A.C. Gaughen's Blog, page 5

What Would You Do--Over?

So last year, I posted about the Apocalypsies and all sorts of stats about our books.  A year later, I thought it would be interesting to revisit a few of those topics and see how our mindsets changed. (PS, if you're viewing this somewhere other than acgaughen.com, the images might not be displaying correctly; click the link to head over to the blog!)

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More Books for Boston

So, if you haven't read the original post and would like to donate, please read that post here: http://www.acgaughen.com/blog/2013/4/...

I want to thank Glass House Press for donating TEN copies of THE KEEPER OF THE BLACK STONES--that's enough to use for a class set or a reading group and that's just awesome. Thank you!

Also, most of the books you can see above were donated by the incredibly generous attendees of the NESCBWI conference this past weekend. We received 29 books this weekend alone!

Books For Boston

I hardly know where to begin. I wasn't at the marathon, but friends were. Family. Loved ones. Everyone made it through unscathed.

The manhunt happened disturbingly close to me, but again, no one I know was hurt.

That doesn't mean that my city has made it through unscathed. That doesn't mean there isn't a tremendous amount of work and healing to be done.

I've spent a lot of time wondering what my place is in all of this. Should I donate money to the One Fund? Should I be contributing to charity auctions? Should I find a role for the non-profit I work with to play in all of this?

Those are all amazing answers, and I commend the people who want to help via those routes. But I remember being a senior in high school as the Twin Towers were hit, and I remember what it felt like to be old enough to understand and young enough to feel utterly lost, to feel all my security gone, to feel any semblance of faith in the world torn away from me.

The Boston Marathon is a family event, and the amount of small children that saw this and were impacted by this is unimaginable. By now most of us have heard about Martin Richards, an eight year old boy that died in the blasts. His family are deeply in need of support and healing, and I know the One Fund will make great strides in helping them.

But for his friends, his classmates, his community, I can only imagine what it feels like to explain this to a child. To have to talk to a child about what terror really means.

I think there's something else I can do. And maybe it's simplistic, and maybe it's not, but it's the one thing that felt like an honest, organic choice to me. And that's books.

I can't give the children of Boston their safety or their faith back. But I can give them a place to escape, and imagine, and dream again, because that's what books always have been and always will be. They are a beautiful and sacred space of healing and love.

And I'm hoping you'll help me.

I'm going to donate as many books as I can to the Boston Public Library and to Martin Richard's school, Neighborhood House Charter School. Any books! Right now I plan to give middle grade books and younger to NHCS and YA and older to the Boston Public Library, so all books are welcome. All subjects are welcome.

If you're an author, and would like to donate a copy of your book, please sign it and instead of your usual inscription, write a message of hope, courage, or resilience. Please don't mention the attack, or the losses, or the scars Boston now bears.

If you're not an author but would like to donate a book, I absolutely welcome the donation. Please do the same and write a message of hope, courage, or resilience inside the book.

Please email me at acgaughen @ gmail.com and I'll give you my address for mailing.

Maybe we can help Boston heal in a really small way. I appreciate the help, and I would really appreciate it if you pass this along.

Much love xx

SO Excited

I have TWO pieces of really good news to share.  One that I'm super excited about, and one that is so beyond super exciting, it's like reenergizing my life.  Not even joking. 

1.  SCARLET is on the cover of Booklist magazine!  

AND they named one of ten best Historical Fiction for Youth!!

Now, I can say this because I both love my cover and had nothing to do with how gorgeous it is...but Scar makes a pretty good cover model, am I right? 

For those of you that aren't familiar, Booklist is a publication from the American Library Association, and many public and private libraries have subscriptions, so if you have a chance, go check it out!  I will definitely be petting the cover a little and I hope you can join me. 

 

2) Well, the second piece of news is both totally un-book-related and yet in a lot of ways has everything to do with my writing.  Readers of this blog know (sometimes by what I'm writing, sometimes by my absense) that I'm a busy girl.  I work with the outstanding non-profit Boston GLOW; I write and write and write, and I work full time.  I feel like I've been stretched across multiple canoes and instead of joining together to form one big boat, they're all slowly drifting apart beneath me, and I'm about to fall in the water. 

