murder.booklocker.com

Seeking Senior Sleuths
Seniors v Crime Project, a Florida program created by the State’s Attorney General. Site has articles about Nigerian email scams, investment fraud, and Medicare & Medicaid fraud. See related CBS news story, “Senior Sleuths Bust The Bad Guys.”

Illinois also has a Senior Sleuth Program.

Senior Sleuths Sought
‘Adventure in Science’ Seeks a Few Good Guides

“Help wanted: Science enthusiasts for temporary assignment working with youngsters with infectious curiosity; volunteers must be able to communicate passion for discovery.”

Teacher-volunteers, many of whom have careers in science and math, agree to present interactive sessions to a group of about 8 to 10 children on one Saturday morning (or more, if they desire). Some past topics have included “M&Ms and Data Analysis,” “A Visit to the Fourth Dimension,” “Inside a Frog,” and “Why a Fly?”

I think there may be a typo on the page entitled “Supper Sleuths” but seniors are known to their food! From the Wakefield Public Library comes a list of 44 Senior Sleuths.

From the State Library in Missouri comes the Sisterhood of Senior Sleuths — titles, authors and descriptions of the sleuths.

Who Killed Swami Schwartz? (Senior Sleuth Mystery Series) by Nora Charles

SENIOR SLEUTHS
Manson, Cynthia; Scarborough, Constance (Editors) “An anthology of great mystery authors including Agatha Cristie, Lilian Jackson Braun, Loren D. Estleman and Dorothy Salisbury Davis.”

Senior sleuths : a large print anthology of mysteries and puzzlers by Isaac Asimov; Martin Harry Greenberg; Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh

Senior Women Web article entitled “Senior Women Sleuths” by Joanne Brickman.

Mystery Readers International has two articles from The Senior Sleuth, Volume 16, No. 3, Fall 2000, online. Read “My ‘Career’ as a Senior Sleuth: Elizabeth Trenka Speaks for Her Author by Joyce Christmas” and “On Becoming/ Creating a Senior Sleuth” by Janet LaPierre.

I’ve been wanting to do a post on Submission Tracking for authors. I queried folks on the forum about their experiences because the Chicago Writers Association includes poets, freelancers, short story writers and academics who would be more familiar with the need to track submissions. I got the following from Paul Wolf:

“I have been submitting short stories, and occasionally a poem of two, to literary journals for over twenty-five years. My book, “Varied Images: The Short Stories of Paul F. Wolf,” is a compilation of the first 47 stories that I have published. I was in magazines like The Georgetown Review, Left Curve, Puerto del Sol, StoryQuarterly, Other Voices, Sou’Wester, Wisconsin Review, William and Mary Review, and such as that. Plus some very small ones, like zines, depending on the story. And some other very nice publications that just did not have huge circulations or well known names.

“I always submit a story to five publications at a time. I could tell you tale after tale of how badly the magazines treat writers, so I ignore the request for no multiple submissions. When they hold, and then reject, a story after five years, you learn fast you have to look out for yourself. They lose them, never return them, they get lost in the mail. So I feel it’s an ethical decision to do multiple submissions. That is to say, it’s ethically related to the work and effort you, yourself, put into those stories.

“I have not, except for about three occasions, had a story accepted by two journals at the same time. It rarely happens because it is quite difficult to get published in literary journals. If it does happen, you send the journal you decide to place the story in an acceptance letter, and the others you send a letter saying that you regretfully have to withdraw the story from consideration. With some words as to how much you respect their publication and hope to submit to them again in the future. Do not give a reason for the withdrawal.

“A story can receive as many as 40 to 50 rejections before it finds a home. (Or you may hit it on the first five mailings.) It is often published many years after it was first written, and has gone through many rewrites. So time is against you from the start. Tenacity and multiple submissions are your wedge agaist these odds that are stacked up against you.

“Anyhow, that is my take on multiple submissions.”

– P. Wolf     

I wrote back to Paul asking how he kept all that stuff straight. This is his reply:

“Just make 2 charting sheets.

