Twists and Turns

 by Catherine Dilts

As my fellow Type M for Murder authors know, these books ain’t gonna sell themselves! I’m trying to push myself out there. Pitching my books to strangers is not my cup of tea, but it is a necessary part of being an author.

One who makes a profit, anyway. So far this year, I am in the red.

Thus, my participation in Mountain of Authors.

My table at Mountain of Authors

At great risk of exposing myself as a dinosaur, I make this confession. I am such a terrible salesperson, I am not even set up to take credit card sales on my phone. I went to MoA mainly to support the library (which has my books in circulation), to meet readers, and to schmooze with other local authors.

Fangirl moment with fantasy author Z. S. Diamanti

When I came home, there was a box of books on my porch. I kinda sorta knew they’d be coming some time before June, but I was still surprised. And elated. It’s always fun to see your stories in book format.

Publishing is an interesting business. You never know what twists and turns your path as an author is going to take. When I learned that Book One in my Rose Creek Mystery series has been selected as a Harlequin Mystery WWL, I didn't know what to think. Previously released by Encircle Publications, this re-release by Harlequin brings new eyes to my work.

The Harlequin Worldwide Mystery version of my novel

The Worldwide Mystery is sent to thousands of subscribers to the Harlequin monthly book club. Plus, my novel will be available for order in mass market paperback format from Harlequin in late August.

One thing involvement in the publishing industry requires is the willingness to change. I’ll be attending more events when they make financial sense. And I’m experimenting with different approaches to publishing.

I’m not in this business of writing fiction with the expectation of making oodles of money. But I don’t want to leave potential profit rotting on the vine, either.

To relieve the stress of being an artist struggling along in a business world, I walk and run. This Sunday I participated in a fundraising fun run at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Today, it’s back to work!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo fun run

An Unexpected Event

 By Charlotte Hinger

I spoke at the Christian Women on the Plains annual retreat Saturday. As time for the event approached I was quite wary because it involved a long drive and I was not familiar with this interdenominational group. 

It was at the Cope Community Church. The population of Cope is 53. The drive was weird to say the least and even with (or because of) Google I made a couple of wrong turns. Although I didn't know a soul who was involved, I had checked the organizer out ahead of time. She had a LinkedIn account. 

What possessed me to give a type of talk I hadn't given before? Worse, my subject would be on the connection between spirituality and creativity. I'm not qualified to speak on either one.

I had little hope for any reimbursement. I would get a percentage of the enrollment and there would be a free will offering at the end. I could sell books if I wanted to. 

According to the flyer I would talk for two hours in the morning and an hour and a half in the afternoon. I did not know that when I agreed to be the speaker. 

It was amazing! Not only did I make the most money I ever have at an event, I had the pleasure of meeting the most fascinating collection of women in recent memory. They bought books at such a rapid pace that I could barely keep up with the signing. Against all odds, my biggest seller was my academic book about Nicodemus. 

This is the second time I've had an event at a small town when I've been stunned by the attendance and diversity of participants. 

The photo above is of a gorgeous king sized quilt made by lovely lady, Tinka Hiner, who pulled all of this together. 

Events are so unpredictable! Here's hoping all the Type M'ers and loyal readers have such wonderful luck.

The Magic Lever

While we writers like to portray ourselves as servants to the Muse, as mortal scribes channeling Inspiration, we gotta pay the rent and that means selling books. That and riding herd on the day job. Every established writer gets hit with the question: How do I market my book? Which is another way of asking, How do I make money in this writing gig?

The easy answer, Sell lots of books. Be on notice that if I had my hand on the magic-selling-books-lever, you can be sure that I wouldn't let you put your toner-stained mitts on it. So how to sell books? What helps is getting your name out in public. Let me share my experience of what happens when you don't. Last year I cut back on my touring schedule, appearing only around the Denver area. However, I did keep tabs with my fellow writers working the Bard's Tower booth, formerly the WordFire booth, as they dragged the setup from comic con to comic con and greeted metric tons of people. Make no mistake, working the booth is an effort. Set up and tear down is a real pain, and holding court on the exhibition floor keeps you on your feet for a solid twelve hours. The upside is that you're meeting new readers and occasionally, even fans. Paying for travel and meals takes a bite out of your wallet and even if you sell out stock, which I've done, you won't come close to covering your costs. Even so, I missed the excitement of the shows, the comradery of hanging out with this gang of misfits, and the chance to see a new city. But more importantly, a consequence of not touring was a downturn in my royalties. Not good.

This year I signed up for as many gigs with the Bard's Tower as I could fit into my schedule. Though I haven't appeared in many shows, what I've seen is a lot more traffic to my Facebook book pages and more engagement in Twitter. We'll see if that translates into an uptick in royalties. Stay tuned.