 

Well, I don't want that to be the case.  So I've been thinking a lot in the past year about how I really bring all these things I care about together and synthesize a more effective and happy future for myself. 

The answer I came up with:  I don't really have a great answer.  But I do know where to find it.  So let's amend that to I don't really have a great answer YET. 

But I knew it was somewhere within the education field.  Whether its teaching or developing more programs to get the arts to young people as a way of effective empowerment and enrichment, I'm not sure yet.  But like I said, I knew it was education. 

So I applied to the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  And I got in. [image error]It's not legit until you have a sweatshirt...

So the super exciting next phase of my life will be taking place in Harvard Square for the next year (weirdly full circle because my friends and I used to think it was THE COOLEST to hang out in Harvard Square when we were teens.  NewburyComics4Life).  And I can't even tell you how excited I am to be working with these peers, these teachers, this school.  I feel open and electric in a way that I haven't in a long time, and really, what's better than that?  NOTHING. 

So I'm REALLY excited.  And of course, in the middle of this, I will be writing Scarlet 3 and finally getting to share with you the TITLE, COVER, and ACTUAL BOOK of Scarlet 2, soo...I'm pretty sure this will be the best year ever. 

Who's with me? 

xx

Upcoming Visits!

Two book signings/readings I have coming up:

THURSDAY, MARCH 21st:

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FRIDAY, APRIL 5th:

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This and That

So I tend to avoid Goodreads on the most part, but I saw this.

OH HEY!  That's Scarlet #2--and people are already adding it!!  Like a LOT of people!  Guys--I'm so thrilled that people are excited for the sequel and are already bemoaning the time it will take for it to be released! 

So, I decided to answer some questions that I've been getting from lots of people. 

WHEN IS SCAR 2 COMING OUT??!

I don't have a firm date on that, but it will be in the VERY BEGINNING of 2014--I know 2014 sounds like it's insanely far away, but it's really only 9 months at this point, so expect to see SCAR 2 in 10 or 11 months.  Hopefully!

WHAT IS THE TITLE?! 

I don't know that either!  But if you have suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments! 

WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?!?

That will be the fun part of READING IT, but I'll tell you a few things...

1.  Like SCARLET, it will be taking place in Nottinghamshire, but it's winter time so Scar, Rob and the boys won't be able to camp out in Sherwood anymore.  I wonder where they'll end up...

2.  My favorite part of writing this series is blending the most famous parts of the Robin Hood legend with real history and Scarlet's own unique story.  Expect the infamous archery contest to make an appearance!

3.  There are a few new characters that I'm SUPER excited about--including but not limited to Eleanor of Aquitaine and Allan a Dale.  WHOOO!  You have no idea how fun these guys were to write and how much I LOVE putting my own spin on a woman like Eleanor of Aquitaine. 

4.  There may or may not be a Robin-Scarlet kiss.  Finally.  Maybe.  No promises.  ;-)

 

And while I'm at it, the paperback just came out, and you can enter a giveaway over here ---->

 

Enjoy! 

PS: This just happened. 

Kindle Daily Deal!

This has been a big week for me, and a big week for Scarlet--the paperback edition came out on Tuesday, and the Kindle edition is today's daily deal, which means you can get it for $2.99!!!  So, do you want to help me spread the word? 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Storm pictures!

So I'm trying a handy dandy new blogging app on my phone in order to bring you more pictures! I don't know how to add captions yet, but suffice to say these were of the recent blizzard and all remind me of Robert Frost.

Debut Year: Supplies

So I've talked a little about SWAG, PRE PLANNING and PRE LAUNCH PROMOTION, but before we get to actually launching, there are some supplies you need.  And I'm mentioning this because this was one of those unexpected expenses that people didn't really mention to me ahead of time, and, well, I'd like to, you know, change that. 

Consider yourself warned. 

We'll even make a game out of it.  Because you WILL ask these questions at some point. 

Do you need a PO BOX? 

