Memoir & More - New Class in Wilmington!

I love teaching (almost) as much as writing (sometimes more!), so I'm happy to announce my next class, just in time to get summer rolling. 

Memoir and More: Writing Literary Nonfiction

Hosted by Pomegranate Books

Pomegranate Books, 4418 Park Ave, Wilmington, NC

(910) 452-1107

4 Saturdays - June 7, 14, 21, 28 ~~ 1-3 p.m.

(Limit 8 students) Class fee -- $75.

This class will focus on nonfiction writing: memoir, biography, personal essay, lyric essay. The names don't matter - this is nonfiction that tells a story or reflects on experience through language. This very broad genre includes writing about travel, nature, environment, cultures, people, and much more. Life!

We will spend some time each week looking at a selected piece of nonfiction writing with an eye to surveying the wide range of styles, subjects, and techniques available to us. Students who care to will have the opportunity to share work and receive feedback. (No one is required to share.) We will also spend some time on deep revision, which is where the real work - and fun! - of writing unfolds.

This four-week class offers a safe environment in which generate ideas, to write, to receive feedback from your peers and the instructor, and to read and respond to your classmates’ work. 

There is no required reading, but I will make suggestions, because writers read.  
If you are interested, please call or visit Pomegranate Books to register; seats are limited, and payment in full is required to hold your place. Feel free to tell others who may be interested.
Have a creative May!

Questions? Click here to Email Sheila. 

Where In the World is Sheila Blogging Today? Part II

I've just wrapped up the second week of my blog tour celebrating release of The Money Bird, Animals in Focus Mystery #2, which is now available. 

The Money Bird rejoins animal photographer Janet MacPhail, her Australian Shepherd Jay, and her orange tabby Leo, who got their start as amateur sleuths last year in Drop Dead on Recall.  You can learn more about the books on my Mysteries Page. They are both available from your local bookseller and online in paperback and ebook editions. (DropDead on Recall is also available as an audio book from Audible.com and in large print. If you would like an autographed copy of any of my books for yourself or to give as a gift, you can order one from Pomegranate Books.

Before we get to the nitty gritty of my virtual tour, I'd like to thank Lori at Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours again for arranging these visits for me last week. Check out the other tours on her calendar, and her own blog, too, while you're at it. At the end of the tour, I'll be giving away three books! Check it out at the blogs listed below (click the blog titles - the links are live) or on Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.

Here's where the tour bus stopped this past week:

• September 9 - Kaisy Daisy's Corner - short review and links to the giveaway, tour stops, and more
• September 10 - Melina's Book Blog - my thoughts on plotting the individual books in a series, and the series itself, plus a synopsis of The Money Bird and a review of the book.
• September 11 -  Read Your Writes - "Ten Facts About Janet MacPhail," the 50+ protagonist of the Animals in Focus mystery series, and a review here. How well do you know Janet?
• September 12 - readalot - review and links.

And here's where we were the week before. 

• September 2 - Shelley's Book Case - interview about my background, my inspiration for this book, and a few other things, plus a short review
• September 3 - rantin' ravin' and reading - my take on balancing serious issues with fiction meant to entertain, plus a review by Kate Eileen Shannons, who says The Money Bird is "Very, very funny. The Animals in Focus Mystery series is going to be one to follow.  ♥♥♥♥♥"
• September 4 - A Blue Million Books - interview about the book's title, characters, and more, plus what I'm working on, what I read, and the five real people I'd like with me if I were stuck in a bookstore! You can read the first chaper of The Money Bird, too. 
• September 5 - Omnimystery - interview about my 50-something protagonist, Janet MacPhail, her Aussie Jay, and her orange tabby Leo, plus my writing process and my advice to aspiring authors. 
• September 6 - Mochas, Mysteries and More - why I made my protagonist a nature/animal photographer, as well as a review from Melissa, who says, "This is one of my very favorite animal-related cozy series on the market today."

You can keep up with new stops on the tour by following my Facebook Page, Website, and Amazon Author Page. I'll be doing a few other guest posts, too, that are not part of this tour, but little side trips. I hope to see you there! (Comments on the blogs are always welcome!)

My books are available in print & ebook formats from the usual sources. Drop Dead on Recall is available in audio format from Audible.com, with The Money Bird to follow soon. If you would like a personally autographed copy of any of my mysteries, or my nonfiction book Rescue Matters!, you can order here. 