Each story, or poem, has a chart sheet, like this:

Date Sent

Date Returned

Where Sent

“Then you have another set of sheets with the names of the journals on them:

Name	From	Sent
Mississippi Review	Writers Market, 2007	3-29-07
Missouri Review	Writer’s Market, 2006	2-12-05
Snake Nation Review	Poets Market, 2007	1-12-06

“When the story comes back, mark the individual story sheet with the return date. Then look at the journal sheet that you had sent the story to, and erase the date that you sent it to that journal. In this way, you have a record of where you sent the story, how long they held it, and whether or not you have a previous submission still out to that journal.

“The hard part of this is the initial making of the sheet that has all of the journals on it. But once made, you can just add or subtract journals to it. I’ve used the same one for 25 years. I prefer them on sheets of paper that I can thumb through, but I am sure you could set up a nice one on your computer.

“I hope that helps.”

– P. Wolf     

Jennifer Brown-Banks, another Chicago Writers Association member had this to say:

“Since I am under contract with several publications, I rarely have to do multiple submissions. I definitely don’t do them if an editor/publisher specifies that it is not something they accept.

“When I do, I simply create a chart that lists the name of the article, the date, and the publications to which I’ve sent. I also indicate the status, and the response time expected. I try to wait the full requested “waiting period” before sending work elsewhere, unless I consider it unreasonable.

“In more than 15 years, I’ve only had 1 unfortunate incident with 2 publications wanting to run the same thing simultaneously. But trust me, it’s not something you want to happen often.

– Jennifer Brown-Banks     

The idea for this post has been rolling around ever since I saw Science Fiction & Fantasy author Carol Hightshoe’s public record of her submissions from 1999-2005 on a webpage. It differs radically in its approach from Paul’s. When I emailed her and asked why she had posted rather personal information on the web, she replied,

“I guess the primary reasons why I started posting that information was to show that persistence can pay off and also as an example of one method of submissions tracking for anyone who might be interested.”I’ve received several emails in the past from people who have found the page that has my submissions record interesting and were also glad to find out they are not the only writer out there collecting numerous rejections.”

The categories from Ms. Hightshoe’s submission log are:

I did a little more searching on the web and found something that as a novel writer (PARK RIDGE — buy the book already! ) that I could really appreciate. It’s what seems to me to be a real break-through at Kunati (book publisher). I quote in part from a post on their blog:

What is KUNATI SUBMISSION TRACKING?

“We’re excited about this. As we became more and more popular, and because we remain true to our mandate to personally respond to all submissions, we have created the FIRST (we think!) online submission tracking.”

The categories from their program are:

• Query and synopsis received
• Query and synopsis responded with “not quite right for us” with reason
• Query and synopsis responded with “please send more”
• Chapter and synopsis received and in queue to be read
• Chapter received, synopsis MISSING, will not be read until synopsis sent
• Chapter/synopsis responded with “not quite right for us” with reason
• Chapter/synopsis responded with “please send manuscript”
• Manuscript requested
• Manuscript received
• Manuscript in the queue
• Manuscript read, response sent

There are several good articles available on submission tracking:

• Submission Tracking by Linda S. Dupie
  Shows you how to use a notebook, index cards, or computer for tracking.
• TRACKING MANUSCRIPTS Bud Sparhawk
  Strong argument for tracking if you’re serious about your work. Other really helpful hints.
• Keeping ‘em on the Street by Terry Hickman
  Includes info on how to decide where to send what and why. Charts.