Because, like, all authors have them.  And celebrities.  And COOL PEOPLE.  And your book is becoming a weirdly public entity which makes you a weirdly public entity. 

My experience: I got a PO Box after I moved.  I moved to a much more densely populated area and I was worried about ARCs or edits or something precious getting stolen more than I was about maintaining my privacy.  That being said, I picked a post office with extremely limited hours, and I have a really tough schedule, so it's a huge pain to get there.  Additionally, they don't accept UPS.  I've had conflicting reports about Fedex, but UPS was a major issue for me.  I don't intend to renew my PO Box. 

Reasons you SHOULD get it:

1.  If you have kids.  I really think most parents feel pretty squeamish about giving a blogger in Bulgaria their child's home address, even if it happens to be the Home of the Book as well. 

2.  If you're concerned about privacy in general

3.  If you're really good at checking it. 

4.  If you're using your own name.  Now, AC is my name, but most mailing people know what the A stands for (hint--not Adulterer)(sorry I've been talking about The Scarlet Letter too much today), and most people who don't would have a hard time googling my address without my consent.  If you're worried about exposure, Google yourself or type your name into Spokeo.com (a really creepy website, BTW).  If you come up, invest in the PO box. 

That being said, I have NEVER received unsolicited mail to my home address from a fan or other book-related person.  I don't give that information out easily; you can have my email address, but I don't see why anyone needs my physical address.  It just hasn't been a big issue for me. 

What kinds of pens are good? 

Hello.  Welcome to the world where AWESOME and OBSESSION collide and form the pen section of your favorite office supply megaplex. Let's break it down to pen town. 

1.  Signing books?  Some people don't like it, but I'm a big fan of regular Sharpies.  I was able to get a bulk box of red fine point ones (scarlet!) and I cranked through that sucker because I use them for everything.  I have them EVERYWHERE. 

If you don't like Sharpies, I really recommend Pentel RSVP pens.  They have a really smooth flow, even for a leftie. And the one thing you really need with signing books (because it may seem daunting now, but you will eventually be in the situation where you sign 30+ at a time, and that hurts if you don't have a good pen) is good flow.

--------> Side Rant!  Did you know most pens are specifically designed for righties?  Gel pens in particular do not work correctly in the left hand.  They gum up and blot and stuff.  WHAT IS THAT?

2.  Signing Swag? Did I mention that you should sign all your swag?  ALL OF IT.  People love when it's signed and it makes it more special, and that really matters a lot when you're starting out.  Make people happy.  Sign your swag.  My bookmarks and stickers are fairly dark and my bookmarks have a shiny veneer, so I use a silver sharpie with excellent results.  Some people like to sign books with these, but I don't like the way silver shows up on white/off white paper. 

Do I Need to Make a Book Trailer?

I'll be honest, this should have had it's own post.  This is what's happening with this series--I'm realizing how many more things there are to talk about!   Gah, I might write a post about it because I had kind of a cool experience. 

Yes, you need a book trailer.  Scarlet's is here, and I made it with about a $50 budget. You can get them professionally made, but for me, that was prohibitively expensive. 

I'll talk more about this later; I promise!

What Other Supplies Do I Need?

Excellent question!  Things I have spent money on in the past year and didn't expect to:

1.  I think I've already mentioned postage, but POSTAGE.  A lot of money on postage. 

2.  Mailing supplies. 

a. I managed to get a good deal on a bulk package of 100 bubble mailers through my workplace, but I've heard uline.com is good as well.  I got 100 book-sized mailers and 20 jumbo mailers; I've used all but maybe 20/25 of them.  YEAH.  This has been mailing ARCs back and forth through my various groups, mailing books out, and mailing tshirts out. 

b. I also bought a box of plain white self-adhesive envelopes that are almost all gone (bookplates, swag signings)

c.  Labels--I've used clear ones and opaque ones.  I don't know if there's a difference.  I generally use them more for my return address than anything else, but I go through a LOT of them. 

 

I'm sure I've missed other things--do any other authors want to chime in with their unexpected supply needs? 

