCracken’s interview with me and my memoir here. And while there check out more of Rosemary’s blog posts.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post on my blog about Rosemary McCracken and her latest Pat Tierney mystery Uncharted Waters.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

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Posted by on January 28, 2021 in Author Interviews, Beyond the Tripping Point, Blog Tours and Guest Blogging, Book launches, Memoir, Novel writing

 

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Preparing for a Virtual Book Launch

12 Nov

I’m sitting before my laptop, trying to stare at my moving face image before me. At the same time I am rattling pages in front of my nose and stumbling through a short reading from my memoir The Enemies Within Us.

Thank somebody-or-other this is just a “dress” rehearsal. I used to be a good reader and could usually read right from my books. Only when I knew I would be in a place with dim lighting would I print out copies of my reading material beforehand. All that was before I went blind in one eye a couple of years ago. Now I sometimes seem to put my nose right up to what I’m reading. Not that the nose can see.

My other eye is still normal, if you can call some nearsightedness normal. But better than being blind. So, I shake, rattle and nearly roll the printed out pages which are still not big enough.

They were printed out from the final pdf copy which my publisher sent me for book reviews, etc. But having only a reading pdf program I can’t enlarge it. My publisher has also noticed this rattling and stumbling and includes it in his summary of watching the recorded version of our dress rehearsal. But I am not angry at him and I am not angry at myself. If anything, I am angry at the cause of my blindness.

But one must carry on – something I believe in. I email my publisher for the final edited Word copy of my manuscript, which he promptly sends me. That can be enlarged. Once that is done I have to figure out how to place the pages so they don’t rattle and I can view them and read like the pro I am supposed to be. Even if I have to masking tape it to my laptop and onto my desk – not too far because I don’t want my mug looking off into the distance or off to the side. At least we have one more rehearsal.

Meantime my publisher has posted the Invitation details for my book launch on the Blue Denim Press Facebook page and shared it with his FB friends, which includes me, so I get the notification to my author FB page and somehow (don’t ask how; he’s the technical expert, not me) moved it to my Events. From there I share it with all my Facebook friends and family I haven’t emailed an invitation. Yup, still doing email notifications. Both are bringing yeses to attend or interested in attending. Still lots more I haven’t heard from…yet. Then I remember when we did in- person book launches for my Beyond mystery series, when we lived in safe times (What were those? Anybody remember?), some people didn’t bother to RSVP. They just showed up. So hope this happens this time. I’ve also sent out invitations through Classmates.com and am posting the event on my social media and it is already bulletined on my website. And one invited guest started a thread in her Linked In group asking for comments from authors who have done virtual book launches and what it involves. Of course, I started the thread, including thanking her.

And for those interested, here is the invitation to my virtual book launch.

Virtual Launch of The Enemies Within Us – a Memoir by Sharon A. Crawford

Hosted by Blue Denim Press

You are invited to my virtual book launch of The Enemies Within Us – a Memoir

Date and Time: Tuesday, November 24, 2020 from 7 p.m. EST to 8 p.m. EST.

Where: Blue Denim Press (my publisher) Facebook page  

Online Event http://facebook.com/blue.d.press/ Join Event 

The URL to get to my virtual launch at that time and date is the Blue Denim Press Facebook page link above. If you click on the Join Event Link above it will redirect you to that Facebook page. If you are not on Facebook, you won’t be able to get in. However, the launch will be videotaped and posted on Youtube. When it is on Youtube I will post the link on my website as well as on my social media, including here.

Sharon A. Crawford’s memoir is a powerful, sometimes humorous, account of a young girl’s lessons learned from difficult teachers – bullying, betrayal, and cancer. Set in 1950s/1960s Toronto

Website: https://samcraw.com/

memoir website page https://samcraw.com/the-enemy-within-us-a-memoir/

Hope to see some of you at my book launch.

Cheers.

Sharon

 
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Posted by on November 12, 2020 in Author Reading, Blue Denim Press, Book launches, Book Promotion, Memoir, Sharon A. Crawford, The Enemies Within - a Memoir

 

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Crime Beat Confidential Returns on thatchannel.com

12 Aug

PI Dana Bowman doing her thing on Crime Beat Confidential.

Crime Beat Confidential, the TV interview show I host on thatchannel.com has returned after a few months. Well, actually it is co-hosted by my main Beyond mystery series book character, the mouthy private investigator, Dana Bowman. The current show features our guest Marian Misters, who co-owns the Sleuth of Baker Street Bookstore.

