PR Ploy

      I think all authors have gotten these lately--e-mails praising one of your books to the skies, so lovely and well-written, full of understanding of your book and most likely written by AI. The person supposedly contacting you wants to represent your wonderful book and make it famous. Ordinarily, I just delete these, though in two cases I did inform them that Lady Flora's Rescue was going out of print shortly along with thirteen others when one of my small presses closed. and so I had no need of PR services. I was feeling rather low after finding no publisher wanted reprints and that left me vulnerable to the scam. 

     I received the most gorgeous letter offering to represent Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball, easily my best book and a steady seller which has been out for years. I took the next step to see what was being offered. Immediately, the author of the post switched to another e-mail address but sent me a very friendly note saying she could boost my book sales thorough her many contacts. I asked how. The answer was unclear but she wanted $18 dollars per contact, pretty cheap. I asked for a list of her clients. Oh, that was confidential. I checked the person's name online-no presence at all except that the name she was using was that of a minor member of British royalty. Let's call her V. When I asked if I could pay by PayPal. Umm, no because her PayPal account was not working well. Red flag, red flag, red flag. 

     At this point, I said I believed she was scamming me, and I was no longer interested. The ploy thickens. I get an e-mail from a concerned person who knows V, and V is infuriated and will use her contacts to destroy my book with tons of bad reviews. At least I think that was the intent. I should apologize to V who was absolutely legit and appease her by buying some contacts.  I actually contacted V again, said sorry but did not want her services. V then said she'd already set up several contacts for me and I'd have to pay her a setup fee of $50. Actually, she tried for $90 but I said I could not afford it.

    Okay, I could pay her using my PayPal account under Friends and Family to be sent to another e-mail address, this one under a male name. When I tried this, PayPal had flagged that address as a scam. I reported this to the concerned friend who said, no, Kyle was not a scammer and V was now incensed that the bill had not been paid and was bent on destroying my writing career again. Here's where I admit to being an idiot. I overrode the scam message. PayPal told me I was now on my own, and I pressed Send with a message that this was my final contact with V or Kyle or whoever.

     Concerned person e-mails me again. V is angry again. The payment did not go through. When I pointed out that V was a dude noted as a scammer by PayPal, she swore that no, sometimes V just used this other address for her dealings. She was one-hundred percent real and very ticked off at me.  I should send concerned person a copy of my transaction. Guess what? I finally realized that concerned person was part of the scam. Told her no way. I was through with both of them and blocked all their e-mail addresses.

    Here's the twist. When I went back to PayPal, the transaction had disappeared. I don't know if they blocked it again, but many thanks if they did. So far, I am out no money and have not yet been destroyed as an author, but guess it could still happen. I can only say beware of beautifully written letters about your books. Do not be as stupid and desperate as I was. Better no PR than this.

     I

The Anthropic Copyright case Part Two

Books that do not have a legal copyright were eliminated from the lawsuit. Considering that they are supposed to pay $1,500 a book, gee, I could have made a fortune with my twenty-three titles, probably more than I have ever earned writing. But the fine print does say the author gets what is left over after legal fees and handling. In my scant experience with class action lawsuits, my son once got $37 from a lawsuit that he couldn't even remember by the time it was settled.  Despite this, I found and filled in a form to claim a settlement from my lone title. The Authors' Guild also has a reliable source for this form, but there are lots of the out there. Be careful not to use any that ask you for money. I used the one at www.AnthropicCopyrightSettlement.com. The deadline for filing is January fifteenth. I won't get much, but do hope  my pittance and thousands of others hurt Anthropic as much as they have hurt us.

On a lighter note, one of my friends suggested I might someday be proud to have had my writing skills used to develop early AI. Hmmm, not so much. If I publish another book, I will be sure to put the statenebt in the front that my work is not to be used to train AI without my permission--as if that will stop them.

Bad News--Good News? The Anthropic Copyright Case

 Considering myself to be a virtually insignificant author, I'd been ignoring many posts from various places about the Anthropic Copyright Class Action lawsuit. I mean, who would want to copy my writing style for AI, especially when I'd been told recently that my style was too old-fashioned and not emo enough. And then, I got a call from my daughter saying that my very best book, Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball, was already included in the suit--but I sure hadn't put it there.