Debut Year: Hilary Weisman Graham and Spectacular Marketing

Last Week on Debut Year: Pre Launch Promotion

So, today, I enlisted the help of a fellow debut author, Hilary Weisman Graham.  Hilary won the SCBWI launch award for her creative self-marketing plan, and followed that up with some really incredible legwork getting her book out there in engaging and effective ways.

And I'll turn it over to her!

Pimp My Read:

A Comprehensive Guide to Book Marketing (in Four Easy Steps)

By Hilary Weisman Graham, author of Reunited

You have a book coming out.  Yay for you!  After you’ve taken yourself out for a celebratory dinner—using up roughly one tenth of your advance—it’s time to start thinking about your book-marketing plan.  “But I’m the author,” you whine. “Won’t my fancy Manhattan publisher handle all that?”  Absolutely!  If you’ve written 50 Shades of Gray.  But unless you’ve written a “big book” (you’ll be able to tell if your advance was upwards of six-figures) chances are, your publisher won’t even shell out the forty-eight bucks it cost you to get some bookmarks printed up. 

But don’t fret, because I’m about to tell you how to spearhead an amazing book marketing campaign all by yourself.

Step #1:  Establish an On-line Presence 

Before you do anything else, it’s important you start blogging as soon as possible.  As in click away from this essay right this second and make it happen.  Presuming, of course, you’ve already set up your website, Pinterest account, and obligatory Facebook author page.  Which you obviously have.

For the next two years, when you’re not blogging, posting, or Pinning, you will spend the bulk of your time Tweeting, which is similar to writing, only shorter and less important.  Sometimes you’ll sneak a witty bon-mot onto Twitter and people will “favorite” it, and for the next 2.4 seconds of its shelf life, you’ll feel like a 21st century Dorothy Parker.  But most of the time, you will shill promotional information for your author friends in the form of re-Tweets, making your Twitter feed less of a pithy commentary on the human condition and more of a nonstop infomercial for books that ultimately will compete with your own.  Still, you work those re-Tweets like Ron Popeil works a rotisserie chicken, because when the time comes for you to promote your own stuff—and it will—you want the same re-Tweeting done for you. Kind of like the unspoken exchange for oral sex, only with less of a payoff.

Also, did you know there are social networking just for book nerds that exist beyond the world of Facebook and Twitter?  Goodreads, Librarything, and Shelfari are three of the biggies, so, you’ll probably want to get yourself onto those, too.  But unlike the rules you give your kids on internet safety, here, your job is to do just the opposite.  Friend everyone you can, quickly and indiscriminately, the way you once did out at bars back in college.  It’s unlikely any of these book-loving strangers will harm you, or spam you, though you may be tricked into subscribing to their extremely prolific blog about steampunk.

Regardless, you nurture these online friendships with the kind of selfless devotion you imagine Gail gives to Oprah. This is called Networking, and it’s important you partake in it, because you never know if that blogger you followed on Twitter might someday help you get into the Kalamazoo Festival of Literature and Cheese Fries.  Sure, at the time, it may feel like you’re spending more hours of your day online, talking to strangers than, say, communicating with your own spouse.  But your spouse understands.  More than anyone else in the world, he is painfully aware that these next few months are all about you because—have you heard?—You Have a Book Coming Out!  And, in all likelihood, you’ll have another wedding anniversary next year.

But while you’re still sitting there at the computer, it might be a good time to think about vlogging. I know vlogging sounds scary, but really, it’s just like blogging, only people can see you, so you have to take a shower first.  Because if there’s one thing we authors love more than hunkering down for the day to write in blissful solitude, it’s doing it with lipstick on.

 But don’t stress out too much about your new weekly vlog.  It’s easy enough to get the hang of it once you’ve created your own YouTube channel.  And believe me, you need your own YouTube channel, because where else are you going to host the fabulous book trailer you wrote, directed, and paid for all by yourself? 

