Getting Noticed

I'm hardly a shrinking violet but when it comes to getting attention for my work I struggle. I'm great at writing but not so good at self-promotion. It may seem like I am because I'm beating the drum right now for my recently-published e-book, Tiger Lilly. The truth is that I'm preaching to the same choir. You have all heard about my struggle to get published in one form or another for some time. What I need is a much bigger audience for my work—and when I say bigger I mean HUGE.

When I go into a bookstore, be it Tome on the Range here in Las Vegas, or to a major retailer, I'm overwhelmed by the numbers of books on the shelves. It's staggering. Throw into the muddle the phenomenon of the e-book and it quadruples the numbers of writers trying to get your attention. In this highly competitive marketplace you have to practically wear meat to get attention. Oh, right, Lady Ga Ga (gag gag) already did that.

My point is that the job of marketing one's work is more angst ridden and time consuming than writing the book. Right now I'd like to be working on any one of five other projects I have cooking in my pea brain, but that has to be put on hold while I put together a strategy for getting attention for Tiger Lilly. While I have marketing and advertising sales experience the focus has always been on something else or for someone else. This time the spotlight is on me, or at least on my books.

My other books, which are in print, are available locally from me and at Tome on the Range. Hopefully my e-book will also be available on Tome's new website bookstore with e-book downloads.

My publisher for Tiger Lilly is a fairly new kid on the block, fastpencil.com, but I like their model. Basically you sign up and proceed to work on your great American novel, or self-help book, or cookbook, or how-to book, or whatever unique idea you may have. The book formats as you write. If you want print books, those may be ordered as POD (print on demand) but there's an upcharge for that driving up the price to the point of ridiculous. I may opt to go that route, because I've already had folks turn up their noses at the e-book concept, but then again, maybe not. Las Vegas, NM has not entirely embraced the digital age but it's happening, slowly but surely.

The downside of fastpencil.com at the moment is that while they do provide you with an ISBN and shoot your work out into the greater marketplace (Ingram's the premier book inventory publication, Amazon, and others), how do I know anyone will notice my baby among the thousands of others on the shelves? Well, I don't, that's why I have to be ready to hit the streets and get my message out there that I have a fantastic, funny and touching book full of engaging characters and enough drama to keep readers turning pages. Don't get me wrong, fastpencil.com offers publishing packages that help with marketing but again, everything they do increases costs. Like any other business person a writer has to judge how much to spend on marketing and how much is a waste of resources. It's a tough call.

Anyway. Buy Tiger Lilly, it's worth every cent of the $9.99 you spend to get to know this modern-day family with its quirks and chaos. It is available in PDF and as an e-book. Ipad owners will enjoy reading it from their ibook collection.

For more about my other books and about me the author go to vandermeerbooks.com.

Tiger Lilly is published and available!

Okay, I'm a proud mama. This is a terrific book from page one right to the finish. It's a funny family drama (and no, it's not about your life or my life) but it hits on all the high points and low points a family can go through. Well, not all, but a bunch.

It's straight forward and goes right to the heart. You will enjoy Tiger Lilly. The book, serialized in Happenstance, is now available in e-format from fastpencil.com, an online bookpublisher for people like me who are great at writing but who haven't hit the magic formula for getting an agent or a traditional publisher.

Unfortunately for those of you who have asked, it is not available in print format, only as a PDF or e-book. Don't let that prevent you from buying and reading Tiger Lilly. It is a great story with lots of laughs and a heart warming conclusion.

Tiger Lilly is the story of widow Lilly Irish who takes in her niece, Annie, someone she hasn’t seen in more than 15 years. Along with Annie come three children, and a dog of questionable breeding. From the moment they blow into her life on a windy fall night and Krank the dog pees on her carpet, Lilly begins a life-changing journey.

Tiger Lilly begins with a family in flux and reaches its climax with the kidnapping of Caleb, the oldest of Annie’s children. Caleb is a boy torn between protectiveness of his mother and siblings, and rage at a life with no stability. On his first day of school he tangles with gangbanger wannabes whose leader is a troubled boy quick to single out someone more conflicted about life than he is. Their school-ground clash leads to horrifying consequences. 

Lilly and Annie join forces to find Caleb before it’s too late, and Lilly finds out what Annie has been running from since her mother’s death years before.

Tiger Lilly is available at fastpencil.com for $9.99, downloadable as a PDF or as an e-publication.

Happenstance Feature Article

May 2011 Happenstance

This month's feature article is about the May Family Farm at La Liendre, or more specifically about the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture program) the farm is offering. If you haven't read the article, click May Family Farm and learn about this opportunity for you to have farm fresh produce through the season. The cutoff for signing up is May 15.

Marc May also pointed out that you can get farm fresh produce through the summer by going to the Farmer's Market held each Wednesday and Saturday from 7 to noon. The farmers set up in the parking lot on 6th Street behind the IC Church events center. The CSA is a formalized method of getting your produce on a set schedule.

New this month is an introduction to the Happenstance store. You can buy my books, Kathy Allen's digital cookbook and you can become a Happenstance sponsor. 

Also in the May Happenstance:

What Now? Patrick Alarid's look at landscaping with limited water

Breakfast in Bed, Cindy Charlton's Mother's Day memory

My Mother, My Child, Claudia Charlton's beautiful poem

The Science and Art of Acupuncture, by Niki Sebastian

Mother Love? Niki looks at motherhood from a different perspective (article is a PDF download).

Featured Artist, Todd Christensen give a bird's eye view of his art

Recipes & Chat, Pamela G. Daves provides insight and fun food ideas

The Code, Maridell Monnheimer talks about her mother's lasting influence

Yesterday, by Robert Gallegos looks at Las Vegas in days gone by

Detox Dramas, Sad but True, by Connie Mack

June Submissions:

It's not too early to send in your June submissions. The zine theme is Fab Fathers, but you can write about anything of interest to you. You may also submit story ideas. Readers know that Happenstance is a collection of interesting material, including poetry, essays, ficiton, and more. 

Guidelines are available by request.

Pandora!

Pandora:
I cannot believe I didn't know about this radio station before! It is fantastic. I'm getting it FREE on my ipad. You can pick and choose your music and its wonderful. Yes there are ads that pop up now and again, but other than that it's pretty much interruption free—no talking heads (or rather voices). I really get tired of the shouting match disagreements that rant on the various talk radio channels. So, anyway, if you haven't checked out Pandora, do it today. I'm listening to "Easy Listenting" but they have lots of other styles of music.

Apologies:
My apologies to Cindy Charlton. In the process of setting up the website I cut and pasted her article in a way that didn't make sense. It's fixed now. The zine and the pdf were right, it was the transition to the website the messed me up.

An end:
This is a bit of a ramble. bin Laden is dead and the reactions in this country are as you might expect. I wish we could be confident this would be the end of terror, but the world is s scary place and we can't predict what will happen an hour from now much less what will happen tomorrow. My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of 9/11 victims as they filter this news into their lives.