Beyond book No. 3
Tag Archives: Book Promotion
Public Libraries Help Writers and their Readers
How many times have you been at a table trying to sell your books? Maybe it is a writer’s festival or maybe a church bazaar or some other event. And you get some interest in your book from someone until they look at the price. Then it is “is it available in an e-copy.” Or I don’t have enough cash on me/spent all my money/I’ll be back later when I’m leaving.”
Instead of frowning, yelling, whining or going into extreme book selling mode, why not suggest the person borrow your book from their local library branch? Maybe you don’t think about that because you figure you won’t be paid if someone reads a borrowed copy of your book.
Wrong.
If you as an author have your book(s) signed up with a Public Lending Rights Program (over 30 countries have them), you can receive royalty payments annually. Some library systems base the amount on how many times your books are borrowed or if your book or books are in the library catalogues (tcatalogues are online on most library websites). Canada follows this latter method and the payout annually has to work out to not under $50. But it can go up to $4,000. My Beyond mystery books haven’t reached a $4,000 royalty, but for last year, the amount was more than a 100 per cent increase from 2017.
Canada’s Public Lending Rights Program has a window of time to sign up – usually from sometime in February to May. And then that’s it for another year. Forms are online and are downloadable. This year the timeline ends May 1.
See here for more information on Canada’s program.
So how do you get your books into the library? Most libraries have book submission forms – in print at the branch or online, although sometimes the former are set up for you to recommend a book by any other author who isn’t you. So get another author you know to recommend your book and you do the same for them.
The best way is to have a librarian get your book in. I have cold-called some librarians and persuaded them to carry my book. Depending on the library I may mention that I have family in their city or town (this has to be true – don’t make up stuff – leave that for your fiction books). Or I may say my books are set in their city or town or a city or town loosely based on their city or town (true for York Region just north of Toronto).
My favourite is actually doing a presentation (with other authors or on my own) or teaching a workshop at a library branch. Now, I have been doing the former for eight years and the latter six years. Particularly if the presentation or workshop is connected to your book – i.e. creating compelling fiction characters and you write fiction. Also, if you are presenting at a library, the librarians usually do order in a few copies of your book ahead of time.
Although one didn’t. So, one of the five of us crime writers reading asked the librarian if copies of our books were available in the library.
No. But they were soon afterwards.
Probably the best-case scenario is the librarian, Janet, at the library branch where I teach one or two workshops a year and my East End Writers’ Group partners with this branch to hold our meetings there. The librarian actually suggested it after we did a presentation at the library and I decided to get the group out of my house to meet and the two places after that where we met briefly went out of business. So, we are in partnership with the library with this and the program gets under the branch programs umbrella. Janet has made sure my three Beyond books are in that branch.
Of course each library system has its own methods for getting in programs and presentations. How I got into some (besides the East End Writers’ Group one) is fodder for another post.
The bottom line is getting your published books into libraries is a win-win-win situation – for your readers, for libraries and for you.
Cheers.
Sharon A, Crawford
Author of the Beyond mystery series
Available for borrowing in the Toronto Public Library system, some in the York Region Library system, etc.
And I am teaching a memoir writing workshop and doing two presentations with other authors, all in Toronto library branches. See my Gigs and Blog Tours Page on this website here to find out when and where.
On the road again with my Beyond mystery books
Beyond book No. 3
I’m taking my Beyond books on one last in-person promo for this year and then taking a break until into the New Year. Will still be doing social media. It’s just that I don’t like going out and about much in winter weather. And there is a high risk of having to cancel ane event or going to it because of a blizzard, sub-zero temperatures or some other awful winter stuff. I am not a fan of winter – in fact if it would disappear permanently into a black hole I would be the first to cheer.
And I need the time to continue writing my new Beyond mystery novel, which despite all the house issues, sagas and other problems being shoved at me, I am actually back to working on that novel.
So, I’ll put some brief details of the last of the 2018 Beyond events. But first I want to mention some of the unique ways I get these promos.
I have to be thankful that many come to me from outside and I am grateful for them.