Step #2:  If You Give Crap Away, They Will Come

Now that your online presence is up and running, the fun doesn’t stop there.  As any experienced blogger will tell you, the easiest way to turn a blahg into a 5,000-visitor-a-day on-line party is by hosting contests and giveaways.  There, your fans—who, at this point, are still largely theoretical—can enter to win ARCs and other book-related swag.  What swag, you ask?  Why, I’m talking about the bookmarks, magnets, t-shirts, bracelets, and temporary tattoos you’ve designed and created at your own expense.

Of course, purchasing swag can get costly, but the good news is that blogging is free!  So it’s important to say yes to every request you get to write “guest blogs” and also to post on your own blog frequently.  Squeezing in extra work hours to blog may seem hard at first, kind of like when you went from your freewheeling, childless lifestyle to having kids.  You spend the first few months walking around like an angry zombie because you’re not getting nearly enough sleep.  But before long, it’s become second nature, and you literally can not believe how much time you wasted before you were in the habit of writing twelve hours a day!  (Though you have a sneaking suspicion there was a couch involved, and a TV with Project Runway on it.) 

But you are An Author, goddammit, and some book blogger who you know only by the name @TeamEdward wants you to tell all their followers what your favorite junk food is.  So, at the end of the day, what’s an extra 500-1,000 words among (anonymous online) friends?

Naturally, you set up a month-long “blog tour” scheduled around your book’s release.

Step #3:  Getting Maximum Exposure Off-Line (i.e., In Real Life)

Your publisher loves your book trailer and is thrilled with your can-do attitude!  Your editor tells you you’re such an expert on book marketing you could teach a class on it.  So, you do—pimping yourself out for workshops at whatever writing conferences and book festivals will have you.  Once there, you do your best to distinguish your charming self from your fellow panelists without seeming like too much of an attention whore.  Of course, you are an attention whore, like all vloggers, but you justify your showboating because A) it might sell four extra copies of your book and B) you are still less of a douche-bag than that chick with the bangs who keeps leaping up to quote Shakespeare. 

At least so far. Your book doesn’t hit the shelves for another month.

But the best part about marketing your book in the real world is that it exists simultaneously with the world on-line.  This means the opportunities for multi-tasking are endless, allowing you to dazzle your peers by, say, hosting a virtual blog hop at the exact same time you drive to New York to spend the week at BEA!

By now, nothing can stop you.  You are a force of nature.  A one-woman marketing machine.  If only there were a way to take your mad skills a step further.  To turn your book’s release into a bigger story with national media interest.  So, you talk to a book marketing consultant and together you shape a quirky yet brilliant plan.  The only problem is, pulling this off will be awfully expensive, so you spend three hours crafting the perfect email to your publisher asking them to split the cost. Amazingly, they say yes!  That’s how much they believe in you.  After all this time, they’re finally giving you the recognition you truly deserve.  It may not be an in-house champagne party, like the one they threw for John Corey Whaley, but on the plus side, the head of marketing now knows your name. 

With your awesome marketing consultant and your publisher behind you, your promotional efforts are starting to build a buzz, eventually landing you a story in Publisher’s Weekly. You try to manage your expectations, but as any first-time author knows, this clearly means the New York Times bestseller list can’t be far behind.

Cut to:  two weeks later, where, sadly, you realize the Publisher’s Weekly article wasn’t the star-maker you thought it would be.  So you regroup and try a new tactic, like writing personal letters to every indie bookstore within a hundred miles of your hometown, each one personalized with the mention of your local connection to their store—your Uncle Siegfried shoplifts there!—while simultaneously encouraging them to purchase multiple copies of your book, hand-sell the shit out of it, and have you in for a reading and book-signing, too.

Since you’re already in the letter-writing groove, why not send some to schools asking if they want an author visit?  Oh, and while you’re at it, you may as well whip out a few press releases to all of your local media outlets. 

Still, this might not be enough.  So you place an ad on Shelf Awareness.  For the same amount of money, you could have gone to Canyon Ranch for the weekend, but this is your first book and you want it to do well, so screw tranquility and hot stone massages. 