I found one online database that you could use (this is not an endorsement): The Writer’s Database: Market & Submission Tracker (since 2002)

“The Writer’s Database will keep track of all the markets for your writing, and the status of all the submissions you’ve sent out to each market. With a click of the mouse, you can easilly check on a market’s:

Contact information

• Rate of pay
• Estimated response time
• Category of writing wanted
• Guidelines and other personalized notes

And you can keep track of:

• Titles you’ve written
• Date you sent out each submission
• Acceptance or rejection
• Amount of money earned for each sale
• Editor’s comments and other notes”

There’s also lots of software available for purchase. The Open Directory is listing the following (as of 15-Mar-07):

• Quick Query Tracker - Software application that enables tracking of manuscript submissions and queries, and producing reports on your writing business.
• SAMM - Free manuscript tracking software for Windows or DOS.
• Slushomatic - A free tool for writers to create and track submissions to magazines. Auto-generate printable submission documents.
• SwiftTrack - Submission tracking software for writers from SwiftTech Software.
• Ultima Thule: Writer’s Database - WriteDB is a database system that enables writers to keep track of the works they have created, the potential publishers they have identified and any submissions to those publishers.
• Write Again - Writing management tool. Helps writers, poets, freelancers and other literary artists manage their projects, markets/contacts, submissions, deadlines and finances.
• The Writer’s Database: Submission Tracker - A free web-based database for writers to keep track of markets and submissions sent out.

Cheryl has asked me to comment on three things that a “newbie” - either shopping a manuscript or newly published — would gain from attending/participating in a small mystery conference like Murder In the Grove.

For someone not yet published, with a manuscript ready or nearly ready to show to an agent or editor–or simply an idea for one–some of the large mystery conferences can be very intimidating. Many icons of the publishing field are there, and generally seem to have a coterie of people constantly surrounding them, practically forming a wall that says “strangers, keep out.” Even the friendliest of authors can be difficult to reach through such throngs.

The smaller conferences aren’t that way, and that’s the reason you’ll find that many authors, fans, and even agents and editors, prefer the more relaxed atmosphere they provide. At Boise’s Murder In The Grove, I’ve found myself eating dinner with Michael Connelly and going shopping with Anne Perry! Believe me, that wouldn’t happen at Bouchercon! Okay, I hear you saying that I’m on the committee, so that makes all the difference. Not really. We set things up purposefully so that the authors, agents, and editors who attend are accessible to everyone.

For those who arrive early (and many do, since Idaho seems to be far from everything, and many people have to travel for a number of hours to get here, they tend to arrive early and/or stay late), we have a Thursday evening stroll through downtown and Old Town Boise, led by…me. This is a way for people to get to informally meet each other in a relaxed atmosphere, share interests in food, architecture, shopping, etc. It’s an ice-breaker.

Throughout the next two days, we set up sessions and even the luncheon so that the authors, editor, and agents are interspersed amongst the crowd. That means the important thing is to talk to strangers. You never know who you’ll end up meeting. Networking is important in publishing, and we do what we can to make the networking as comfortable for everyone as possible. (Published authors are often very shy, believe it or not–introverts tend to gravitate towards solitary endeavors like writing, so it isn’t that easy for many of them, either, to talk to strangers.) Boise is a friendly, relaxed, casual city–and the conference reflects that.

Again, you aren’t competing with scads of top authors. Yes, there are several–there must be to draw attendees. But without lots of people competing for the attention of everyone else, attendees of whatever ilk have the chance to meet and remember each other.

Murder in the Grove offers you the chance to have an agent or editor read the first ten pages of your manuscript and comment on them. (This isn’t only for unpublished people. Several published authors have taken advantage of this program, either looking for a new agent or editor, or looking for a market for a work that is outside the scope or area of interest of their current agent or editor.) But, nothing in the rules says you can’t talk to other agents, editors, or even authors about that same work in a casual way as you’re eating lunch, having a drink at the reception, at the book signing-dessert party, or whenever. The people you need to talk to will be around you. You’ll easily spot them and have opportunities to talk with them. If you’re happily published, but want more information about ways to get publicity for your books, other conferences to attend, bookstores to sign at–no matter what–you’ll easily find someone who has answers for you.

You simply need to show up, put yourself out there, and ask questions. It isn’t easy. But few things worthwhile are.

I hope this helps. And keep us in mind some time: www.murderinthegrove.com. You might fall in love with Idaho the way I did.