There is my Crime Beat Confidential Show that I host bi-monthly on thatchannel.com. The station’s show producer approached me – probably because i had made some appearances as a guest on their Liquid Lunch Show. I get a lot of fun, learning and meeting interesting people who guest on my show. My book character PI Dana Bowman appears at the beginning of each show. And in the one just taped this week, she does the second half of the show interviewing the guest – a private investigator. The show is not taped live and some editing is done, so when it’s up I’ll post the link. Meantime you can watch the other two on thatchannel. com under “Shows” or Google “Crime Beat Confidential and Youtube” and see it posted by the station on Youtube.
As a member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, and the Toronto Heliconian Club, I get a chance to take part in their author readings, book signings at bookstores, libraries, conventions, writers festivals, artistic shows and sales. They send out emails on this looking for us author members to participate and we have to get back. Now, for some there is a limit of how many participants, but I have been lucky to get in on those – even some out of town. And there it is other members participating in the same event who give me a lift there – sometimes we have a car load of authors heading ouit of town and it is so much fun.
Those are just some examples. My point, beside being grateful, is authors – whether self-published or published by a trade publisher, can benefit by joining an organization that has some literature and/or writer component to help promote their books. And it’s not all one-sided as by participating you sometimes get the chance to organize the event. And you meet interesting authors and readers. And sell some books. Don’t be all social media and no in-person promo. Sometimes readers like to see the real person and not just see what thay look like, but how they act, how theiy interact,,how they come across in their knowledge about writing, and in my case, just dressing up like my main character and letting her take over.
Beyond Book No. 2
And on that note, I’ll just list the last two events for 2018 and hope those in the Greater Toronto area in Ontario, Canada can make one of these events.
GIFTS FROM THE MUSES-
Saturday, Nov. 24, 11 am to 4 pm.
Toronto Heliconian Club
35 Hazelton Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
All my Beyond books – Beyond the Tripping Point, Beyond Blood and Beyond Faith will be on display and for sale at the annual Club show and sale “Gifts from the Muses” which will take place on Saturday, Nov. 24. There will also be a wall of paintings and photographs, all selling for $100 or less. In addition, members from all sections will sell hand-made products such as unframed art works, cards, books, CDs, jewelry, jams, baked goods, etc. Along with the sale, members of the Music Section will entertain with short musical interludes each hour. This is one of the best multi-disciplinary events in the Club and is so much fun to attend! It is a great opportunity to purchase outstanding gifts for family and friends!
More info on The Toronto Heliconian Club, including a map for their location here
Also at The Heliconian Club
An Evening of Readings of Literature Section Members
·
Wednesday, December 5, 2018 at 6:30 PM – 9 PM
Sharon A. Crawford will read excerpts from her Beyond Mystery series novels: Beyond Blood and the latest, Beyond Faith. She is joined by two other Heliconian Club Literature group authors: Ann Elizabeth Carson and Isabel Berchem for this Evening of Readings. Hosted by Christine Arthurs. Refreshments and a cash bar.
Cost: Free for Heliconian Club members and $10. for all others.
Beyond Book No. 1 – the short story collection
Cheers.
Sharon A. Crawford
Sharon and Dana and Beyond books at Word on the Street
The latest Beyond mystery. (2017).
But before I talk about being there, first a word about Word on the Street (WOTS).
It’s an outdoor festival for books and magazines and much more that is related – panels of authors, author readings, author presentations, publishers, agents, magazine editors, writing organizations, children’s area, etc.
It’s currently in its third location at Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West by Lake Ontario in Toronto, Canada
It is free to get in. But you can spend a lot (or a little) money on books, magazines and magazine subscriptions, and food
It is for readers and writers – and often that’s the same person.
It is a great place to meet other writers and readers.
It is a great family outing as well as great for individuals.
It runs this Sunday, September 23, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More info here
And at this point, the weather is supposed to be cool and sunny.
