Supporting Local Authors

Michael with my niece and me

This afternoon I went to one of our locally owned bookstores, Left Bank Books, for a book reading and signing by St. Louis author Michael Kahn. He is a traditionally published author (which probably explains the wonderful food and drink spread as well as the jazz musician), who just released book number 8 in the Rachel Gold mystery series. The Flinch Factor was the subject of his reading today. I don't believe I have read any of his previous books, but after hearing one chapter of the book today - containing several laugh out loud moments - I decided to purchase The Flinch Factor. I am always looking for new authors to follow, and the fact that several of his books are set in St. Louis adds an additional layer of interest.

Following the reading he addressed questions from the audience. He got the typical ones such as when do you find time to write, how did you find your agent, etc. But a woman asked the question on my mind. How does a male attorney come to write a book with a female attorney as the protagonist? As it ends up, that isn't the way he began the story. But then he experienced several situations in the courtroom where the young female attorneys were treated very disrespectfully by the other attorneys and judges. He decided his protagonist would be a female facing those obstacles. As he explained to us, his wife (a female), his mother (a female), his agent (a female) and his editor (also a female) helped him along the way. He currently has two other books under his belt written under the pen name Michael Baron as he wanted to try his hand at writing a story with a male protagonist.

It is always a good day when you can support a local author and a local business at the same time. You can catch Michael at the St. Louis County Library on June 25th at 7:00 p.m.

Out of the Blue

Yesterday I had two interesting phone calls. The first was from a mentor and friend who asked if I would be interested in teaching her adult education class at the community college this fall. She is having some medical issues that will prevent her from being able to teach. I am very flattered that she thinks I am qualified to teach the class, but quite frankly the call caught me totally by surprise. I have been giving the question a lot of thought, and we are going to discuss the matter further today.

The second call came from the owner of Six North Cafe, a family owned business with two locations in St. Louis. They periodically have authors come to the cafe and talk about their books/do book signings. She got my name and phone number from the owner of Pudd'nhead Books, which I thought was interesting in and of itself. The authors are scheduled to come in either late Wednesday afternoons or Saturday mornings. I am very interested in this opportunity, but if I decide to teach the class noted above then Wednesdays would be out for me. But it sounds like fun!

ISBN It Is

There will be an ISBN on my dad's book I've decided, after much deliberation and input on the LinkedIn Forums I belong to on the Internet. That means I have to step up my game on the design of the book though. As it will be published by my company, Provenance Publishing LLC, I want it to look professional and not like I did it in Microsoft Word. Which is what I did.

Katie came up with a nice cover design, I think. She did it in a 6" x 9" format as she understood that was the size I was doing the book in. I actually had decided to go with 8 1/2" x 11" because of all the documents I have in the book. I like the smaller size idea because I think it fits the type of book better; I'll just have to see if my illustrations are legible in that size.

On a different note, I just secured my first speaking engagement for my "Who's Been Sleeping..." book. The Webster Groves Historical Society has invited me to give a presentation on how to research house history on March 21st in the Hearth Room behind the Hawken House. They will provide the marketing and the refreshments; I just have to bring books to sell. Sounds like a winner all the way around!

What's in a Name?

This weekend I sold books at two vastly different boutiques. The one on Saturday was at Fairfax House, an old farmhouse built in the late 1830's and now surviving due to the loving care of some volunteer preservationists. This is the second year they have held a boutique at the house for the purpose of raising money for much needed repairs. This poor old lady needs more than cosmetic surgery - she needs an extreme home makeover! While the outside of the house is in somewhat decent shape due to new windows and siding (at least on three sides of the structure), the inside leaves a LOT to the imagination. Literally...

There were about 15 vendors scattered throughout the house, and a civil war reenactment group had a tent pitched selling authentic reproduction civil war items on the front yard. You would think that alone would have stopped traffic on Manchester. Despite coverage in the local paper in the calendar section as well as a feature article (which would have been a perfect tie-in to my book, I might add) there was a very slow trickle of people coming through the house from 9-4. I did sell six books, which was pretty good considering the turnout, but more importantly met a librarian from Rock Hill and two ladies from Sappington House. Getting the word out about my book is critical at this point in time.