Step #4:  Making the Most of Release Day and Beyond

 

Finally, it’s release day—the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the mind-altering orgasm to the past 30 months of foreplay.  But for some niggling reason, it doesn’t feel quite like release, even though the word release makes up half the phrase.  Sure, it’s exciting to see your book in stores.  And you’re tickled by the good reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, not to mention the fan-mail.  Plus, you are grateful, so very grateful, that all your hard work has finally paid off and you have now joined the esteemed ranks of published authors.  But… part of you hoped that your book coming out would be the grand finale, and as it turned out, it was only the beginning.

Your publisher didn’t mention it in the “Author Guide” they gave you, but now that you’re a published you’ve learned the big secret.  Book publishing’s a total a cock tease.  You don’t even own a cock, but you know this now, more than you’ve ever known anything.

Not that you have the time to contemplate genitalia now that your book’s out in stores.  Even if you did, you’re married to a new husband now.  His name is Amazon Author Central, and he has you so far under his thumb you feel like a cult leader’s fourth wife, only with a better haircut.  Sure, you’ve been told that the Nielsen BookScan numbers represent roughly 75% of your total sales, but you’re pretty sure yours might reflect even less, because surely, after all the time and money you’ve spent pimping your book, it must be selling better than this. 

In your saner moments, you tell yourself to withhold judgment, to wait until you get your royalty statement and see the actual figures.  But most of the time, you live or die by the numbers on Amazon Author Central, which you now check on an hourly basis, ignoring your author friends gentle reminders that it’s way too early to know how your book’s really doing since your it’s only been out a week. Your therapist chimes in, too, telling you that your book’s “success” or “failure” is only a story you’ve made up in your head.  The problem is:  you’re really good at making up stories.  That’s why you became an author in the first place!  Still, you need to get off of this crazy train or you’ll snap, and last time you checked, The Betty Ford Clinic didn’t have an Amazon Author Central wing.

So you decide to stop, cold turkey.  No more Amazon Author Central ever again.  Just after you check the numbers one more time.

 Of course, there’s nothing like a good launch party to lift your spirits. And your local indie bookstore that hosts it sells more copies of your book in one day than any other book they’ve ever sold.  Except for Harry Potter.  And The Hunger Games.  And 50 Shades of Gray. But that doesn’t matter, because there’s a cake with your book cover on it and your shoulders look great in that dress.  Oh, and did I mention that your book is in every Barnes and Noble in the country?  Face out.  Sometimes, it’s even on an end cap next to John Green’s book, because obviously, your book and his book are BFFs who spend each night, after the store has closed, snuggling together and whispering secrets in the dark.

But in the light of day, you can’t just let your book sit there.  You need to get out and do something, to spread the word even further.  So you set up library events and school visits, which you do relentlessly, for free.  You schedule readings at every bookstore that will have you, and sometimes, more than five people attend!  Oh, how you wish you’d written 50 Shades of Gray.

Often, as you drift off to sleep at night, you wonder if it would all be different had your publisher put your book up on NetGalley.  Or, if your time and money would have been better spent buying 1,000 copies of your own book and just giving them away to young readers, for free.  Either that, or Facebook ads.  Why didn’t you just try Facebook ads?

Still, there are more good reviews in the trades, and you’re still getting fan-mail.  So you learn to smile graciously when people commend you for your marketing savvy, even though there’s the slight chance your book’s sales might have been exactly the same had you done nothing at all.  The truth is, you’ll never know whether or not your marketing efforts were effective, or which ones worked, and which ones didn’t.  Because if you knew this, it would mean your publisher also knew it, and if that were true, every book ever written would be a huge financial success. Which your book might also be, only you haven’t gotten your royalty statement yet.

 

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Hilary Weisman Graham is a screenwriter, Emmy-nominated TV producer, filmmaker, and the author of Reunited (Simon & Schuster), her debut young adult novel.  Visit her at: http://www.hilarygraham.com

You can read more about Hilary’s marketing efforts here:

Publisher’s Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/53066-fictional-band-rocks-promotion-for-reunited-.html

SCBWI 2011 Book Launch Award: http://www.scbwi.org/Pages.aspx/2011-Winner-Hilary-Graham