I’ll be there at two booths with my Beyond Books (see below for book titles and cover shots) and will also have flyers for the following:
my East End Writers’ Group, which meetsvthe last Wednesday of the month (excl. Aug. and Dec.) at S. Walter Stewart Library
Another War Between Mystery Fiction and Literary Fiction Presentation I do with Michael Robert Dyet (literary short story collection Hunting Muskie, Blue Denin Press fall 2017) Oct. 23 at Annette Street Library, and
my new writing workshop, Memoir as Creative Nonfiction which I’ll be teaching Oct. 16 at S. Walter Stewart Library
And my appearances for book selling and signing at WOTS:
2 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. at the Crime Writers of Canada booth
4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Sisters in Crime Toronto booth
Before that I’ll be checking out a few other booths. As for Private Investigator Dana Bowman from the Beyond books – she thinks she will be running around there, but we’ll see about that.
Speaking of the Beyond books – here they are:
Short story collection (2012)
The third Beyond book (2014)
The third Beyond mystery (2017)
See you there.
Cheers.
Sharon A. Crawford
Time Management for Writers – a new take?
I have about reached my wits end about something most authors face at some time. Time, or rather the lack of it to write. The culprits include dealing with house issues, crap shoved at me (read stupid mistakes) by others – individuals and organizations but I have to deal with it (or some of it) at my end. And what is the bane of many of us today – too damn much to do.
I am living in overwhelm and I am fed up with it.
So, I’ve decided on a major overhaul of well, my life. To provide inspiration and ideas I am reading the new book The One Thing: the Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary results by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan. Reading it in increments both because of my time and to absorb and try some of the ideas. The jury is out so far on how effective it will be. But right now I am focusing on focusing on the most important thing in my life – writing.
That one was a no-brainer. i knew that, so why was I letting all the crap, including spending too much time on too much business-related email (and that doesn’t include personal emails) , I now set a imer for doing email in the morning and when it goes off, the idea is to just finish whatever email I’m doing and then the rest can go to you know where, for now. If something time sensitive comes in (like an author gig that needed a yes or no right away) I will do a quick email reply at some point in the day. I am still having trouble getting distracted, one of the problems mentioned in The One Thing.
Writing (as does other one thing’s people focus on and the book also mentions) can spawn many branches and for me that includes teaching writing workshops (and all that involves) , editing client’s stories and book manuscripts, doing PR for Beyond Faith, doing more revisions in the current book I am writing and running my East End Writers’ Group.
It also involves me dealing with some bad habits such as:
Not getting enough sleep at night, mainly because…
I end up doing household crap late at night. That has to stop.
Watching TV too late. Stopping after the news and weather at 11.35 p.m. should be it with time to get ready for bed and off to sleep at a reasonable time so I can get seven to seven and a half hour’s sleep instead of the bare five to five and a half hours I’m currently getting. Maybe then I can remember receiving my new credit card in the mail – yes, I found it where I usually put these things and still in the unopened envelope. BUT I HAVE NO MEMORY OF EVEN RECEIVING IT. So I even wasted time phoning the credit card company to find out if they had even sent it too me.
Like the book says, I have to do less each day and focus more on what I do – writing and some of its branches (see above). And take great pleasure in deleting stuff or at the very least putting it beyond the back burner.
Things like answering emails that aren’t urgent (business or personal), personal phone calls (limited to outside writing time and I think I will have to sit with a timer for my overly chatty friends). I do have vm so people can leave a message.
Things like trying to narrow down how many grocery and related errands I do – not easy when you don’t have a car and don’t drive, and many of your friends don’t either and those that do drive don’t offer to take you grocery shopping so you can get most if not all of it done in one go. Public transit can be good, but there is only so much you can cart onto a bus at one time.
Things like prioritizing the house stuff (unless an emergency), especially the big one that has been taking up a lot of my time and interfering with my health.
Yes, all the stress of worrying and trying to get too much done will hit us in our most vulnerable health areas.
As for actual writing time – that gets penned in (as opposed to penciled in) on my calendar and I’ve been taking the position that it gets done come hell or high water or unnecessary interruptions. Whether telemarketers (phone) or religious people banging on my door, they can all well, you know take the high road to hell.
Or should that be the low road?
How I feel about pesky interruptions to my writing and client work
Now, back to my writing – time to do an hour of book promo for Beyond Faith and then a lunch break. Maybe some of the crap in my life can be dealt with at lunchtime – or one problem.
Happy writing.
Cheers.
Sharon
The latest Beyond mystery.
