On the Road

It’s Tuesday and I'm posting early. I have my traveling clothes on, because late this evening I am boarding The Empire Builder heading west. I have filled my biggest suitcase -- the one too large to go into an overhead bin on an airplane -- turned all my signing and speaking info into a four-page document, and packed only the clothing I think I really, really need. To show how far down I have culled things, I am taking only one hat. Unfortunately, it is too big to fit into any of my hat boxes and so has to come along in a cardboard box tied shut with cord.

I am going to post this early because the train arrives in Fargo at 3:30 tomorrow morning, and I will go to my hotel and right into bed to sleep until around ten, when Tanya and I will rise and breakfast and be picked up by someone from Nordic Needle around eleven to begin a tour of the city. I am sending my sleuth Betsy to Fargo in the book I am currently writing and so need to have a look around. Then in the evening I will do a signing and talk at the needlework shop, then start the long and tedious wait for the 3:30 Empire Building to come through again and take us to the next stop, in Montana. I will do my best to post something every Wednesday during the next three weeks, and hope I will have something adventurous, or amusing, to say about this grand tour.

Yesterday four of us went to the Mall of America to be pampered in a nail shop -- manicure and pedicure. Because my signing/talking outfit is black and yellow, I opted for yellow fingernail polish. For the first several hours after, I kept thinking I’d somehow dipped my fingertips into mustard. But there’s nothing like bold and fancy treatment to make you feel ready for anything. Today I am puttering and dithering around the apartment, making adjustments to the packing, going through the lists of things I want to bring and that I have to do before leaving, checking the schedule, and worrying. I am a great worrier. Fortunately, I don’t worry about travel until it’s too late to change my mind about going in the first place. Otherwise, I’d never go anywhere and would miss out on some great times.

The cats know something is up. I think they’ve come to understand that when a suitcase is being packed, they are going to be left behind for a while. Between naps they are being whiny and clingy. This is going to be, for them, the longest while I have ever disappeared. But my husband isn’t coming along, so it’s not a total disaster. Actually, a total disaster would be trying to bring them along on a trip. As John D. MacDonald wrote in his book about his two cats, The House Guests, “I would rather burn bamboo splinters under my fingernails than drive three thousand miles with . . . cats.” Me, too

Traveling On

Last year I received an invitation to be the keynote speaker at an Embroiderers Guild of America regional meeting in Salt Lake City. I’ve never been to Salt Lake City so I thought it would be fun to go. Then I got this grand idea that it would be fun to take a train rather than fly. Many years ago I took the California Zephyr from San Francisco to Milwaukee so I wanted to go a different way. I looked up routes and decided on the Empire Builder which goes along the northern tier of the country. And so long as I was going, I decided it would be fun to make a book tour of it, even though I won’t have a new book to publicize. I asked a friend to come along and we're leaving June 1, arriving in Salt Lake City June 15.

I spent a number of hours this past Sunday in the company of that friend, going over the details. We have the itinerary fixed at this point, but hadn’t arranged for hotel accommodations at the various stops. So we sat down and called up the locations on my computer and began possibilities and room rates. On Thursday, June 3, for example, we’re stopping at Wolf Point, Montana, arriving at 11:41, according to the Amtrak schedule. That evening I’ll give a talk at the Roosevelt County Public Library and then we’re free until 11:41 June 4, when the Empire Builder comes through again and we get back on board. According to the Internet, there are several motels in town, and the one nearest the railroad depot is Homestead Inn. So we called Homestead Inn and made a reservation for two.

That doesn’t sound difficult, and it wasn’t. But if you will go to my web site, Monica-Ferris.com, you will see that Wolf Point is the second stop of ten. The schedule is a complex of reserved coach seats, hotel rooms, and Superliner Roomettes along the way. Sometimes the train arrives at highly inconvenient hours, such as at Spokane (1:40 am!). I will be appearing at libraries, needlework shops, and bookstores at the stops -- except at East Glacier Park, Montana, and Reno, Nevada, where we will take a break to recoup and do a little sight-seeing. (We're staying at the Dancing Bears Inn in East Glacier Park, isn't that cute?)