Joanne Pence
www.joannepence.com
The Angie Amalfi Mysteries

USA Today best-selling author, Joanne Pence has published fourteen books in the Angie Amalfi culinary series, plus romantic suspense, short stories, and a novella. Her latest mystery, a March 2007 release, is The Da Vinci Cook. [She also serves as one of three at-large board members as well as webmistress of the Murder in the Grove site]

First off, let me tell you that Randy is the president of the Chicago Writers Association (which is now a not-for-profit organization). I was eavesdropping on their forum when Randy made the following announcement:

“My book, LOST IN THE IVY, has been released as a free E-Book by the Chicago Underground Library (CUL). It is the CUL’s first book to be released in this manner, but it is their hope and goal that many more works will be released this way. They’d like to create a digital archive of books much like a typical library provides a place to keep books for anyone to see and read.”

I wrote to Randy asking if he would consider a Guest Post, he agreed, and we’ve styled it as an interview.

Cheryl: Can you tell us any more about the CUL or your association with them?

Randy: The CUL is a project founded by Chicagoans Nell Taylor and Emerson Dameron that aims to create a location-specific archive of self- and small press-published works from the Chicago area. It is truly underground, in that its physical location right now is in the basement of of MoJoe’s Hot House at 2849 W. Belmont, Chicago. It is also trying to create an online library, which is how my free E-Book came about.

My association with them is that I am a big supporter of their cause. I truly believe in what they’re trying to do. There are so many great self- and small press-published works out there, many of which nobody knows about simply because they can’t find them. They’re not in most bookstores or libraries. So nobody’s reading them. The CUL makes these works available so that they can be found and read.

Cheryl: Your post on your journal gave your reasons — will you repeat them?

Randy: What most people want to know is, Why would I give my book away for free. There are a number of reasons. The main one being that I’d just like the book to be more readily available and widely read. I’ve had some success getting it into local libraries (about a dozen Chicagoland libraries) but it’s in only a couple libraries out of Chicagoland. The Internet provides the ability to be sort of the world’s library, but as you all know, it is also a place filled with lots of potential landmines.

I’m also doing this because I think it is the way of the future. I’m curious to see where it goes, if anywhere. The CUL came up with this ambitious project to start an online library, and it’s one that I support. My book just happens to be the first that they’ve released in this fashion. It is their hope and goal, however, that others will follow.

I’d note that other authors have found success by releasing their published books as free e-books. I’m not really breaking new ground here. Finally, since the book has been out now for 1 1/2 years, sales have slowed to a trickle. I’ve got little to lose and everything to gain. I think. Things could always change. My book could be picked up by a major movie studio and be turned into a best-seller, but that seems like a pipe dream.

Cheryl: I’m particularly interested in a comment that you made: “I know what I’ve done goes against the grain.” Could you talk a bit about that and whether you considered it when making your decision?

Randy: Well, I do a lot of things that go against the grain. I like to push the envelope a bit. I know that this is something that’s not for everyone, but I’m in the position where I can do it. I’m not really trying to make money from my book. I’ve got a full-time job as an attorney which pays my bills. I write for fun. But I also write because I want my words to be read. If they’re not read, they’re not doing much good. This was an opportunity to make my words available to be read by anyone who has access to the Internet, and it was an opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up.

Cheryl: Your book was published through PublishAmerica. My novel, PARK RIDGE, was published through BookLocker, both in trade paperback ($14.95) and as an ebook ($8.95). Both are Print on Demand (POD). Can you tell me about PublishAmerica?

Randy: PublishAmerica hasn’t gotten into the electronic book business. They publish only in trade paperback and in a very few cases, hard cover. The contract that I signed is only for the exclusive right to publish the work in hard and/or soft cover or reprint editions in book form.

Cheryl: How do you respond to folks who say offering it for free will hurt sales of physical copies?

Randy: Where’s the proof? It might hurt sales, but it might help them. If someone happens to read the E-Book, perhaps that person will buy the trade paperback or recommend it to others. Or they’ll become a fan and buy books that I write in the future.

As I noted before, other authors have found success in releasing their books as free E-Books. Heck, you can read most books for free. Just go to your local library. Does having a book in a library hurt sales? Obviously not. The “Harry Potter” books are in every library in America. Doesn’t seem to hurt J.K. Rowling’s sales.