Putting your writing out there – whatever way
sharon at CWC Arthur Ellis short list Marilyn Kay photo
We. all have to start somewhere to get our writing out there – first for publishing and then to promote the published work. Both can involve some reading in public. But getting out of our comfort zone of behind our laptop, Ipad, etc. isn’t easy at first. Our “audience” might not like our work. They might say rude things about it – like “don’t give up your day job soon.” They might not get what we are writing. Or maybe deep inside there is a fear of …not failure, but success.
Oh sure, I can say that easily, you think. I, who do live skits and TV shows featuring Dana Bowman, my author readings – alone or with other authors, which come across more as acting then reading. I who teach writing workshops and courses. I, who approach venues to do some of the aforementioned. And let’s not forget my 35 years as a freelance journalist which required much story pitching.
Dana Bowman does the into
It’s that last phrase that is important. Not the 35 years, but the years of experience. Maybe being a senior has something to do with it, too. Where you know your life length is ticking away so you (or I do) tend to take some chances you wouldn’t maybe do otherwise. I also am known as a big mouth – not just having a loud voice. I say what I mean and sometimes I’m blunt. Taking after my late mother? Maybe, but as I said, age can make a difference.
But it was not always this way and I’m not referring to age. Let me give some examples.
When I was 20 I began submitting short stories to magazines. One editor, of a now defunct magazine wrote a note back about one story “This isn’t a short story; this is an incident.”
I was so incensed, so upset that I gave up writing short stories for years.
But I didn’t give up writing. I just switched – to journalism, which I had been interested in anyway. I took many journalism courses at what is now Ryerson University in Toronto and at Seneca Community College. After the Seneca course in 1976, where every student in the course got published somewhere on their own merits and with good suggestions from the instructor), I started pitching stories to local newspapers
Not without trepidation. My first story pitch was about a local noisy ratepayers group.My then husband had to stand by me at the phone while I called and talked to the editor. When the editor said to “send the story” I got a little brave and mentioned that I had sent him a humorous personal essay and he said he would check it.
Both were published as were many more. And after those two, for journalism stories I just pitched the idea first. Personal essays, like fiction, you usually write first and pitch after. I also moved along to other local newspapers – at the request of their editors. So I wrote a weekly community news column for first one newspaper and then another.
But that didn’t go smoothly all the time. For the first one, the editor forgot to tell the current community news columnist that she was fired. She found out when I called her in her capacity as spokesperson for a community group for info. Oops.
At this newspaper I really messed up. Six months after I started writing my column , the editor of another newspaper asked me if I wanted to switch and write a similar column for them. Although the pay was higher, I declined out of loyalty to the first paper, because of the short time writing the column.
The following year the first newspaper gave me a raise of the princely sum of $5.00 a week. So when the “new” (as in a year and a half) columnist for newspaper no. 2 told me she was moving out of the area and so leaving the newspaper (yes, we “rivals” knew each other – covering the same events. Hey, a reporter from the first newspaper and a reporter from the second newspaper got married – they met covering town council meetings. Both became my friends and they are still married, although they each went on to different jobs and are now retired).
So I ate crow and phoned the editor at the second newspaper and said I had heard E. was leaving and I was now interested in writing the community news column for his newspaper. He gave me an appointment to go in to see him. By then my husband and I were separated – we had a preschooler son ,so there I was pushing his stroller into my interview with the editor.
I got the column and wrote it for six years until the publisher canned the column. I had also been writing community theatre reviews and feature articles. After the column went, I did some freelancing for several other local papers and then move don to the Toronto newspaper and magazine market – and other area magazines. Not all smooth sailing, which is one of my points. Like everything else in life, you get some bumps in the road. Each bump you handle adds to your experience and your confidence, although if you are like me, you still sometimes worry about it.
As for my reading, skits and TV appearances with my books, that’s from experience, too.Teaching the writing workshops helped develop confidence in front of other people.This for someone who in high school nervously took part in a class debate. Reading – I just practice before hand. Ditto the skits. And I have a little secret. I am terrible at memorizing scripts when I am acting with another person. Even on my own, I forget lines. So I improvise and make sure I have a script handy.