This put my husband on the hunt for more information which he found in The Atlantic magazine which listed all the titles that had been pirated and used for AI training, thousands of them, and twenty-three of my thirty-nine titles were on the list.  Twenty-two of them were Wild Rose books and one strange choice, a sequel to a book I did for another press which is now out of print. But of all those books, only Queen had a national copyright that I'd shelled out money and filled in a tedious form to obtain.  Silly me, I thought implied copyright as stated in the front of my books was enough for protection. Big nope.  Here is the link if you want to look for your books.https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/ . www.theatlan

Where Have all the Royalties Gone?

      When I sold my fist book, but fifth written, in 2010, I took my whole family out to dinner at an Indian restaurant for the whole deal-samosas, naan, main course, dessert, for one-hundred dollars confident I would repay this with my first royalties. I did, just barely. I soon learned that your friends and relatives usually numbering one-hundred will buy your first book, but then you are on your own when writing for a small e-press. Fortunately, Goals for a Sinner was a sports romance, a genre just becoming popular. I wrote more books in the Sinners series, and they gained a small following, probably a thousand readers. I also published a popular Mardi Gras series and several single titles. My royalties rose to five-thousand dollars. Chump change to the New York published but big time for the e-published. Since I live on a pension, this became my mad money to spend on a trip to Alaska and a side-by-side refrigerator I really did not need.

     Then along came the surge of self-published books, often unedited and ill-written, but they swamped the market. It became much harder to get my books noticed in the crowd. I was not a big name and neither were they. I still had my Sinners followers. My royalties dropped to one-thousand dollars a year and continued that way all through the Covid lockdown period. Imagine my shock when my next royalties came to only one-hundred dollars. I was still putting out two new books a year. What happened?

    This is the period when the TikTok crowd decided to punish Amazon (as if anyone could) by buying books, reading them fast, and returning them for a full refund. The authors had their royalties taken away. How could I tell my books were affected? Because my bread and butter series, the Sinners, suddenly went from steady sales to No Sales which at first made no sense, but then did when I discovered the TikTokers were reading the whole series for free. Why bother to write them anymore? I wrote the last one two years ago. Doubt I will bring them back. Oh, Amazon did decide to charge one whole dollar for a return-which stopped nothing and they got to keep the dollar.

     A new plague has now emerged, AI, as if authors did not have enough trouble getting noticed. As a retired librarian, I still get my copy of American Libraries. The September/October, 2025 issue had an enlightening article entitled "Book by Bots".  The author had been asked to order more books on pets other than dogs and cats. Usually, librarians order mostly from reviews, but she went ahead and got a children's book called Rabbits: Children's Animal Fact Book. When the book came in, she was appalled to see it had one illustration, the same of every page and contained the most outrageous information such as ""...rabbits are very smart. They can even make their own clothes, and they can even walk around...and can help you out with gardening." All rabbits I have known have only eaten my garden. The librarian could not return it as it was POD. She began to double check other requested books and found many had authors that did not exist, had no bios or on-line presence. These obviously AI written books generated royalties for the AI company only, and they are overwhelming the market.

     To be fair, a lot on new authors, real ones, emerged from the Covid seclusion with new books in hand. The new style is highly emo first person, a kind of writing I do not enjoy being older and think they should stop whining and do something about their problems, but Gen Z identifies with them. I am out of style now and must accept that. I am grieving the closing of another small press that I wrote for that took with it fourteen on my titles including the the ten volumes of The Longleigh Chronicles, my carefully crafted historical romances. If you think getting published is hard, just try to get a press to do a reprint. I might be forced to, shudder, self-publish with my meager computer skills. To hire someone to help me will cost more than I will earn. If I do go that route, it will be with D2D and not Amazon! 

     So, there is the hard truth about royalties. Most likely, you will never be rich or famous. Right now, I am only writing for the pleasure I take in it, a sequel to the Longleigh Chronicles that will probably never be published. But writing also takes me away from the ills of this current world so I continue.

     Wishing you all the best in the brutal world of publishing.