Today the Webster Groves middle school held its annual holiday house tour, during which a boutique is held at Hixson from 1-5. Along with a great baked goods spread with coffee and tea put on by the moms, women selling their assorted wares lined the hallways. Unlike Saturday there was a lot of traffic through the building. However most of them were not there to shop but instead to listen to the live music and enjoy some refreshments. It was interesting to listen to the comments about my book title. A couple of people thought it was a book about bed and breakfast establishments (???), a few thought I was writing about the history of my house, and one thought it was about old houses in Webster. I had some explaining to do, but that is okay. The title grabs people's attention. The bottom line of the day, though, is that I only sold three books and I'm not sure I made any meaningful contacts. I can see I just won't be able to predict which venues hold the greatest promise for me. But I'm taking good notes for the future.

Third Time Was Not a Charm!

Last Wednesday I placed a call to the new printer to check on my book's status. After all, I had been told 7-10 days start to finish, and it was the 8th day and I hadn't seen a proof yet. My salesman was out to lunch (at 2:00 in the afternoon), so I left a message. Since that was the day before Thanksgiving, I really wasn't surprised when my call wasn't returned. At 11:00 today I called him again. He said that a proof was ready to be picked up, and seemed surprised that I did not know this. His notes indicated that I had been called and informed about the proof.

When I arrived there after lunch, the first thing I noticed was that his proof was much thinner than any of the three books I had taken along for comparison. Definitely not a good sign... We went back to his office, flipped to the back of the book and I saw that the second half of the article that ends the book was missing. A more in depth look revealed that all of the odd pages had not been printed. That certainly explains the thickness, or lack thereof, of the proof. He opened up the pdf file I had sent him and saw that all the pages were intact. However, they had been sent in a two page spread and not as individual sheets. Now, I have never worked for a printer, but wouldn't it seem logical that someone would have called as soon as the file arrived to tell me that it was incorrectly formatted? Why would you go ahead and print it that way?

He admitted that he had not personally looked at the file. He was trying to decide if there was a way to make it work, and I told him I would just have my designer contact him directly to see exactly what was needed so she could send him a new file. He said if he gets it this afternoon, then he will courier a proof to me today. I reminded him that I have two book signings this weekend, and he said there will be no problem getting the books to me on time. Why do I have this sickening feeling of deja vu?

More Places to Buy the Book

The St. Louis Genealogical Society has agreed to sell my book on consignment at the office store, so yesterday I dropped off five copies. Their agreement is to keep $5.00 of every book sold, leaving me with $12.00 (they round the book price up so they don't have to deal with change.) That is actually more money then I'll make selling through a book store.

My second stop of the day on Thursday was to the gift shop of the Webster Groves Historical Society. I had agreed to donate a book for the Webster-Kirkwood Friendship dance, which has a silent auction going on in addition to dinner and dancing. All the money raised during the auction will benefit the two high schools, even though this dance is put on by the two historical societies. While dropping off the book, I inquired about the possibility of having the local historical society sell my book in the gift shop. They readily agreed, so I left five books on consignment with them. I'll donate 20% of the book price on each book sold to the organization. they have a boutique and open house coming up on December 6th, so that should be good exposure for the book.

Better than agreeing to carry my books in the gift shop is the fact that they asked if I would do a presentation next year at one of the historical society meetings. They would like me to do a program on how to get started with your research, and sign copies of the book. Yes!

The Baby's Launched

Yesterday was my first book signing. Sitting at the Webster Groves Historical Society table surrounded by the sounds of Christmas and the sun beaming through the greenhouse roof, it was definitely a unique launch. I had set up the table and chairs on Saturday afternoon, and then needed to be at my table by 9:30 Sunday morning. At first it was rather slow, to be expected as most people were at church. Jim hung out with me, which was really nice, and my sister and a few of our friends arrived early. My first sales - yay! Fredbird was in the house from noon until 2:00 as a batting cage was set up to raise money for Backstoppers. There was a really nice crowd the whole time he was present, and he was very agreeable to photographs. Too bad I can't caption mine "Fredbird says 'Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed(room)?' is a winner!"