Guest Author Richard Brawer Asks "What If Your Publisher Goes Out of Business?"

We live in what the Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times" might mean - chaotic, changing, even scary - and for those of us involved with publishing in one way or another, "interesting" barely gets us started. Many new opportunities are opening, but the ride to whatever our future may be is rocky at times. My guest today is Richard Brawer, who wrote here recently about fiction becoming reality. Today Richard tells us how he responded when his publisher went out of business. Richard is also giving away books - details at the end of his post.  ~ Sheila

WHAT IF YOUR PUBLISHER GOES OUT OF BUSINESS?

by Richard Brawer

Three years ago I had found a wonderful publisher in L & L Dreamspell. They were highly professional, paid an advance and their royalties came right on time.

L & L Dreamspell was run by women, Lisa and Linda, who were life-long friends. Sadly, Linda passed away from cancer and Lisa could not go on with the company. She promptly returned my rights, provided the e-book format for my books, pulled all the books off sale from every venue, and closed the company.

One more thing she did before closing was to contact other publishers and advise her authors that those publishers may be interested in taking on their books. I contacted a couple of those publishers referred by L & L Dreamspell and I found one receptive to my books. However, the publisher said I would have to go to the back of the line and that my books would not be re-published for a year. That was fair, but distressing having the two books off sale for a year.

I considered posting the books on Amazon.com’s KDP as my e-books had sold 10 to 1 to trade paperback. But what about the fabulous reviews the books had received? How could I get them to the new versions?

With Amazon being such a stickler about who posts reviews, I could not post them myself. Nor could I find the original reviewer. It is very rare that a reviewer leaves a contact e-mail address. Even if they did, I wonder how receptive a person who reviewed my book would be to re-posting it again under the new book version.

So I contacted Amazon.com. The following is the e-mail I sent to clarify their policy:

I received some unfortunate news that my publisher is going out of business. I have retained the rights to the books I had with them. Because Amazon never seems to remove a book from its library regardless of whether Amazon has been told the book is no longer available, I was thinking be changing the title and the cover of the books, and re-publishing my books on KDP.

What happens to the reviews? Are the reviews transferable to the KDP version?

Here is Amazon.com’s answer.

When a detail page is created, it becomes a permanent catalog page on Amazon.com that will remain even if the creator’s inventory sells out or the book is delisted.

I can suggest we link the old and new book in one title set (which means the same title) so that they can share reviews.

This means that the newly listed book will have its designated product page but the two books will share the same reviews.

We link different editions, bindings, formats or color variations of a product in our system to make it easier for customers to find the version they're looking for. Our intention is to provide all the relevant review information we possibly can, regardless of the version. As a result, the same reviews can appear on the product detail pages for all versions.

I now had a big decision to make. I could...

Go with the new publisher:

Pro: If I got in with a new publisher they might take on my latest book I had just finished and had planned to submit to L & L Dreamspell.

Con: The current books would be out of publication for a year. Also, what if the new publisher ended up going out of business like the old publisher?  Small independent publishers come and go. I posted a message on a few author groups asking about this publisher. No one had ever heard of them or published with them.

Post the same book with KDP with the same covers. (L & L also released the covers to their authors.)

Pro: The reviews would also be listed with the new “version” as Amazon.com called it.

Con: When a reader puts a book’s title in the search box, both “versions” of my book would come up. I researched Amazon and found there were occasionally two books by the same author and with the same cover and title. That seemed confusing to me and I am an author. It might be even more confusing to a potential reader.

Change the titles and covers and post the books on Amazon.com KDP.

Pro: The price would be a lot cheaper than what L & L Dreamspell had been selling them for. My cost would be small, two new covers.

Con: What do I do about the reviews? There would be none under the new titles. There would be no trade paperback version unless I also self published it that way. The cost for publishing a trade paperback could run hundreds of dollars. (For reasons too long to explain here, I could not get the trade paperback format from the publisher.)

As I had done no promotion for these books since I was advised of the publisher’s closing, I chose to create new titles and covers and post the books on KDP. I felt I was not sacrificing that many sales from people who might be looking for the original book. And now I am starting to talk about the new versions on blogs and sites like Sheila’s.

