Friends of the Library are friends of mine

I went to the Wethersfield Friends of the Library tonight to see Author Judith Ivie speak.  I figured that I should start checking out these engagements since I will be doing such a speaking engagement for the Enfield Friends of the Library next May.  I like to write.  I do not like to speak.  Since I volunteered to do so in May, I wanted to start somewhere.  I sat down in the Community Room at the Wethersfield Library and listened as Judith spoke about the publishing companies today versus how they once were.  She further discussed the Print On Demand (POD) process which most small publishers are gravitating to.  That’s how my publishing company works.  If someone orders a book, then they print a book.  I then raised my hand and made a comment about my small publisher, and she asked the name of my book.  I told her it was “Strapped Into An American Dream” and that she was right about Authors having to do the marketing if they want their book to sell. I told her that I was going to market my book, and I picked it up from the seat next to me and held it up for the room of about 30 people to see, waving it about.  They all got a kick out of that, then the whispering began and people around me leaned over to ask if they could take a look.  After the people around me got a look, while Judith Ivie continued answering questions, the session came to a close.  Then people started coming up to me asking to see it, writing down the title, telling me they saw my story in Wethersfield Life and the Wethersfield Post, and several people told me that they were going to buy it online. This was a very satisfying hour of my time.  I got some ideas for my own speaking engagement, did some marketing, sold some books, and made some friends at the library.  I highly recommend sitting in with Friends of the Library.  I know I will, and not just again in Wethersfield, but in surrounding towns.  What happened tonight can be multiplied by the number of towns I visit.  The Friends of the Library presented a very enjoyable evening, and authors take note.

Authors must promote their own books too

I ran my zip code through a system which locates small bookstores,  and found a couple within 10 miles from my house. The first one in Hartford, CT was a cafe with bookshelves in a very seedy area. The next one was The Book Rack in Vernon next to a very busy deli at a strip mall. I walked in and asked the woman sitting behind an office desk at the entrance if she was the owner. She said that she was and we exchanged greetings. I showed her my book, “Strapped Into An American Dream” and told her that I was with a small publisher and had to do much of the leg work. I asked her if she would be interested in either purchasing the book at a discounted rate or perhaps working out some consignment deal. I received my answer immediately. She only deals with Used Books.  Some of The Book Rack’s do carry some new, but this owner wants nothing to do with new books, and her customers come in to buy Used books. After a 10 or 15 minute discussion on this topic, she offered a booksigning at her store.  SOLD.  This was a successful day.  I told myself when I began the day of searching that I wanted one positive thing to happen. This was it. The booksigning will be at The Book Rack in Vernon, CT on Saturday, July 25th from 10 AM to 2 PM.  This will be my second book signing, and there should be a lot more traffic than the first.  This is what Authors have to do in order to promote their books.  It’s no longer a world where Authors only write books.

Small Publisher means small Marketing Budget

A small publisher is great when you want your first book published.  They allow certain titles onto the presses that otherwise wouldn’t see the light of Doubleday.  Now that you’re in, and you’re published, much of the burden is placed on the author when it comes to editing and marketing.  Now that my marketing has hit a wall, and the small publisher has done all it will do, it’s all up to me to carry the flame.  In order to keep the title moving, I hired a PR person that the publisher connected me with.  It’s several hundred dollars, but I cannot allow my dream to perish.  It’s only a few months into the campaign, and I have done all that I can do as far as marketing,  with minimal success, so I didn’t have much of a choice.  Let’s see what they can do with their connections.  I will sleep on it and dream of a Marketing Budget.

Working on linking blog posts

I am learning how to link blog posts to other social media sites, and my experiment starts now.   I begin with my blog post (here) and try to share with other sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Here it goes…

The Chicago Tribune review request for “Strapped Into An American Dream”

My publisher just received a request for a review copy of my book, “Strapped Into An American Dream,” from the Chicago Tribune, which has “Resourceful Traveler” within its Sunday Travel section.  This Travel book review column would do wonders for my book, so I am very much hoping that they will do the review, but they could not guarantee it. I can guaratee that I will be thrilled if the Chicago Tribune reviews “Strapped Into An American Dream.” 

Calling all bookstores!