Other friends came throughout the day, and Bobbi noticed black horizontal lines going across one of the pages in a book. OMG! I hurriedly looked at the others and did not see any with a problem, thank goodness. At least not then - more on that later. By the end of the day I had sold 10 books, which I thought was pretty good for the venue. But more important was getting the word out on the book. A special collections librarian for the St. Louis Public Library (the city system) stopped by, took my card and said they will want to carry my book in the city libraries. And the Vice President of the historical society took my book to a meeting she had that afternoon with other local societies. She showed the book, and let them know I am available to give presentations on house research. One of the societies wants to order 10 books!

So at the end of the day (4:30 to be exact), I felt that my time was well spent and I made some great contacts. Bring on the December boutiques!

This morning I began looking through the books, searching for any other flaws. So far I am up to 15 books that have the striping issue. And I probably have over 50 books left to review, not to mention going to the bookstores to check their inventory. Guess who is not getting my re-order?

Taking the Baby in for Cosmetic Surgery

I called my production manager bright and early this morning (meaning as soon as they opened at 8:30), and I'm sure I made his day by telling him that there is a problem with my book. I explained the wavy look, which is pretty hard to describe without seeing it. He asked if I could bring the books back to him. Confirming that I would bring them this morning, I decided to stop at a local bookshop to see if the owner would give me an opinion about the condition of the books. After all, I might be making a mountain out of a molehill.

This particular bookstore does not generally carry self-published books. In fact she only carries one - my friend Ann Milford's book "How to Marry the Wrong Guy". (Which was just picked up by an imprint of Penguin books - yay, Anne!) Stopping in would give me a chance to show the owner my book while asking her advice. She confirmed that had she received a shipment looking like that, she would have returned them. She then looked further at my book, and said she wanted to have 10 copies for an event that is going on at her shop tomorrow night - she would even take 10 in their current condition, if need be! Then she was talking about book signings in December and/or January, doing a small lecture at the shop at the same time. I told her I'll see what happens with the books, and bring 10 back to her one way or the other tomorrow. Wow!

At the printers, they concurred that there was a humidity issue with the book. They hadn't noticed the wave as they packed up the books for me. Maybe that's true, or maybe they thought as a new author I wouldn't know any better. Regardless, they will first try to straighten the books with a dehumidifier. If that doesn't work, they will reprint the books. When reminded of my book signing on Sunday, I was assured I would have the books by Friday. Another lesson learned - whether you pick up your books or have them delivered, take them out right away and check them over. I was lucky that I had picked them up myself, as I understand that sometimes the printer tries to blame the trucking company and the trucking company blames the printer, and there you are stuck in the middle. I just stuck with my guns.

The Baby IS Ugly After All

Following a call from the printer this morning, I dashed downtown to pick up my books. I plucked one out of the box, excited as a new mom about to cradle her newborn for the first time. The pinkish cast on the cover had been corrected, and the book looked great. Or so I thought at the time. The project manager of my book advised me that they had an overrun of eleven books. Did I want them? Heck, yes! I wouldn't leave any babies behind. He added the eleven to one of the boxes. He and another guy loaded the boxes into my car, and once I arrived home I realized I couldn't carry the boxes by myself. I grabbed a few of the books out of the box and took them inside to admire. I'm not sure I can verbally describe what happened next, but I'll try.

I set the small stack of books on the counter and proceeded to put the groceries away. When I glanced over at the stack, the side of the books appeared wavy. Not on the bound side, but on the unbound one. Thinking my eyes were deceiving me, I took the top book and set it by itself on the counter. Yep, definitely wavy. Is this because the glue isn't quite dry? I'm not sure but if I didn't know better I would say the books had been exposed to excess moisture. With all the rain we had last week, I guess it is a possibility. It occurred to me that perhaps these books were part of the eleven extra put in at the last minute. Maybe they were the first ones through the process and didn't look as good as the rest? Hope springs eternal. I went back out to my car and muscled one of the boxes in. Unfortunately it appears that all the books are doing the wave.

When my husband got home, he took one look and said it appeared that the books had gotten wet. He said HE wouldn't buy one in a bookstore looking like that. And I know that the bookstores are really picky about the appearance of books. Tomorrow I will call my project manager at the printers and see if he has an explanation. The proof book I had reviewed definitely did not look like these. It is six days until the book signing...