I handled the review problem in two ways. First, in the description of the book on the Amazon.com page I included review excerpts, referred to my website for the full reviews, said previously published as… and gave an explanation for changing the cover and title so those who had bought the book under the old title would not buy it again.

Should a buyer have missed the explanation, they most likely would realize it’s the same book when they clicked on the “look inside” tab on Amazon. If all that failed and a previous reader of the books realized they had read the new “version” of the book, I knew they could return the e-book to Amazon. It’s an easy process.

The second way I am handling the reviews is to ask for more. I am giving away 20 copies each of The PAC Conspiracy (formerly Keiretsu) and The Nano Experiment (formerly Beyond Guilty).

There are three conditions for me to gift you a book:

1. You can only ask for one of the books.
2. You must have a KINDLE or any e-reader, computer, Apple or Android device that has a KINDLE APP, or any TABLET that can access KINDLE books.
3. You must read the book within 30 days after I gift it to you, write a review and post it on Amazon.com. Of course I am not telling you what kind of review to write, but you must post one.

Please go to my website, www.silklegacy.com to read the book jackets, reviews, excerpts and more for The PAC Conspircy and The Nano Experiment to see if you are truly interested in reading them. If you are you can scroll down to the bottom of the tabs on the left to “Contact” and e-mail me requesting a book.

If you want to go the Amazon pages for these books here are the links.

The PAC Conspiracy 

The Nano Experiment

Richard Brawer writes mystery, suspense and historical fiction novels. When not writing, he spends his time sailing and growing roses.  He has two married daughters and lives in New Jersey with his wife.

Mother's Day Gifts for Everyone!

I plan to spend the weekend reading the page proofs of The Money Bird, my second Animals in Focus Mystery, which will be out in September. It's the sequel to Drop Dead on Recall and features many of the same characters. Fifty-something photographer and animal lover Janet MacPhail is back, if course, with her Australian Shepherd, Jay, and her orange tabby, Leo. Professor and major hunk Tom Saunders and his black Labrador Retriever, Drake, are busy training for a retriever event along with a bunch of other water-loving dogs. Goldie and Mom are back, and Giselle, and the twins.... Well, you'll just have to read the book, I guess!

In the meantime, here are a couple of free short stories featuring Janet and Jay, and quirky Alberta Shofelter. Jay wears his tracking harness and puts his superpowers to work in both stories. Okay, normal canine powers - but he isn't a protagdog for nothing!)

Tracks

 "It all started when Alberta Shofelter asked me to shoot her dog. She offered triple my usual fee plus expenses and said that Jay could come along, so of course I agreed. Then the whole project whirled out of my control, and I found myself headed for an overnight ordeal in a Speedway motel."

 

Click here for the rest of the story.

 

 

"Tracks" appeared originally in Racing Can Be Murder, an anthology published by the Speed City Sisters in Crime (Indianapolis).

Missing Gypsy 

 

 

"Someone is out to get Alberta Shofelter. They’ve egged her new SUV and sprayed 'crazy cat lady' across her garage door. The diminutive calico she took in three weeks ago has been missing since last night, and Alberta is sure “they” have escalated to catnapping. I shove my cell into my pocket and watch Jay try to comfort Alberta. She isn’t quite weeping, but the little noises she makes are heart-rending."

  

"Missing Gypsy first appeared on Victoria Dougherty's "Cold" blog - click here for the rest of the story. 

.
Have a terrific weekend, and come back on Monday to find out how my guest, Gerald Elias, combines music and mystery. You won't be sorry!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Autographed copies of my mysteries, Drop Dead on Recall and The Money Bird (pre-order), as well as Rescue Matters: How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals are available from Pomegranate Books in Wilmington, NC.

 Click Here to Order.

