Marketing your book

Waiting for Appa:

I am stuck. I can't seemed to find my way out of being stuck in marketing my book in a traditional way. Book signings at the bookstores. Books talks at libraries, etc.

I'm trying to find a different market for my book which could also be considered coming of age or inspirational book. I finished a draft of a letter I'm going to email to ESL classes in the surrounding community colleges and adult schools. I'm going to ask if I can send a review copy for their perusal and requesting that they consider me for a book talk in class or using Waiting for Appa for classroom material/required reading material.

People always say - think outside the box, but thinking outside the box is much easier said than done. Now, I'm looking to approach local high schools. It was a dismal failure with my alma mater in Newark, but hey, what do I have to lose? I'll try again.

I'm also thinking about approaching churches because my book is inspiration and spiritual, to some degree without being overtly religious. I'm just brainstorming here. Someone even suggested for using it to overcome grief and begin the healing process. I'll buy that there's a strong element of getting on with your life, but how would I market overcoming grief? I guess I just need to try to figure that out.

The NEXT book:

My two week hiatus is up. I have to get back to editing it seriously, with my eye toward sending it out for query process at the beginning of next year. Yikes!

This is what I learned after self-publishing Waiting for Appa. If you're going to seriously edit, then use a ruler and go down line by line, looking for errors and corrections. I know. It's going to drive you crazy. Mind you, I've read my book more than there are days in a year, I'm pretty sure. But in order to make my dreams come true, I must do it this way. There is no other way to catch everything, at least for me.

So, a ruler, a red pen, and a 2/3 stack of a manuscript await me (my two lovely ladies are reading the last 1/3 for input). They get to see how terrible it is before I start cleaning it up and I'm so grateful for their patience and generosity. Now, going back to editing...I know. I need to clean the house (which sat messy for a week, now), load the dishwasher, do laundry for kids clothes, clean bathrooms (which I hate), and the list goes on, especially when I have to edit. But this is the sad truth. I can run, but I can't hide forever.

So, here I go. A ruler and a red pen in my hands and a comfortable pillow behind my back with the manuscript on my lap. I think I'll take a nap. Did I tell you stayed up until 2:30 am writing last night?