Also, as I noted before, it’s not as if my book is flying off the shelves. It’s not even on most shelves. I wish it were on most shelves, but that’s not the reality for most small- and self-published works. We have to fight to get our works read. This is just part of that fight.

Cheryl: Why choose to give the whole thing away when most authors/publishers only provide sample chapters?

Randy: I don’t want my book only partly read. I want the whole book to be read. This is just one way to get the book read.

It is also my view is that book publishing and marketing is a dinosaur business, and it’s time to open up to new ways. More and more books are being published but fewer and fewer authors are able to make a living from writing alone. Part of the problem is that the book publishing industry has no real stake in authors. They have investments only in the books. This is especially true with print-on-demand books. The vast majority of POD publishers do absolutely nothing for their authors other than publish their books. They’re making money, but the authors aren’t. I don’t have any answers as to what are the best avenues. But I feel that we, as authors, have to be open to new ways and to explore them.

Cheryl: You say that other authors have made similar moves?

Randy: Nick Mamatas recently released his 2004 book, MOVE UNDER GROUND, as a free e-book under a Creative Commons License and Joe Konrath recently released a few of his shorts for free.

Cheryl: Someone else on the forum mentioned Cory Doctorow and I quote:

“Author Cory Doctorow recently wrote an article for Forbes on how he benefits from giving his books away for free electronically and plans to continue to do this with upcoming novels.”

Did these ventures by others influence you? Better yet, did you find these on your own or was it part of the pitch that CUL made to you? 

Randy: I knew of these other ventures. I read just about anything out there that concerns the literary and publishing world. So I wasn’t going in to this with eyes closed. Ultimately, I did this not because others have had success with it, but because I simply wanted to get my book read. Even if it means giving it away for free.

Cheryl: My response after reading the Doctorow article was that it made you look like a marketing genius. Did it make you feel the same way?

Randy: Ha! It certainly made me feel more confident in my decision. But marketing genius? Well, in the short time that my book has been available as an E-Book, I haven’t detected any noticeable boost in sales. I won’t claim genius status until someone reads the E-Book and decides to make it into a movie. Then I’ll truly look like a marketing genius.

Cheryl: There are a lot of other places that feature free ebooks. What makes this different?

Randy: It’s exclusively for self- and small press-published works from the Chicago area. And unlike Project Gutenberg, it’s not devoted to public domain books but to books that are still protected by copyright law.

The CUL has put in place some extra protections for my book. The PDF is watermarked and encrypted so it is only printable at lo-resolution for reference and it cannot be changed or have any text copied from it.

Cheryl: Booklocker has an interesting comment on encrypting. I would be curious about your take on it.

Randy: I’m sure that they’re right. If someone really wanted to break through the encryption, they’d find a way to do it. But I’m not sure that I agree that it is still not worth the effort to put up the hurdle, just to make it a little harder.

Cheryl: Someone else on the forum asked: “The only trouble is still marketing and promotion. How do you get heard? There’s already a lot of free stuff on the Internet.

Randy: I suppose by doing interviews like this one. Basically, you market and promote just like you would your print book. The CUL has helped by promoting my book as their first E-Book. You try to create a buzz, and being the first to do something is always more newsworthy than being second.

Cheryl: How are you as the author marketing your freebie?

I’ve been a bit derelict in my duties in marketing my freebie. Kind of got burnt out on marketing my book in general. But the CUL got the ball rolling by announcing it on their blog and at their myspace site.

That prodded me to announce it on my own blog, which I had shut down at the beginning of the year. Then I announced to the Chicago Writers Association email group. I got people thinking, writing and talking about it, which got me into your forum. So you just try to do what you can. You never know what might catch.

Cheryl: Thanks, Randy. Good luck!

Hey, check out the press release posted on BookCatcher. (It took so long for it to come up that I had forgotten about it.) I thought I came with a pretty spiffy headline for it: Elderly card players make deadly pact, bringing terror to the hometown of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I’ve been wanting to follow up on the poor relationship that POD authors seem to have with Barnes and Noble. So now that I’ve just finished working my way through the first three pages of results from Google for “Barnes and Noble”, POD, author,” I think I’m ready to share with you.