 

 

 

Heaven is Rescuing Older Dogs - Guest Author Monica Agnew-Kinnaman

I'm delighted for a whole slew of reasons to welcome author Monica Agnew-Kinnaman to "nonfiction Wednesday" today. First, her book So This Is Heaven: How Rescuing Old or Unwanted Dogs Provided a Touch of Heaven on Earth is about two subjects dear to my own heart -- animal rescue, and "mature" or otherwise unwanted dogs. Beyond that, Monica is 95 years young and, as you'll see when you read her bio, could undoutbedly write another couple of fascinating memoirs of her well-lived life. And just look at these lovely and loving dogs! (More on adopting older dogs below.) I'll leave it there - welcome, Monica.  ~ Sheila



I already have two "rescues" and today I am waiting for another canine victim to arrive. The year is 2009 and my latest guest, the one I am now waiting for, is an aging Old English Sheepdog. I know little about her except that she has spent her life caged in a "puppy mill", giving birth every six months. Countless pregnancies have taken their toll and now, at eight years old, she is no longer able to produce healthy puppies. Consequently, useless to the breeder and taking up valuable space, she was slated to be destroyed. A concerned sheepdog rescue group learned of her fate but their facility, already overcrowded with unwanted dogs, had no room for her. They called me.
 



As I stand at the window, gazing out at the Colorado winter landscape, I think of the many dogs I have loved, now all long gone. Little snowflakes are drifting lazily down, heralding a storm to come, and the van bringing the dog is past due. The long wait is getting tedious and my mind starts to wander. While I reminisce fondly about the past I find myself being transported back in time to another century, another place, another dog.

 

 

 It is now the late nineteen twenties and I am ten years old, standing on the steps of a mansion on Duchy Road, the closely guarded bastion of the super-rich in Yorkshire, England. A tall figure in a butler's uniform is gazing down at me, no doubt wondering what business this small person, who had arrived unannounced, could possibly have with his employer.

 

"I hear you are going to kill your dog. I have come to take him," I blurt out, with no preamble.

From So This Is Heaven, Chapter 1

 

 

Jess, 11 years young, doing what Border Collies do!

More from Monica

 

I have had an assortment of animals all my life, and over the years have taken in many abused and abandoned dogs, but it is only within the last fifteen years or so that I have concentrated on OLD dogs. I found that most people adopting from rescue operations, such as the pound, wanted only young dogs and puppies. The old dogs, however sweet and loving, didn't stand a chance. They invariably ended up being "put down."  So I started to look for old abandoned dogs that no one wanted, and who had never known any love or kind treatment. This was not only at the Humane Society but wherever I found them. That is what "So This Is Heaven" is all about.

 

I hope people will read about these wonderful senior citizens and go to the pound, specifically to adopt an old unwanted dog and shower it with love. Or if they are unable to take a dog, find an abused cat or even a rabbit!

 

 

 

Monica Agnew-Kinnaman was born in England and served in a British anti -aircraft regiment during WW II. She came to America sixty years ago on vacation and met her future husband. They moved to Colorado where she has lived ever since. Monica has a son and a daughter, both married. She has had dogs all her life but after her husband died she decided to take OLD abused and abandoned dogs that were destined be destroyed. She is now 95 and lives with Lilly, an Old English Sheepdog, fourteen years old, and Jess, an eleven-year-old Border Collie. Her e-book can be found on Amazon at So This is Heaven or at the publisher's website at Alpine Publications. A paperback version is currently available only by contacting the publisher, but a link to order the book in paperback will be posted on their site soon.

 

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Note: There is nothing like the love of an older dog, and few things quite so uplifting as watching a dog who has gone for years without basic love and affection blossom in a nurturing environment. The same is true for cats, horses, rabbits....all social animals. To learn more, I recommend that you visit The Senior Dog Project, The Grey Muzzle Organization, and your local shelters and rescue groups.

 

Alpine Publications offers a full line of non-fiction books on dogs and horses to help people succeed with their canine and equine activities. If you are interested involved with rescue, or interested in helping in some way, check out my book Rescue Matters: How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals, available in paperback and ebook formats from the publisher, and in paperback, ebook, large-print, and Audible formats from amazon.com.

 

I'm Sunny, and I approve this message.
I came to live with Sheila and Roger, and my Lab sister Lily,
last November at 11.5 years. I'm so glad that
Golden Retriever Rescue Club of Charlotte took me in
and, after almost 8 years living with people who ignored me,
found me a home where I have my own bed, lots of tennis balls,
and CHEESE. I might not be here too many more years, but
the love I leave along my path will last forever.
Do something good for your heart ~ adopt or foster an older pet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Roots of Writing

This is the story of how we begin to remember
This is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein
After the dream of falling and calling your name out
These are the roots of rhythm
And the roots of rhythm remain

                                                Paul Simon, "Under African Skies"

I was listening to Paul Simon's Graceland album the other day. I'm also teaching a class called "Write Your Memoir," and I recently wrote a reflective "artist's statement" about my own writing career. Perhaps its the timely confluence of the three streams that has kept the refrain from "Under African Skies" (above) flowing through my head as I ponder its meaning.