     

The Big Brown Box-Contests

      As my writing career is winding down, I started going through drawers and closets weeding out things I saved that are only taking up space and will never be used again like ancient listings of agents and old contest entries. Why I saved the last, I do not know, but I counted them up, about thirty over a period of five years which probably cost me several hundred dollars in entry fees. In all that time, I garnered one second place for Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball and a third place for Goals for a Sinner which turned out to be the first book I would sell. In both case the prize was a certificate and a full read by an agent. The agent who perhaps skimmed Goals at best, replied she did not want to represent a sports romance and to see her web page for suggestions on how to become a better writer. I think maybe she should have become a better agent and don't know if she still is one. The agent who read Queen was gracious and gave real feedback, said it was a very good book, but alas she only represented young adult novels, not historicals. To this day, she is a Facebook friend that I cherish. The next year, I sold Goals to the Wild Rose Press, and it was the start of a fifteen book series

     So, is entering contests worth the time and money? Many writers' groups sponsor these in order to raise some money for chapters in order to bring in guest speakers and hold events. My now defunct group, HeartLa, did this for several years, and I served as a judge. Our form for judging was quite detailed. We were required to fill in comments from everything from grammar and spelling to character development to plot judged from a synopsis. We were asked to end with a positive comment. Usually, I could think of a few kind words though one historical novel was so bad the only comment I could make was "This needs lots more work." Today, when I give a talk of writing historical novels, I use this as an example of what not to do--for instance spend five pages of the first chapter where a dying woman gasps out a very long back story to her daughter. I never did figure out the time period. At first I thought it was medieval, then early Victorian, then late Victorian. For goodness sakes start with a year and place above the first chapter. As entries were anonymous, I have no idea who submitted it. For all I know, she went on to become a great writer. I don't think contests are a waste of money as you sometimes get good advice, and sometimes not. You have to parse that out for yourself. But don't pin your publishing hopes on winning one of these. Continue submitting to agents and editors no matter how discouraging that is.

     As I took a last look at all my entries before consigning them to the trash bin, I came across an extraordinary final sentence appended to a full page of good advice.  "I would really like to read this book when you get it (The Earl's Ugly Mistress) published." She gave me her email address italy9@cox.net. I tried to contact her but at least fifteen years has passed and the address was no longer any good. I did not come close to winning that contest as another judge gave me very low scores. I seem to be a love me or hate me kind of author. Shortly after, I got busy writing the Sinners series and other books. The Earl's Ugly Mistress was put aside for years even though it was the first book in which Lady Flora, the meddling matchmaker, appeared. I later began at the beginning with Lady Flora's origin story in Lady Flora's Rescue, and the Longleigh Chronicles became somewhat popular as she married off her ten children. As I neared the end of those, I thought what a challenge marrying off the homely and very sharped-tongued heroine of Ugly Mistress was, took that story out, rewrote it to blend into the series. It came out three years ago as number eight of that ten book series and is one of the most popular of the stories. So thank you, italy9, contest judge, who gave me the boost I needed to save that manuscript and not burn it after reading the other judge's comments.

     Just one last caveat. Not all contests are honest or helpful. I rarely enter any now, but was sucked into one for published authors. Sent off my pages with the entry fee--and never heard from them again. Cover contests are often merely popularity contests-who has the most friends or relatives-and are run merely to draw people to the site sponsoring them. All you get if you win is a tiny picture in their newsletter. But good luck to all of you enter real and helpful contests.

The Bottom of the Drawer

      For lack of anything else to do between waiting for the next book, The Benedict's Bride, to come out and starting to write another, I decided to clean out a desk drawer where I'd dumped rejected or unsold pieces of work over the years.  What a jolt of unpleasant memories.

     In college, I fancied myself a poet and wrote several angsty poems full of classical allusions-and they rhymed.  I sent them off to several literary magazines. They returned fairly promptly wit the usual rejection note appended. One stood out, a personal message.  "We are not returning yours poems because they are awful." I did not submit poetry again and should have thrown them out long ago.

     I moved on to short stories and submitted one to Seventeen magazine for a contest.  The Sweetheart Tree did not win and got the usual thanks for submitting message. But up in a corner, someone has penciled in "Keep Writing."  I thought they were just being kind. I guess I threw it out because it is not in the drawer of defeat though I wish I had kept that penciled remark as I learned that such encouragement is rare in publishing which is a hard world indeed.

    Then, I unearthed several Twilight Zone stories as I called them. each with a twist at the end. I submitted one to a fantasy magazine and the same one to a sci-fi magazine. Both rejected it, but I thought I'd at least made an impression with a rejection slip saying my story did not meet their standards of deep fantasy. I was thrilled to see it signed  by Marion Zimmer Bradley who continued on with a sweet apology for not not being able to comment on all submissions because they had so many. Hey, I was happy to have her autograph and promptly submitted another to that magazine which I think no longer exists. My story was also rejected by the sci-fi magazine and did encourage me with "This is charming, but not right for us" not a standard blow off.  The next rejection from Marian Zimmer Bradley came back with the same two messages and what I now realized was an autograph stamp, not a signature. I did attract notice, however. At the bottom of the page was a handwritten message, "We would never, ever print something like this. It is a horror story even though the bad guy gets what is coming to him!"  This last is not an exact quote, but close. Last time I submitted there. The good news is that I sold both of stories for ten dollars each to an anthology of ghost and horror stories. That, too, has gone out of business and was only ever available as an e-book. Don't bother looking for it, but I think it was entitled Horrors and contained my "charming" ghost story.