Marian Misters in her bookstore

Despite the store’s name it is not located in London, England (or London, Ontario either) but in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. And it is full of mystery books, a mystery reader’s haven. There are even shelves of books in the basement although it is the main floor’s selection that are for sale. The space is small, but Marian has managed to fit in a lot of books including newly published books..

Bookstores are important for authors, even with e-books. And especially a genre-specific store because…

If you think that all bookstores do is sell books, think again. Books are written by authors and readers want to meet their authors and vice-versa. And for some reason we (hey, I am also a big book reader, particularly mystery and memoir) like going to book launches – and not just our own. And it is not the wine and food, although that helps.

What better place for book launches or readings and the like than a bookstore? Not noisy and dark like a pub. I’ve had book launches in a pub when I could use a flashlight to see people and once on stage to present, the light are so bright when I peer into the audience I don’t see much – because it is dark there. The most embarrassing moment was when I re-connected with an old friend and I couldn’t make out his face so he had to introduce himself. I knew he was coming to the launch and I knew what he looked like now. Bad lighting.

And bookstore owners are very knowledgeable about their books and their authors. Readers can go in and browse to find something they want to read or have a specific book (or books) they want to get. Or ask the owner questions. Should a bookstore not have the book in they usually can order it in.

You can also order books online from Sleuth of Baker Street.  And if you want to know what’s going on with them and their authors you can get their free monthly e-newsletter called The Merchant of Menace.

Not sure if Sherlock Holmes visits Sleuth of Baker Street, but I bet his spirit hovers in the bookstore.

For info on Sleuth of Baker Street and the Merchant of Menace go to their website.

Or for the visual, watch that episode of Crime Beat Confidential here.

And let me know what you think.

Note: This post is a few days late as I was in meetings and working on editing client manuscripts late last week. But, after this post I will get back to  my every-other-week postings on Thursdays/Fridays.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 

Sharon hosting Crime Beat Confidential

Two of Sharon’s Beyond mystery books

 

 

 
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Posted by on August 12, 2019 in Book launches, Crime Beat Confidential, Fictional Characters Interviewing Authors, Mystery Novels, PI Dana Bowman, Sharon A. Crawford, Uncategorized

 

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Beyond Faith – some thoughts on holding the book

06 Oct

As you can see from the picture I finally have a print copy of Beyond Faith in my hands. Actually several copies which the editor at my publisher’s Blue Denim Press just brought here  – some copies for Bouchercon and some for other author events where the publisher or a bookseller isn’t present. It was getting tiring, especially to my bad eyes, to deal with e-copies only. And again as you can see, it shows on my face. That tired look isn’t just from not enough sleep, it is partly because I’ve been getting out invitations to my book launch – again online. My face may be in permanent squint mode.

But to finally hold a copy does fill me with joy and a sense of accomplishment  (despite the clutter behind me in my office). It was a long road of  many revisions, two switches in book launch dates, but it is worth it. One friend said I was really proving myself as an artist. And (this is me, talking), I do get a lot of fun out of it as I can commit murder –  all between the books covers, of course. Another friend I used to work with many many years ago – we connected through Linked In –  is coming to the book launch – we haven’t seen each other in years and years and…

I guess what I’m trying to say to anyone who is writing a book – fiction or non-fiction, a short story, poetry, a play, whatever. The going may be very uphill, not only with the writing, but with getting it published or presented. Don’t give up. Think of yourself holding that book (a real print book – e-books won’t do it) or performing in a play, or… you supply the outcome.

Keep the long-range goal and wish in mind.

And keep on writing.

I plan to follow my own advice – once the book launch is over .

Here is the book cover up close without my sorry face in the way.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford.

 
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Posted by on October 6, 2017 in Beyond Faith, Blue Denim Press, Book launches, Book Promotion, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

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Beyond Faith has a Book Launch date

14 Sep

Sharon A. Crawford and Dana Bowman have an announcement to make:

Drum roll…

Book Launch for Beyond Faith is set up and here are the details so far.

Muskie and Murder

Book Launch for Beyond Faith by Sharon A. Crawford

and

Hunting Muskie by Michael Dyet

Presented by Blue Denim Press

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Location: Supermarket Restaurant & Bar,  268 Augusta (in Kensington Market), Toronto, Ontario.

More details as they come and more in a future post on Michael Dyet, the other author whose book is being launched the same day. For  now I’ll just say Michael writes literary fiction and I write crime fiction and that is an interesting mix. Meantime, check out Michael’s website.

Michael is known as The Metaphor Guy.

Sharon A. Crawford mugshot

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey, and Dana Bowman here too.

