Two new Tag! entries and a great marketing experience

Two more blogs from the Tag! You're It! blog game are up: at http://teacherwriter.net/2012/10/11/name-that-book, Suzanne Lilly is asking for help with a title and describing the basic plot of her work-in-progress, a young-adult novel with elements of magical realism. Help her out and  you'll be in the dedication. At http://tarynraye.blogspot.com, effervescent Taryn Raye is full of plans for the romance she'll begin November 1 for National Novel Writing Month--and she even has a title.

This morning I had a unique marketing opportunity. I talked briefly to a small group of realtors--highly appropriate since Kelly O'Connell, heroine of my series, is a fictional realtor working in the same communities these people do. My son-in-law Christian is marketing person for a local title office, and he had arranged a small breakfast for them and asked me to talk. (Christian even made an egg/cheese/green chili casserole to take to them--they had already cleaned the platter when I got there!) One of the realtors is a particuar fan of Kelly, so she whipped up enthusiasm. Christian introduced me, and I was able to surprise him with the news that the latest mystery, Trouble in a Big Box, is dedicated to him for his patience in teaching me about title searches and real estate. He didn't know because while Trouble is available in e-book, the print version isn't out yet. Then I briefly described cozy mysteries, why I chose to write about a realtor in the particular neighborhood I did, the three books in the series, and asked for questions--there were plenty. And I sold 17 books, passed out bookmarks and fact sheets, and garnered new names for my mailing list. I'd call that a success in 45 minutes. Four of the realtors even ordered my cookbook which I showed mostly because it has Jacob on the cover.
Christian now has big plans for similar breakfasts at other real state offices. Great marketing niche for me! And he doesn't even ask for a commission!

KIndle publishing, self publishing, promotion, memoirs--my brain is in a whirl

Spent much of the day studying various hints on promoting your e-books, formatting them to publish--did some investigation and found that Kinko's will scan existing books without damaging the spine for $1.00/page. Wonder if I'd ever make that much back if I posted one, short (182) word-book on Kindle and Smashwords. Also, everytime I see a new small press mentioned, I check out the web page--so many are interested in sci-fi, horror, vampires, etc. Doesn't seem to be many that want cozy mysteries, but I have starred a couple to query. Waiting on that until after Fred re-reads the manuscript. Meanwhile my desk is still loaded with tips for promotion and that book on how to build your platform. I'm only half way through the book--think what wondrous things I might do if I ever finish it! All of this takes most of the day--well, there was the grocery this morning, lunch with a friend, class tonight, and of course my nap. Point though is that I'm not anywhere near going back to concentrate on the novel in progress. I figure when I get back to writing it, I need to give it my full attention. I started to say I'll be grateful for the holidays--but what am I going to be on holiday from?
Holidays, however, do mean more of a disruption--I planned to bake all weekend, stocking my freezer for the holidays. Forgot, however, a nice dinner invitation for Friday night, a trip to Central Market on Saturday, a stop at Origins for cosmetics, and a 1:00 p.m. book signing with the contributors to Grace & Gumption. If you're in the area of the University Village Barnes & Noble, come on by. Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook is a wonderful mix of social history and recipes--some tempting, some not so. But should you want to stew a squirrel, this book tells you how. Great gift for women in Fort Worth.
My memoir class met tonight, and as always I'm enthralled. They are so open and honest about their lives. One class member, a minister, read us a eulogy she delivered for a very young woman--I don't know how she got through it without crying, but she says she tries to think of things that make her angry. If someone died of cancer, she thinks how much she hates cancer--when she's angry, she doesn't cry. Another described a year-long experience living in London in terms of the language difficulties and had us all laughing. Still another described a couple of heartbreaking incidents from her childhood. At the end we all stand in a circle and say how we're feeling--in one word. I couldn't help it: I had a sentence. I was feeling happy for the good things we heard tonight, but sad that there is so much unhappiness in the world. One more class, and then we'll have a reunion with previous class members.

Rejection and chocolate

aSisters in Crime has a subgroup known as Guppies (Going to be Published) with a listserv called AgentQuest. Getting an agent to represent your work is as big a deal or maybe bigger than writing the darn thing. Well, I've been writing away, making a few desultory marketing attempts--got two requests for what are called partials (30 pages) but no more response. So when one agent was favorably discussed on Agent Quest, I decided to query her last night. Through a mail mix-up and the limited system I have at home, it was this morning before I sent the query. I had a gracious, lovely rejection within less than two hours, mostly based on the fact that a realtor was not a compelling enough figure to attract an editor. Gulp! I've written a book and a half about this realtor, and I like her.
So I told the story on the listserv and got comforting replies, most of which said don't jump ship. The Guppies standard reaction to rejection is "Eat chocolate" so I mentioned that I had eaten some chocolate (with jalopenos and ground peanuts) and a couple of them said if the novel was as interesting as the chocolate I should have no problem. I know it's early in the querying game--some of these ladies have 50 or more queries out but a lot of times you get no reply. Still I was really let down. Tonight I'm resisting having more of that chocolate--after all my stash has to last the week until I can get back to Central Market.
You can't be a writer if your skin is thin. Tonight I'm also going to work on a new blurb that begins, "Kelly Jones is no ordinary realtor." That seems a bit trite, but it's a starting point. As I've said over and over, writing mysteries has a real learning curve--maybe I should say "marketing mysteries."