This is the story of how we begin to remember. It's a story essential to all creativity if not meaningful life itself. Certain forms of writing - memoir, history, biography, for instance - are overtly centered on the past as conjured through memory and research. But that fact is that all writing, even sci fi set in the future and "pure" nonfiction, draw on memory. Unless we have profound amnesia or some other problem, we can't not use memory.

Still, some memories are slippery. Some are only partially formed, while others hide from us. And if you've ever compared your memories of events with those of your family or friends, you probably agree that some memories are shapeshifters, taking different forms for different people. That's because we are by nature story tellers, and "story" is more than a recounting of events. Story gives shape to those events, and the teller of the story selects details to include, omit, expand, pare down, change. But I digress.

So how do we begin to remember? Here are a few ideas that work for me:

• Freewrite. This is nothing new, but if you haven't let yourself go in a stream-of-consciousness freewrite for a while (or ever?), give it a try. I tell my students that any length of time is better than none, but I find that the magic begins to happen after twenty or thirty minutes for me. This is true whether I'm truly freewriting or I'm composing a piece of writing that I think has a specific focus or form.
• Walk. Or do something else that involves repetitive physical activity but leaves your mind mostly free. Leave the earbuds, the dog, and the friend/SO at home, turn off the tv is you're on a treadmill. Just move and let your mind go where it will. I've solved many a writing problem while walking. Try it.
• Look. At pictures. Pull out your old albums (or, if you're like me, the boxes of photos you will someday put into albums!) and see where the pictures take you. Make notes about memories that come to you. If you're trying to conjure a specific time period, go to the library or online and find photos from that period. Both the public images of various media and more private images that you can dig up may stir a lot of memories.
• Listen. Music is a terrific door into memory. Most of us associate certain songs with specific times, places, people, events. Find "top twenty" lists from the time you want to enter and make yourself a play list. YouTube, by the way, is superb for this - I've spent hours surfing videos of young Elvis and Grace Slick and Boy George and - oh, I could go on and on!

 

There are lots more techniques, of course - brainstorming, mind mapping, and so on - but that should get us started. Have a creative day! I'm off now to dig into the roots of my own rhythms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Come back Wednesday, when my guest Monica Agnew-Kinneman will be telling us about her book So This is Heaven and a subject dear to my own heart, the joys of adopting older animals.

Guest Author C. Hope Clark on Setting Fiction "Out in the Sticks"

I'm delighted to welcome C. Hope Clark as my guest today. If you have seriously explored resources for writers, you already know about her website FundsforWriters.com, selected by Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Websites for Writers for the last 12 years. Her newsletters reach 35,000 readers. She is also author of The Carolina Slade Mystery Series, as well as The Shy Writer and The Shy Writer Reborn, how-to guides for the introverted writer in a noisy publishing world. To learn more, visit www.fundsforwriters.com  and  www.chopeclark.com  And if you'd like to know more about the Carolina Low Country setting of Clark's mysteries, check out the links at the end of this post. Frogmore Stew? Really?  ~ Sheila

 

When a Mystery Leaves the City Lights

 

by C. Hope Clark

In the Carolina Slade Mystery Series, Slade investigates agricultural crime. Death, murder, fraud, you name the crime, happens in the country as easily as in the city, only in more unique manners. And yes, there is a federal agency that specializes in agricultural crime.

A bribe in Lowcountry Bribe turns deadly as landowners die shortly after deeding away their farms. Children are kidnapped. Two attempted rapes. Murder by shotgun in a barn. The hog farmer isn’t quite the hayseed he likes people to believe he is. Then in Tidewater Murder, fraud and embezzlement become wound around voodoo, drugs, and modern day slavery leading to bodies in deep, dark, coastal water.

Out in the sticks, as some people call it, people think they can get away with, well, murder. Wide open spaces give ample chance for body disposal, and rural residents often possess talents and wiles a city dweller can’t imagine. Often that naiveté by urban types gives those rural folks greater odds of getting away with that murder.