And the short story writing? I went back to it about 12 years ago – had some stories published in anthologies and my first Beyond mystery book, Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012) was a collection of 13 stories.
Also to get a little practice in getting your writing out there and in reading,and some feedback, join a writing critique group. I blog about that here.
Cheers.
Sharon A,. Crawford
Beyond Faith on the PR road again
The latest Beyond mystery.
Beyond Faith continues in person appearances – the next one is with my writing colleague, Michael Robert Dyet. Our books were published by the same publisher (Blue Denim Press) and launched the same date last fall by Blue Denim Press. So Michael and I are doing some joint (and not the weed kind either) presentations, readings and the like. Besides the book launch we have both done readings at the same library last fall. But this upcoming presentation, next Wednesday, June 27, is the first of this kind and more are in the works. And Michael writes literary fiction and is known as The Metaphor Man. I write murder mysteries and am sometimes mistaken for my main Beyond book character, Dana Bowman.
I came up with the general idea, then narrowed it down to the below blurb. But Michael organized and wrote what we are going to do – it is very interactive with the audience. We don’t want to put people to sleep. We’ve been practicing and still are practicing and fine-tuning as we go. This is the show’s inaugural and are we nervous? You tell me. Nervous energy is good as long as the memory doesn’t pull a blank.
Anyway, here’s the blurb for it to give you an idea what it’s about.
East End Writers’ Group Presents Muskie and Murder
Is there murder in literary fiction and character depth in mystery fiction? Join Michael Robert Dyet, author of the literary short story collection “Hunting Muskie: Rites of Passage” and Sharon A. Crawford, author of the mystery novel “Beyond Faith”, for a lively discussion, rapid-fire questions, readings, audience participation and a skit involving story characters. Free. All welcome. Rumour has it that there will be a special guest.
Date and Time: Wednesday, June 27, 2018, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Location:
S. Walter Stewart Library (auditorium)
170 Memorial Park Ave. (Coxwell/Mortimer Ave. area)
Toronto
And there will be book characters present including her… (and she is NOT the special guest although she may think she is.)
Dana Bowman PI from Beyond Faith and Beyond Blood
If you are in the Greater Toronto Area, hope to see yhere. If not, you can always read our books. They are available in the usual places, Amazon, Indigo-Chapters and the like including some bookstores – chain and independent – for those who like to visit bricks and mortars stores.
Cheers.
Sharon A. Crawford
Claiming my time to write, edit and teach writing
Ready to cut loose from pesky interruptions
Lately my writing time and time to do client work kept getting shoved to the back burner because of too many other things getting in the way. So, last week I started to just dive in and write and do the work clients have hired me to do. And push everything else to the back burner.
Isn’t quite working out that way. An unexpected heavy rainfall resulted in some water in the basement and I had to postpone a lunch meeting with a client because I was constantly mopping up. Usually I get a neighbour to check the basement for a few hours if heavy rainfall is forecast. This storm wasn’t until the last minute and I wasn’t going to call my neighbour at the last minute. I mean he is doing me a favour. So, in future I will be more diligent about weather.
And this week I am on a hard purge of what I do and whom I allow to take up my time.
So, out is the would-be landscaper who doesn’t listen to me. Apparently it didn’t sink in when I told him – four times – that I only could afford to pay him for one hour until the end of the month. He didn’t do that great a job of digging part of may garden anyway. The kicker was after I told him no more until the end of the month, he called me four times in an hour and a half (I checked the call display and didn’t answer and he didn’t leave a message). When he landed on my doorstep an hour later I told him off and sent him packing. But he still tried to get my by phone – texting – good luck with that on a land line.
And the self-published author I was introduced to via Linked In by a mutual friend. I had to postpone when we could “chat” (his words, which should have rung alarms in my mind if it wasn’t so cluttered). I did agree to meet him at an author reading/presentation I was at with other authors. We talked a bit, but I told him I was not available until after May 5 and we could meet then. So what does he do but start emailing me with what do I do questions. Excuse me, but this is something I do for a living and he is not a paying client. I ignored the emails and decided he could fend for himself.
Sounds harsh? Maybe. But it’s my writing time and my client work time.