Dana Bowman PI from Beyond Faith

 

 

 

 
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Posted by on September 14, 2017 in Beyond Faith, Beyond mystery series, Blue Denim Press, Book launches, Book Promotion, Credible Fiction Characters, Electronic Devices and Fiction Writing

 

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Book Review of Shane Joseph’s Crossing Limbo

06 Jul

Just finished reading Crossing Limbo by Shane Joseph and below is my review as posted on Goodreads.

Crossing Limbo

by Shane Joseph,

published by Morning Rain Publishing

available at Amazon

at Chapters Indigo

And at the Toronto book launch this Saturday, July 8, 3 to 5 p.m. at Supermarket Restaurant & Bar, 268 August Ave. (in Kensington Market), Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Guest author readings by Sharon A. Crawford and Michel Dyet from their upcoming new books

The book’s title Crossing Limbo says it all – the main character or characters in each of these 13 short stories by Shane Joseph are stuck in limbo in their lives. In Greek mythology, the dead were ferried to the underworld by a boatman named Charron, who demanded payment. In Crossing Limbo, the characters have to make some payment, some trade-off to get to the other side of their limbo. For some the trade-off hangs in the future; for others it is now. Usually their past is a big factor. Whatever happens, Shane Joseph makes it original, yet the outcome is logical based on the main characters’ traits – on a scale of mean and nasty to troubled. All the stories reflect many current issues –divorce, online chat, finding a mate at a certain age, big developers versus property owners, writers who never make it versus jaded bestselling authors, death in the family, to adult “children” still living at home with dad. And Joseph brings out the emotions these characters go through when trying to cross their personal limbo, so that the reader gets it, even with the despicable characters.

In one of my favourites, Waiting for the Train, there are two main characters, an old man and a teenage girl who meet at night on the railway tracks. Both, for various reasons, are contemplating suicide, but their meeting and listening to each other forces a twist in their lives.

Then there ls the egocentric Arvind, the title character in The Supreme Leader’s Big Day, who  puffs himself up, as if he is God of the small country of Kanjipoor. Arvind forms secret pacts with his ministers, and orders killings. He is also a sex maniac who takes 16-year-old concubines to bed. On the day of the story’s title, he is expecting certain things to happen. But he gets a big surprise.

Perhaps the best story is also the most unusual – Shock & Awe, reflecting society’s attachment to their pet dogs, which is told from a dog’s point of view. Shep, a former police dog who got a little too violent with a drug dealer, is literally put out to pasture, living on a former police deputy, Bob’s, family farm/ Besides early retirement, Shep deals with many other issues akin to the human ones, love for a neighbour – Buster, the dog next door, dealing with Bob’s death in Iraq. But when what’s left of her family are faced with losing their home, Shep follows true doggy feat, proving that even with crossing limbo, dogs are still (hu)man’s best friend.

And in a world peopled by some of Shane Joseph’s characters in Crossing Limbo, that is a good thing.

 

 
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Posted by on July 6, 2017 in Author Reading, Book launches, Book Promotion, Book Reviews, Michael Dyet, Shane Joseph, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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Book Launch Crossing Limbo July 8

29 Jun

Dana Bowman escapes from Beyond Blood again.

Creativity from the Stacks  presented by my East End Writers’ group last evening went over very well – despite a smaller audience than expected, despite the laptop falling over (and the connecting cable coming out – yes, everything was fine) and despite Shane and I mixing up some of the order of our skit (we did a lot of improv there, which I prefer, and it went over well). The food was good, everyone enjoyed themselves and I managed to get my main Beyond mystery series character Dana Bowman back between the covers of Beyond Blood. That despite one of Shane’s book characters, George Walton, stealing a copy of Beyond Blood.

Speaking of Shane Joseph, the Toronto Launch of his new literary book, Crossing Limbo, a collection of short stories, is Saturday, July 8, 3 to 5 p.m. at Supermarket Restaurant and Bar, 268 Augusta Ave. in Toronto’s Kenginston Market area. If you are in the Toronto area then, why not drop in? It is open to the public and there is no admission charge. And no, George Walton is not in the book. And oh yeah, I’m one of the guest readers and so is Michael Dyet.

Crossing Limbo’s 13 stories cover the harder and darker side of life – greed, desire, ambition, loss, illness, death, and the driving quest to find purpose in a meaningless world.

Below is a sized-down version of the poster for Crossing Limbo.

Cheers.

Sharon

 
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Posted by on June 29, 2017 in Author Reading, Book launches, Book Promotion, Channelling Fiction Characters, Comedy Skit, Creativity from the Stacks, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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