Who knows what happens in vacant barns, forty miles from town? Or in distant marshes along the edge of property nobody ever sees from an Interstate? Ever wondered what would happen if you broke down on a two-lane road and had to knock on an old farm house? Most people assume a sweet couple comes to the door, offering lemonade to offset the summer heat, when they could be serial killers with a dozen bodies at the bottom of an irrigation pond, or buried two-feet down in mud and feces, half-eaten by hogs.

The American countryside has an ample supply of heroes and villains. A wide porch on a white-washed home doesn’t necessarily interpret into homespun. That genteel man with the farmer’s tan, John Deere hat and boots could make a girl’s heart beat faster as the perfect gent with strong arms and hands, but he might perform all sorts of sick, maniacal deeds deep in the woods.

On the other hand, the rural countryside, in its wide-open, fresh air image, can steal one’s breath. The smell of autumn in a harvested field or fresh-turned soil in the spring. The undulating waves across a soybean field. Cardinals, wrens and larks singing morning songs. The freedom of letting a dog run for miles, and the beauty of a sun-set from that wooden porch swing. Standing on the edge of a lake watching a heron swoop in like some prehistoric bird.

Then there’s the history factor. In Tidewater Murder, we learn about the Gullah culture, and how Gullah predecessors on St. Helena Island were the first slaves freed in the Civil War, allowing them in 1861 to assume control of farmlands, successfully raising rice and indigo. In Charleston, in trying to solve the land control mystery, we learn how General Sherman’s march through the state burned many records, a perpetual reminder of the northern domination of the time.

And who can overlook the food? Every locale has cuisine specialities. Frogmore stew, fried green tomatoes, shrimp, even barbecue assume a role in Slade’s stories. Fresh vegetables and home cooking.

A writer can take any profession, say farming, plop it into almost any setting, say the rural South, define the culture and history, and have a wonderful, colorful, mind-boggling tale. It’s all in the telling. No longer do we need our mysteries only in Los Angeles, Chicago or New York. Hollywood, South Carolina may not be the glitter and gold of its sister city in California, but you might find a whole new world well worth the visit, with crimes you never thought possible, performed by mannerly people you swore were pure Americana. Which is why you never see the evil coming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Opening to Tidewater Murder

One of the sharpest rural loan managers we had, Savannah Conroy slung attitude like paint on a canvas, wore sweaters like a Hollywood starlet, and managed an office like Steve Jobs. They’d built the Beaufort office around her to harness that charisma, and then added two more counties to keep her busy.

I glared at the new permanent marker stain on my carpet, as this Beaufort wonder shrieked in my ear. My breakfast, a bowl of instant grits with no butter, sat like a rock in my gut. My empty twenty-two-foot rental truck sat outside my apartment, awaiting boxes I’d packed for a week. Thunder rumbled. It started to rain.

Days didn’t come any more thrilling than this.

I pulled the phone further from my ear. “Savvy,” I said. “Chill. What’s wrong with you?”

“Monroe’s ransacking my files, Slade. He won’t answer my questions when I ask what he’s snooping for.” She exhaled hard. “He’s not listening to me.!”

“Dammit,” I grumbled, sitting on the floor and dabbing at the marker stain with a paper towel. “Maybe you need to ask nice.” 

 

“Bite me,” she replied.

 

The sky roiled with angry, gunmetal gray clouds. Trees arched. Wind whistled as it whipped around the building, warning me Mother Nature ruled my moving day.

 

Want to learn more about the culture of The Carolina Slade Mysteries?

·         The Gullah/Geechee Corridor - http://gullahgeecheecorridor.org/

·         Recipe for Frogmore Stew - http://charlestongateway.com/recipes/frogmore-stew/

·         Recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/fried-green-tomatoes-recipe/index.html

·         Certified SC Grown - http://www.certifiedscgrown.com/

·         Edisto Island Preservation Alliance - http://preserveedisto.org/index.html

·         US Department of Agriculture Inspector General’s Office - http://www.usda.gov/oig/index.htm

 

 

C. Hope Clark is editor of FundsforWriters.com, selected by Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Websites for Writers for the last 12 years. Her newsletters reach 35,000 readers. She is also author of The Carolina Slade Mystery Series, as well as The Shy Writer and The Shy Writer Reborn, how-to guides for the introverted writer in a noisy publishing world. www.fundsforwriters.com / www.chopeclark.com She’s published by Bell Bridge Books out of Memphis, TN.