I am also pulling back a bit (time-wise) this month in doing book promo for after June. Still doing some, but trying to work it in between the writing and client work instead of the other way around. That means less time on Facebook and other social media. And it also means cutting back on email time. So, I guess I will be setting the timer when I’m reading and answering email and on Facebook too.
But I’m still going to garden. I can dig my garden myself – always have. And so is spending time with family and friends.
How do you deal with pesky interruptions and other time-stealers that get in the way of your writing?
Comment, please?
Now back to client work.
Cheers.
Sharon A. Crawford
Author of the Beyond mysteries.
The latest Beyond mystery. Click on it for more info
Lessons learned from book promotion
CWC mystery writers, students, and a teacher at Richmond Green library, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
Two situations in the past couple of weeks have taught me a valuable lesson. And helped me decide where to give and how much to give.
As a somewhat senior published author (and I’m NOT referring to age here) with four books published (including one co-authored with another author and published by a different publisher than for my Beyond mysteries), I am often asked for advice on writing and publishing. Most authors in a similar position do run into this. And most of us are glad to help other authors with suggestions and the like.
But sometimes it gets frustrating. There may be too many novice authors coming at you at once and you are having difficulty finding time to do your own writing and book promo. Sometimes these authors are too persistent and your resent it.
A wonderful experience with four other Crime Writers of Canada authors – Nanci M. Pattenden, Rosemary McCracken, Mel Bradshaw, and Cynthia St-Pierre, Aprl 23 at the Richmond Green Library in Richmond Hill, Ontario, helped me put it all in perspective. You see, most of our audience consisted of students from a couple of local high schools. These students were taking a Writing Craft Course there and they wanted to write and learn more about writing. Part of uor panel presentation – after the usual why, what and how we write and q and a, we five provided feedback on the first sentence of a story submitted by some of the students. The idea was originally from Mel, and Rosemary and I fine-tuned it. I provided the box for the students to place (anonymously) their submissions.
But it was one student whom I interviewed after the presentation for a story I was writing for CWC Crime Time e-newsletter, that set the proverbial light bulb flashing in my head. The student isn’t yet in high school – she is in grade 8 and already a growing concern in the writing talent and writing perspective areas. She is the blond young lady peaking out from behind my left in the photo.
Contrast her with what I have come to refer to as the persistent pest I was introduced on by a mutual friend on one of my social media locations. This fellow is around my age and just self-published a book. He wanted to chat about writing and the like.
That word “chat” should have raised alarms, but it didn’t, except for me to suggest we could talk about marketing books. I set a time and day for a phone conversation, but unfortunately had to postpone because of all my book promotions commitments and doing the dreaded Income Tax returns (which are due April 30 in Canada). In an email I gave him a few suggestions he could follow if he wished. I also suggested he go to one of the CWC events I was participating in (not the Richmond Hill library one), which he did and we talked a bit after the event. But I told him I would be busy and not available until after May 5 and we could meet for coffee to talk after that.
Then he started emailing me with what-do-I-do questions on his follow-ups to my suggestions. Did he not read the memo correctly? So, I ignored him. I had other priorities until after May 5.
It was my experience with the students that set me straight – who to help when and remembering I am doing it for free. And when to start charging a consulting fee. Certainly I am willing to help student writers of all ages and no fees certainly for the grade school and high school ones. Certainly at public presentations or with writing groups a their meetings, groups of writer in coffee shops and pubs. Certainly when teaching workshops and courses. And of course, if anyone does want to hire me as a writing consultant in some way (and that has been done) I get paid for it.
But outside of the above parameters I have to draw some lines – especially if the one asking turns into a persistent pest.
So, I will not meet him for coffee to chat. If that sounds harsh, that will save us both some time – he has a distance to travel to meet me. I am not leaving him in the lurch though. I did promise to talk to him and I try to keep my promises. He will be given 30 minutes of my time on the phone to answer his questions and after that I start charging my hourly rate – and I do not break up an hour – so if it goes for 20 minutes or 50 minutes over the 30 minutes free time – it is one hour. Of course I will tell him ahead of time when he emails next week and suggest he pick one area he wants to discuss because he is all over the map with the chat about writing.