First, I recommend reading what Dianne Anderson had to say in her Guest Post about Murder in the Grove’s association with B&N. Next, I suggest you read “Book Signing Experiences of an Unknown Author” by Dennis Griffin.

He wrote:

“When I had difficulty getting the Community Relations Manager (CRM) at my local Barnes & Noble to return my calls, it should have been apparent that she didn’t consider the presence of my book or me to be critical to the success of her store.”

“When I did finally get a meeting with her, she was pleasant enough, but rather negative. First there was the issue of my book being print on demand (POD). She said POD books were not returnable and the store was not allowed to purchase them. If I wanted to do a signing, I’d have to provide the books and there would be a consignment arrangement with a 70/30 split of the sale price. And my share would be sent from corporate headquarters in six weeks or so.”

In her article, “The Keys to a Barnes & Noble Book Signing,” Sallie Goetsch writes, “The authors who run into real trouble in the distribution department are those with POD books.” Jim Kohl puts it more strongly in his Ripping the Guts out of Print-On-Demand Publishing“:

How about bookstores? Borders will not carr POD titles period. Their distribution woman said, “We have to make a rule because there are so many POD titles, and so the rule is we don’t carry them.” I ran into a similar response from Barnes and Noble, but they referred me to their corporate office, which wants you to send the book and any press it might have gotten, including professional reviews.

In 2003 iUniverse Press issued the following release:
iUniverse Star Titles Now Available in Barnes & Noble Stores
Publisher’s Star Program Delivers Results for Quality Books, Authors

Lincoln, Neb. - Aug. 19, 2003 - Publisher iUniverse today announced that several of the books in its innovative “Star Program” have been selected by Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the nation’s largest bookseller, for retail sale in Barnes & Nobles stores. The titles are now available in Barnes & Noble outlets nationwide.

iUniverse developed the Star Program to invest in and promote books published by iUniverse that demonstrate strong initial sales. In April 2003, Barnes & Nobles endorsed the Star Program as a means for discovering - and bringing to market - promising authors. Barnes & Noble now reviews books that have achieved success within the Star Program for placement on Barnes & Noble shelves.

In “Print-on-Demand, One Year Later” by Adam Barr, author of Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters, he responds:

“The Seattle Times article mentioned that Barnes & Noble owned 49 percent of iUniverse, “opening a huge brick-and-mortar outlet for iUniverse.” The implication was that Barnes & Noble was eager to stock the books.

“The reality is a bit different. Barnes & Noble may at one time have stocked a few iUniverse books, and may even do so now. But in general, it doesn’t, for the same reasons most bookstores won’t.”

In WBJB’s “Truth Behind POD Publishing” Series, if you check under the Highlights of Chapter 4, one of the subtopics is “Publishing with IUniverse vs. Other POD Publishers” by Susan Driscoll, she says:

“Only 14 titles made it into national distribution at Barnes & Noble. … If you want to be in Barnes & Noble at a national level, you have to be traditionally published.”

If you want to know more about how B&N works, catch Tee Morris’s Show #021 - Inside Barnes & Noble (Running Time - 49:57). At 6:45 there’s an interview with Community Relations Manager Annie Hololob. The topics she covers are:

• What exactly is a Community Relations Manager and why are they important to authors?
• Looking into the Barnes & Noble CRM Network
• What CRM’s consider “good signings”
• Bringing something unique to a retailer (i.e. Barnes & Noble)
• Stimulating sales throughout the store
• The importance of doing your own footwork as an author
• Outstanding book signings (and shameless self-plugging…)
• Setting up guidelines for out-of-the-ordinary book signings
• What a CRM looks for from new authors interested in scheduling book signings

A few final thoughts

For those of you who just have to have the satisfaction of seeing your book on the shelves of B&N, consider the following: Morris Rosenthal writes in “Barnes & Noble Had My POD Book On The Shelf!”:

“The title of this post is self explanatory. I stopped in my local Barnes & Noble yesterday to check the stocking of some big trade titles, and was shocked to see my POD printed book of diagnostic flowcharts on the shelf! My guess is that somebody must have special ordered it and then never returned to pick it up… .”