Please, if you live in Fargo; Wolf Point or Cut Bank, Montana; Spokane; Seattle; Portland, Oregon; Sacramento, or Salt Lake City, check out my web site to see where and when I’ll be in your city. If you do needlework, bring a sample along, I love to look at needlework. If you don’t do needlework, come anyway; I’ll be very glad to see you!

So long as we’re talking about appearances, I’m going to be at the Myrtle Mabee Public Library in Belgrade, Minnesota, on Friday at 6:30. Then I’m driving to Rosemont, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago near O’Hare Airport), to the huge Donald E. Stevens Convention Center for the International Quilt Show. I’ll be sitting at The Craftsman’s Touch booth from noon to seven on Saturday and from ten to two on Sunday.

In any of these locations, look for the woman in the fancy hat, and hope along with me that it doesn’t get crushed on the long train trip.

You've Sold Your Book! Now What?

You’ve sold your book! Congratulations! Now comes a whole kind of work. (Oh, you thought that now you get to sit back and watch the royalties roll in? Sorry, not in today’s publishing world.)

There are fun aspects to getting published. A pub party, for example. Call your favorite bookstore and ask for the events manager, the one who sets up publishing parties. Explain that you have book coming out and ask if they would be interested in hosting a party for it. Be ready to supply them with a list of names and addresses of people to invite. They will add their own list of regulars and with luck, there will be a full house ready to greet you on the evening of your party. Be there on time, be full of good cheer, and warm up your signing hand.

Call the various branches of your public library and volunteer to give a talk on How to Get Happily Published. Or How to Write a Novel. Or Murder for Fun and Profit (if you’ve written a mystery or thriller). If you turn out to be a good speaker, pretty soon they’ll be calling you. If you get too many requests, announce you now have a speaker’s fee. Set it low -- fifty dollars -- to start with, then raise it until you have just about as many requests as you can readily handle.

Make sure your web site -- you do have a web site, don’t you? -- is updated frequently. As in weekly, if not daily.

If your publisher hasn’t set up a book tour, you do it. A national one is expensive and time consuming -- you are working on the next book, right? -- so try one covering just a few contiguous states. Get out the Atlas and lay out a route. Use the Internet to find and contact bookstores. Be friendly, cheerful and cooperative. Be sure your car is in good working order. If you can afford it, get a GPS. This might be a good time to tie up with another author and go on the tour together. You can work on a tandem talk that can be very funny and successful. I know a set of local authors who call themselves the Minnesota Crime Wave who are doing very well. Be sure to put your signing schedule on your web site.

I use homemade bookmarks. Some authors have them made professionally. Some authors persuade their publishers to make bookmarks for them. One way or another get plenty of bookmarks. Give one out with every book you sign. Carry a supply with you at all times to give out during casual conversations with strangers. (If someone asks, “What do you do?” you not only have an oral answer, you can hand them a bookmark.) Get your spouse to carry some. Leave a little stack of them behind at bookstores. Make sure your web site address is on the bookmarks. Be aware that while all kinds of advertising is good, that best sellers are made word of mouth. You don’t want someone telling a friend, “I read this great book last week, but I can’t remember the name of it, or the author.” Bookmarks, bookmarks, bookmarks.

Right now “Mysteries And” are big. Mysteries and cooking, mysteries and chocolate, mysteries and zoos, mysteries and needlework. If you’ve written one of these, try to get a signing at a convention of the “and.” I do signings in needlework stores, and the weekend of the 19th through 21st, I am going to be in Nashville at a needlework market, where shop owners will gather to see the newest products. I will learn about them to use in future books, and will try to encourage shop owners to carry my books as part of their line. One reason my book are successful is that I’ve managed to do this.

I’m sure I haven’t covered all the ways there are to encourage sales. Anyone else out there have some good ideas?

Des Moines, IA

I'm in Des Moines, sitting in the still-dark morning, hoping I'm doing this right. I have a brand new computer I'm still trying to figure out, and using the motel's wi-fi system to get online. I think I'm there. I'm writing this directly on the post page, so if it's a little shaky, it's because it's done without much prep.