I don’t like being pestered and pushed.
Fortunately, most writers are more considerate.
So, there is a lesson in here for both us senior authors and novice authors. Our time is valuable and we should be considerate of that with the other person.
And why after May 5?
Because on Saturday, May 5, from 12 noon to 3 p.m. I am doing my first solo book signing at a bookstore – Coles Bookstore in The Beach area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. And I am looking forward to it and am grateful to the bookstore’ manager for letting me do this. I need to focus on doing a good job here. And having some fun, too.
Click on the book cover above and it wlll take you online to my books at Indigo Books online. Coles is part of the Indigo bookstore chain.
Cheers.
Sharon A. Crawford
The rocky road of book promo
Sharon at CWC Arthur Ellis short list Marilyn Kay photo
The aftermath of getting Beyond Faith published has been nothing close to easy, especially in the book promo department. Don’t get me wrong. I love doing book promo and I realize it all takes time and some of it will get put temporarily in Pending. But …
Well, let’s say that all did not go well for me…and apparently some other authors had the same problem – at the CWC Arthur Ellis Awards. Even CWC itself ran into a few snags – but Elizabeth Duncan who organized it with the Indigo Bookstore venue, fixed them very well. For example, the main guest who was to announce the authors shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis awards was ill and couldn’t make it. Elizabeth had some of the mini-presenters – one per category – go up to the podium, open the envelope(s) and read out the shortlisters. It was such a great choice and maybe could be done in future years.
The venue was good, a little oasis set up for the event surrounded by shelves and shelves of books. What more could an author want? Well, maybe spring weather outside.
Everybody’s presentation went very well and was interesting – much more interesting than eight authors reading excerpts from their books, one right after the other. We had to talk about our books in whatever way we wished. I chose not to do a Dana Bowman skit, but the nosy Private Investigator had apparently jumped out of Beyond Faith a a busy subway transfer station enroute to the bookstore and was lost in the rush-hour crowd. But Dana is not stupid and I knew she would show up. After thanking CWC for arranging the event, I went into my presentation – holding up a photo of Dana Bowman and asking “Have you seen this woman? She is….” After the escaping-the-book business I segued into a bit about what the book is about from the viewpoint of what Dana and her twin PI investigating brother Bast Overture have to contend with. As I neared the finish, I thought I saw Dana darting between the bookshelves, said so, thanked the audience, grabbed Beyond Faith and Dana’s photo, chasing towards the books. A few seconds later when I showed up at the back of the audience, Elizabeth from the front asked, “Did you find her?”
“Yes,” I answered. “She’s back in the book.”
So, what was wrong with this picture? Both Beyond Blood and Beyond Faith, hadn’t arrived at the bookstore and it’s all the distributor’s – Ingram Sparks – fault. First because of all the nonsense with BF not able o be ordered in the Indigo chain stores, yet available for online orders – which had to be fixed twice and also as the bookstore manager told me “sometimes it takes six weeks for books to arrive from Ingram.” But the manager had contacted me beforehand about BF’s not arriving yet and we arranged I would bring in three copies for show and sell that evening, and any left could also be left in the store afterwards to go through usual ln-store selling procedure. When the shipment from the distributor arrived, I could come in to get three copies back from that.
But what happened to Beyond Blood? There were no issues with ordering it in – at least as far as availability was concerned. It has to be Ingram’s tardiness, although another store in the chain had already ordered in copies of Beyond Blood for another event with me and those copies arrived in two weeks time.
And I found out some other authors had the same problem – their books didn’t arrive on time either. No idea if their publisher uses the same distributor.
I know this has happened before to authors, but it is frustrating to an author, especially as I didn’t know about Beyond Blood.
Still, it was a great event.
And there is another CWC one Monday, April 23 in the Richmond Green Library in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Five of us crime novelists are on a “crime” panel there. Here are the highlights.
Crime Writers at RG Panel
If you’re are in the Greater Toronto Area, why not drop in? It’s free and an interesting time is guaranteed.
And our books will be there – we five are bringing copies from our own stashes.
Cheers.
Sharon A. Crawford
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Sharon A. Crawford author 