    Beneath these, more short stories, some never submitted, mostly Twilight Zone stuff again.  For lack of anything else to do right now, I've taken them out and rewritten them. You learn a lot in a lifetime of writing and rejection. Maybe, someday, I'll print a collection of these.

     As time passed, I did learn that my real strength was in writing atypical romance novels, number thirty-nine coming out in May, none of them self-published which a collection of short stories would have to be. That would be a new learning curve for me, and I don't think it would sell anyhow. So keep an eye out for what I am good at, and even those accrued 79 rejections before the first one and fifth novel I wrote sold.

Don't Order One--Thousand of Anything!

 I recently received a small order of my latest book, A Gentleman and a Scholar, the ninth book in the Longleigh Chronicles. I pre-autographed them which saves lots of time later and slapped an autographed by author sticker on the cover. I finally ran out of the 1,000 stickers I had ordered fifteen years ago.  Basically, this means I've hand sold about the same number of books, though some are still in storage. By this time, however, they barely stuck to the covers and often popped off so I was back to saytng, "Yes, it is autographed" as if my signature would ever mean anything in a hundred years. I vowed to only buy a hundred more.  But discovered that although cheap, they only come in 1,000 piece packets. Amazon offered many shapes and styles, but I will never use them all. My daughter is now writing YA SF and if she gets published, I will give her at least half of these or more.

I also purchased 1,000 elegant business cards with my name and full contact information on them, and I mean all, phone number, e-mail address, street address. No, fanatical fans did not track me down though occasionally I'd get a nice note when a person had read one of books and liked it-if only they had dropped a review instead. It did make my day until a spoil sport told me they only wanted to get a free book out of me. Mostly, I got a bunch of annoying phone calls from people who wanted to sell me things. It seems folks would walk through an event picking up cards and selling the information. Even the old Yellow Pages called telling me I could get a lot more painting jobs if I advertised with them. My card said I also painted. I had to explain I did not paint houses, only on canvas, for fun not money. Though I still have 500 cards left, I give them out only sparingly to people who ask for them. If I move or change my phone number they will end up in the trash.

 My e-mail address and blog are listed on my book cards. I used to order 250 of these with each new book that came out because it was the best price. They have the book cover on one side, a blurb on the other, and a listing of all my titles plus the basic contact information. These have been useful, but believe me, 100 of each would have been plenty. I used to include an ISBN number but when one of my publishers went under and I resold the book, I had to throw all of those cards out since the book was recovered and the ISBN no longer correct.

     Swag-readers at events love free swag-and seldom buy a book. Save your money. Even now I have a few foam footballs left from an order of one-hundred and posters I used to give away with the purchase of a book (boy, did that fail). I've had friends who bought 1,000 cheap pens with their names imprinted on them only to find the ink ran dry after a year or so, and they had to be thrown out. My personal favorite swag is an emery board, useful and doesn't go stale. What I am saying is don't go overboard buying swag in your first flush of publishing fame unless you do strike it rich.

My books are not self-published but put out by small e-presses which lately are dropping like the autumn leaves. So far my two still exist for now. I order my books to sell at events from them and do not get any for free which is why I am cheap about giving them away. Still, the self-published often ask me how many copies they should order. I always tell them 100 as that is the extent of your friends and relatives who will buy your first book, but not likely your second, and many will not read it at all. Way back I did order 100 copies of each new book.  I did sell out my first, Goals for a Sinner, my best, Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball, and another entitled A Taste of bayou Water of which I had only ordered 50. Most of the others still have around thirty each laying around in boxes in the storage area ten years later. Now I only order a dozen and will reorder if needed. E-publishers would rather sell e-books. My orders are print on demand. They don't exist anywhere but in my back room and a few available on Amazon, also PODs or used books for ridiculous prices. Contact me and I will sell you one for $20 which includes postage, all but the latest which are $25 because the price of paper has has gone up so much.