Joel Eisenberg shares his secrets in “How to Get Your Self-Published Print-on-Demand Book into Barnes & Noble.”

It’s old news that Starbucks shopped Mitch Albom’s book in their stores. According to Publishers Weekly, Starbucks sold 45,000 copies and ordered more! Another article from Publishers Weekly has this to say:

Starbucks Adds Buzz to the Book Biz
“Books and coffee have gone together since long before the chains got hooked on Starbucks. So it made sense when, in August, Starbucks’ entertainment division, lead by Ken Lombard, announced that it would begin selling a small number of titles in its 5,400 stores, starting with Mitch Albom’s For One More Day.

“The move unsettled some booksellers, who were none too happy to see yet another nonbook retailer join the ranks of their competition. But for publishers, getting a book in front of the coffee merchant’s 44 million caffeinated customers each week represented a huge opportunity. Even better—Starbucks bought the book nonreturnable. And Starbucks has proved an able bookseller, selling some 70,000 copies of the book since October 3.”

I mention this because of the experience that Michael Murphy blogged about in his Guest Post. Murphy’s comments on the forum caused a real flurry of excited exchanges. Here’s some:

“I have some questions — help me out. Who were the buyers of the book? Were they just the people who came specifically for the signing or mostly walk in customers? Also, did you bring your own books or did Starbucks order them in. If you brought yours, what kind of deal money wise did you make with the manager.”

Murphy’s responses:

“I think the Starbucks manager and I both learned some things yesterday that we could have done differently to improve the process. Very few were Starbucks customers who bought their coffee and wandered over to our table. She said afterward that she should have posted the poster of the event sooner and she’s going to check with her district manager next to to see if she can hand out book mark flyers a couple weeks before the event. Those who attended came as a result of two newspaper articles in the local papers the previous three weeks. I think if it was just Starbucks customers without the PR, we probably would have sold two or three books. I’d do it again, and probably will, just different.

“I forgot to answer two of your questions. I brought my own books and sold them myself. Starbucks didn’t take anything from it, but they probably had a hundred more customers than they would have and probably half of them bought $4 coffee.”

And lest you think coffee shops are the only place for authors, there’s this from the New York Times:

SEATTLE, May 10 — On a sunny spring afternoon, Debra Dean, a
first-time author, perched on a table before a lunchtime crowd of about 40 to read passages from her newly published historical novel, “The Madonnas of Leningrad.” The group listened, seemingly riveted, then asked questions about her research into the Nazi siege of Leningrad and the collections of that city’s Hermitage Museum. Afterward, nearly everybody lined up to buy books.It was all fairly standard for a bookstore reading. Except it wasn’t at a bookstore: Ms. Dean was appearing in a dull conference room at the corporate headquarters of Starbucks, the coffee-house giant. With authors fiercely battling for attention in a media-saturated world, an increasing number of writers — from first-time novelists like Ms. Dean to celebrities like Madeleine K. Albright, the former Secretary of State — are visiting people where they spend much of their time: at work.” [my emphasis]

I lurk on the forum Murder Must Advertise (I recommend it for mystery authors!). Recently I read a story about a book signing at Starbucks that inspired me and generated a lot of discussion as well. I popped an email off to the gentleman who created the stir, Michael Murphy, and asked if he would do a Guest Post. He graciously agreed to do so. The following is what he has to say:

“Sorry it’s taken so long to get back with you about my very fist book signing for my debut novel, Try and Catch the Wind.

Cheryl, I decided to inquire about doing a Starbucks booksigning, because I’d spent considerable time there relaxing and working on my manuscript. The manager knew I was a writer and before the book came out, I discussed with her the possibility of a signing. She was enthusiastic and secure enough in her position to make the arrangements with me without having to run it up her chain of command. We gave her a poster of the event which she put on her front door.