Today and tomorrow I'll be at the big quilt show at the Des Moines Events Center on Third downtown -- y'all come! I've done quilt shows before, sitting in Linne Lindquist's booth, The Craftsman's Touch. We usually do pretty well, as people who quilt very often do other needlework, too. I get to walk around the show on my breaks and never fail to be astonished and pleased down to my toes at the beauty and creativity of the quilts on display. I also often buy pretty pieces of fabric. In fact, hanging on my door at home is a big rectangle of Halloween-themed fabric I bought in Duluth some months back. It's meant to be the centerpiece of a quilt, but I just hemmed it and ran a dowel through the top. It features black silhouettes (sp?) of comic witches dancing on an orange ground.

Last weekend we were in Waukesha, Wisconsin, then Rockford, Illinois, and then Madison, Wisconsin on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In Waukesha we stopped signed up in advance. The menu was based on a meal my character Godwin served to my sleuth Betsy and Godwin's new boyfriend Rafael. I think that is one of the coolest things anyone has done in connection with a signing! (The meal was delicious, too!) The weather was miserable so the turnout was smaller than expected, plus a feather arrangement I had put on my hat was blown away before I got there. I didn't notice it was gone until I got back to the hotel. It was a nice arrangement, too, of ostrich and peacock feathers. The weather continued bad to Rockford the next day, so the people who came were the ardent fans. Thank heavens I have some of those, I am so grateful!

The weather was nicer in Madison, and we had a very nice turnout. I read the Prologue to Blackwork, which is just about the right length and sets the theme for the book quite well. Which, come to think of it, is probably the purpose of a prologue.

All this travel, and some bad weather, means I haven't played any golf. I am hoping to get at least one more game in before winter sets in. I used to laugh at reports of golfers playing in the snow, but I think I'm starting to understand. I'm going to look around for one of those indoor ranges.

Time to go get some breakfast. Hope I have a good day at the Events Center!

Oh, the fun places you'll go!

Last Friday's guest, author Michelle Gagnon, just wrote a funny post about her recent book tour over at the Kill Zone. Now that I'm preparing to launch my own book tour for A KILLER WORKOUT, which hits the bookstores on October 7th, I'm in the mood to anticipate and do a little neurotic worrying ahead of time:



Gas. Yikes! Gas is nearly five dollars a gallon in LA! It puts a pricey pall on those long drives to Phoenix, Las Vegas and points north. If I wind up running out of gas and hitchhiking down a lonely stretch highway, don't worry--I won't climb into any pickup trucks or white panel vans.

Book signings. You just never know what to expect. Some bookstores promote your appearance and assemble people for a discussion--others stick you in the "gilded cage" to the side of the front entrance,where you basically collar anyone coming through the door with a pitch. Sitting quietly does not sell books, so I've developed a special smile and greeting that makes me feel like an airline stewardess. The funny thing I notice is that there are two types of people--those that engage with you easily, and those that avoid eye contact and actually do a flanking maneuver around my table to avoid interacting. The second group are the people who hate a hard sell. But they sometimes sneak back and shyly buy the book on their way out.

Bringing goodies. I always bring cookies and water with me to hand out. I don't know if that helps me sell books, but I'm a hit with kids and homeless people.

Being a trooper. I hate canceling things at the last minute. One time I was scheduled to do a signing, but I woke up that morning feeling sick, and getting sicker by the minute. Twenty minutes before the signing was supposed to start, I was sitting in the car with my husband, projectile vomiting into a plastic bag. The appearance went off flawlessly. I had a surge of adrenaline that magically suspended the illness for precisely one hour. The instant I got back into the car after the signing, I resumed vomiting, and continued do so, all the way to Urgent Care.

Maximizing family connections. I combine book tours with as much family interaction as possible. Fortunately, I have family spread all over the east and southeast, so I can combine book stops with mini-reunions. My husband is used to chugging along in my wake, and he tries not to fall asleep as I give the same talk or sign books. I suspect this year, however, he may chug off in search of a golf course while I'm doing my book thing.

Being zen about what you can't control. Things I can't control 1) the book retailing model, 2) the publishing business, 3) the fact that people who can't find my book in the bookstore, because they've sold out, wind up buying them at deep discounts online.

I just have to smile, show up, and keep on writing no matter what.

What about you? Are there any things you most like, dislike about pitching your book on the road?