I am in the process of trying to get my book in bookstores. Apparently this is not an automatic.  The POD’s are SOL.  I will get there.  The economy is not helping my uphill battle.  I could change my last name to Cyrus and see if I have an easier time of it.  They might even pursue ME. I wish to get my book in Barnes & Noble and Borders, and have signings at each venue.  That’s all I want!   Call me bookstores.  Call me soon.  I am available and my schedule is currently wide open…you caught me at a good time.   My publisher is  booking me now, so call them soon to schedule.  My story is about a dream that most Americans have and I want to share the details of my trip for all to enjoy.  Help me do it by spreading this blog around.  Calling all people.  Calling all bookstores!

Bristol Press details American Dream

Book recounts RV journey across America
Wednesday, May 6, 2009 10:30 PM EDT
By JOHN FITTS
Staff writer

Many Americans dream of taking the great American road trip once the children are out of the house and the career is finally finished.

Glenn Maynard, however, decided to take the opposite approach.

“The common thought is to wait to retire and go RVing,” the Wethersfield resident said.

Maynard and his ex-wife, Tracy (whose maiden name is Wishneski), however decided — “before the mortgage and the kids — let’s get that out of the way first.”

So in 1992, a week after their wedding, the two took off in a renovated 1978 Dodge Rockwood and spent a year on the road, visiting the 48 contiguous states and parts of Mexico and Canada.

Now Maynard’s experiences from that trip, which were originally written out on legal pads, have recently been published by Strategic Book Publishing under the name “Strapped into an American Dream.”

The trip consisted of 35,000 miles worth of amazing experiences as they traveled everywhere from the grandest of national parks in southern Utah to a Wyoming town with a population of six that urged visitors to “drive at a reasonable speed.”

Along the way they were shaken by earthquakes, saw twisters in Illinois, were nearly toppled by the wind on the Colorado plains (after finally leaving Kansas) and drove miles through the woods to reach a free campground in Maine where they met a man with a dog named Molly — the same as their Miniature Schnauzer.

Although they saved the money from their wedding and were fortunate that their cars sold when they were on the road, the couple were forced to work for a time in an Arizona factory after nearly running out of cash.

The two also met an amazing cast of characters including gypsies and people who had UFO and Bigfoot stories.

“Small town America was unbelievable,” Maynard said.

At the time of the trip, Maynard recounted some of those experiences by sending accounts along the way to local newspapers, including the Glastonbury Citizen and Bristol Press.

Maynard, who has a bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of Connecticut, grew up in Glastonbury but Colorado proved so alluring the couple lived in the Denver area for four years. After his divorce, Maynard moved back to Connecticut and has been in Wethersfield since 2001.

He said that after the trip, he typed his stories into a word processor and the book was essentially finished before he moved back to Connecticut. After the divorce, he rewrote the book slightly, taking out some of the honeymoon language but he said the book is 100 percent factual.

Along the way he had to retype it again into a computer and then came the long process of trying to sell it. He said he nearly gave up but Strategic took on the project and published the book in February. Maynard said he hopes to get the title into local stores — which is proving more difficult than he expected. For now it is available online through sites such as Amazon.com.

It can also be found at http://www.strategicbookpublishing.com/StrappedIntoAnAmericanDream.html

Some excerpts and other material can be found at http://www.squidoo.com/glen-maynard-the-american-dream.

Maynard is also finishing a work of fiction. While he hopes to eventually write full-time, he is enjoying his job as a business analyst for United Healthcare.

“If it happens, it happens,” he said.

 http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2009/05/06/life/doc4a024802a9ae7913882196.eml

Ning addition for Author

I have just joined Ning, which is a book marketing site for publishers and authors.  My link is as follows:  http://bookmarket.ning.com/profile/GlennMaynard

 

Check this site out.

Creating a Buzz about your book

I will be appearing in the Glastonbury Citizen on Thursday, May 7th.  This article will feature me as a hometown Author for my book, “Strapped Into An American Dream,” and I am hopeful that the buzz it creates will draw the attention of the Barnes & Noble in Glastonbury, CT.  It won’t hurt, and then that will be followed by Glastonbury Life, and Wethersfield Life.  If you publish your book through a Small Press, your book does not get into the major book chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders.  This is controlled by their corporate offices, and you need to submit your book along with what is equivalent to a Book Proposal, stating why your book belongs in their store and who will buy it.  You need to create a buzz about your book.  You need to attract the media to your book.  You need to have people coming into the book stores asking for your book, even though it’s only available online. Do something every day, and see what you’ve accomplished at the end of the month.  There will be other newspapers to follow.  My additional goal is for my story to be featured on television.  Stay tuned, and stay IN tune to creating a buzz about your book if book stores are not an automatic. I can hear the buzz, but I need it to be louder…much louder.