 

 

Ten Ways to Help the Authors You Love

Authors are a needy bunch. We need time without distractions for our work. We need stimulation of various kinds (not necessarily ingested) to keep our creative juices flowing. We need readers, and that means we need a way to help readers find our books, articles, poems, plays.

Helping our favorite authors steer readers to their books may seem sort of irrelevant for us as readers, but it's not. Writing is hard work, and most authors really do want that work to bear fruit critically and financially.

For the authors among us, helping our fellow scribblers is the best thing we can do. We are not in competition with one another ~ after all, books and other publications are like the chips we munch while we read. No, we are in competition with all the other distractions of modern life. So encouraging people to read our peers books helps us, too. Besides, it's good karma.

So what can you do to help an author or three? Here are some ideas. Feel free to add more in your comments.

Buy books. This is obvious. What may not be obvious is that it matters how you buy them. Here are my preferences when possible:

1. Independent bookstores -- these are the places where people know and love books, and they are usually vital participants in their communities. Don't know an Indie near you? Try the IndieBound Indie Store Finder.
2. Online -- books, especially the newer ones, are often discounted by Internet booksellers. I encourage your to buy new books rather than used, though, at least part of the time -- the authors make nothing from sales of their used books.
3. Directly from the author if she or he offers books for sale. (We don't all do that, at least not all the time.)

Don't buy books. I'm serious. If you don't want to buy certain books, see if your library has them. If they don't have a book you want to read, ask them to order it.

Buy, but go to the library, too! Even if you do want a book in your own collection (or, like me, you like to write in the margins as you read!), check that your local libraries have the books you like.

Talk to booksellers. When you're in a bookstore, especially an Indie (where people tend to really care about books), be sure to let the booksellers know about books and authors you really like. If you like them, other readers will like them, too, and some of the stores will add those books to their inventories.

Write reviews. Reviews on amazon.com and other sites help other readers decide what to read, and may help make a book more visible when people search the sites. Be honest, but please also be civil and fair. For instance, I don't know what is gained by slamming a book for what it is not, as the reader did who complained that my cozy mystery didn't have enough sex in it.

Click "Like." Ever notice the Like buttons on amazon and other retail sites? If you like a book, click that button! It does some sort of magic in the grand digital scheme of things and helps the book rise to the searchable surface. Many author's also have author pages on various retail sites, and those pages also have Like buttons. If you like an author's work, like her author page. (Here's mine on amazon - subtle, eh?)

Follow authors. No, I'm not suggesting you stalk anyone. But most authors have one or more online method for letting their readers know what they're up to - Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and other social media sites for a start. Most authors also have websites, and many have blogs and newsletters. (Another hint - those are live links that will take you my thingies.)

Go to Readings & Events. Support author readings and book signings when you can, even the ones you've never heard of. You might discover a book or writer you didn't know before, or learn something fascinating about the subject of a book or an author's path to publication or....who knows? Most such events are free. If you're an author, you can also learn more about what makes a successful event by attending those you can.

Tell Your Friends. If you like a book or author, tell your friends. Despite all the crazy digital marketing whirling around us these days, word of mouth (or word of your own social media presence) is still the best way for readers to find books and authors. If an author you're following posts something interesting, share it on your wall.

Drop the Author a Note. Really. Writing can be a very lonely business. We work, sometimes for years, on a book or other piece of writing, and if we're lucky enough to publish it, we send it out into the world and it never writes back. But you can. If a piece of writing moves you, or helps you, or makes you laugh out loud, and keeps you up all night because you have to read just one more chapter, let the author know that the work did what it was meant to do: it touched another human being.

Do you have more suggestions? Please share in a comment!

Oh, and one more thing. Share this blog!

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Come back on Monday - author C. Hope Clark, author of The Shy Writer and The Shy Writer Reborn and maven of the Funds for Writers, will be here to tell us what happens when murder leaves the big city lights. We'll have an excerpt of Tidewater Murder, her newest Carolina Slade mystery set in the low country of South Carolina.

Have a creative weekend!