The book signing was part of an overall PR campaign. I was successful in obtaining an interview from the local weekly paper, the Glendale Star (Arizona)

Local author publishes first in mystery series
“Michael Murphy moved to Glendale in 1954 as a young boy, attended Glendale High School, graduated from Cortez High in 1968, and majored in journalism at Arizona State University. But he did not pursue a writing career after graduation…” [I include these as sample, ed.]

and the local daily, The Arizona Republic.

AUTHOR PUBLISHES 1ST NOVEL 02/17/2007
“Michael Murphy is a numbers man by day, but he pounds away on his keyboard by night. The Glendale resident just published his first novel, Try and Catch the Wind, with five more scheduled for publication …”

Both articles mentioned the book signing. Utilizing guerilla marketing tactics, my wife made up flyers and hung them on doors around our neighborhood. We also posted announcements at local grocery store community information bulletin boards. 

The Starbucks book signing was on a Saturday and by arrangement from 10 am to noon. We attracted approximately 100 visitors to the booth and sold 31 books in the two hours, and gave away bookmarks. My wife had made a display board with a sell sheet, copies of the newspaper articles, reviews of Try and Catch the Wind, and summaries of my two upcoming books. You can view the board [Other photos as well!].

Many attendees said they’d read about the book signing in the newspaper. The manager was pleased. A week later she told us she did a thousand dollars more in business than she normally does. She also wants to do more to help market it the next time, such as passing out flyers to customers a couple of weeks before the event.

As I mentioned, this was part of an overall PR campaign. My wife has done a terrific job of producing PR materials, some of which I’ve mentioned. The most effective is a tri-fold brochure.

Michael Murphy
Try and Catch the Wind, Wings ePress
Suspense is just a click away…

My thanks to Mike for his post. You might also want to view his Book Trailer

A while ago I wrote about the happy accidents that some time occur when you’re writing (Unnerved). I could envy the people who know down to the most minute detail what they’re going to write for a particular character and how it works with the rest of story. But I don’t.

I’ve been typing away about a party — who was there, what they were wearing, etc. At the end of the party, everyone goes home but the murder victim, whose body is found the next day. That was my plan. Hadn’t thought any farther than that. I figured the words would just come and all I would need to do is give it a nudge now and then.

So, here I am typing in the description of this character (it’s a Halloween party). Then I said to myself, hmm, the wife. What’s his wife wearing? Does it match his outfit? I took a break for lunch before I answered it. And then, voila, right in the middle of a game of solitaire, it hit me. If he’s there with his wife, well, duh! She’s gonna notice that he’s not there to drive her home.

I made him a widower. How that will impact the story farther on done the line, I have no idea.

I received a request from an interviewer a few days ago. He was looking for material that he could sift through to begin forming his questions. Thanks! I appreciate that. At least I’m guaranteed the interview will be thoughtful — the interviewer obviously is.

I sent him to various places: the Author page at my website, the About page here on my blog. I gave him the URL of my best book review.

Then I started thinking. I’ve said so little about the other things that I am interested in or that I’ve done. Maybe the folks reading the interview would like to know some of those things. I’m a big fan of Emily Dickinson. My second Christmas break in grad school I started a website called Dickinson Stuff. I did a clipart illustration of “My Period had come for prayer,” a cartoon-type meditations, or the explication, or listen to Civil War-era music that fits the meter Dickinson used.

The research eventually evolved into an independent study of Theodora Van Wagenen Ward, an early Dickinson scholar, one of the few women to tackle dating Dickinson’s manuscripts. I’ve put a good year and a half into writing Ward’s biography. (Now, if I could just finish up on this fiction-stuff …)

Back to material for the interview. I used to be a lieutenant (pastor) in The Salvation Army. I used that background to create a project for a class in Rhetoric.

The cartoons for the poem and the mention of grad school reminded me of another project I did for Composition Theory. The entire thing is cartoons, one of which was picked up as an illustration for a report on Machine Learning Methods in High-Throughput Biological Data Analysis at Harvard.