Now, I was taken to task by a friend who self-published a memoir of growing up in a small town in the 1950's.  It was well written and had photos of her family. She went ahead and ordered 1,000 copies and sold them all for over twenty dollars each. Why? Every person in that small town wanted to see if they had been mentioned. For the most part, they weren't. It was a very personal story and only notes some stores of which she had fond memories which are now gone. She reordered. Who knows how many are her storage area now. I end by cautioning, don't buy 1,000 of anything.

 

Check your Sales Entries

      This one is for authors who have their publications up on Amazon. Don't we all! From time to time, look at your entries on this venue and others. I have thirty-six books in print. Once a day, I check my up and down status which really means nothing other than someone might have viewed your page. It doesn't mean a sale though you can tell if this happens if you suddenly have a huge status change for the better. My sales page is so cluttered with sponsored ads (paid) that I sometimes have trouble finding my own titles which now runs to three pages because of all the extra ads. I don't know about others, but I rarely respond to any of these ads and some are so far from what I write, I wonder why Amazon placed them there. For a year, I tried sponsored ads which are very reasonably priced though I rarely saw them appear anywhere. Instead of gaining readers, I lost them with four of my books going to No Sales Report which had never happened before. Two were part of my long running and modestly successful Sinners Sports Romances which always sold previously.

     So, I took a look at these entries on my page and found some glaring errors. Sister of a Sinner, one of my shorter books, was listed for sale for $26.45 in soft cover while other titles printed around the same time were $16.00. A used copy was also listed for $26.45, ridiculous when this book is still in print and can be purchased for $16.99 online from Barnes and Noble. No wonder it wasn't selling. I did report this-no answer, no change in pricing. It was also listed as a fantasy which it is not. The young woman in the story does see auras, but despite her special skill, she is kidnapped and rescued by one of the Sinners team members. Well, maybe that is a fantasy but not the kind most people envision.

     Moving on to another in the same series, She's a Sinner, about the first woman punter in the NFL. I predict this will  happen soon. The cover has a woman who really could be a kicker, not some fantasy league babe in a skimpy uniform. The soft cover is fairly priced at $14.99--but it is also offered as a mass market paperback for $53. I wish I had mass market books, but all of mine are print on demand and still in print for $14.99.  Who would pay this ridiculous price for a used book. My only idea is a money laundering scheme. I did report this.  The mass market offering was taken down, only to pop up again a few months later where it still remains. They seem only to target this one book out of my thirty-six over and over. Still can't figure out why. But, do check your entries for such scams.

     I used to post monthly, but can't really see the point anymore as I rarely get any comments though I do get a small number of views and love seeing where these views come from. Today, I had one from Kazakhstan and a large number from China which seems odd but interesting. Possibly, someone is using my blog for other purposes, but I am not computer literate enough to know. So for now, goodbye to my single reader in Kazakhstan.

The Pitfalls of Writing a Long, Long Series

      I love to write series.  My Sinners Sports Romances has now come to a conclusion after fifteen books spanning two generations on the lives and loves of a football dynasty. Sales for this series simply disappeared two years ago for no reason I could discover whether it was the TikTok scam to get free books or as one editor told me, my books were too old fashioned. Young people today want highly emotional one person narrators who spend most of the books trying to solve one problem rather than third person narratives that are often funny, i.e. my books.  Strange, when I first began writing I was told readers no longer wanted first person narratives, funny or not. The book I had offered at the time was Mardi Gras Madness. Eventually, it sold along with Courir de Mardi Gras with three POVS and Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball having one. They remain among my bestsellers and are easy to vend at authors' events but I haven't written anymore. Trends come and trends go, and one of those trends might kill a long running series.

      I wrote four books featuring bull riders that petered out after four books.  I had planned two more. They are still in the back of my mind, and some of the characters have done cameos in other books so they do live on.  Currently, I am working on a ten book series, The Longleigh Chronicles, Regency set historicals that are only now catching on as I finish up book nine. I found that as I worked on this ninth book, I'd forgotten some details as I went along. Fortunately, all of my books are stored on my desk top computer (and a data stick and a Toshiba external drive). I can go back into those files and verify some character's eye color or the name of a servant, etc. that I'd long forgotten. I also keep a list of characters in a paper file with their characteristics written down just in case of computer failure.  As the series expands, I need to keep track of the children born, age, and appearance. It takes a good memory and many backups to write a long series.

    Then there are the things I never considered important.  In Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball which takes place in the 1920s, the heroine buys several Picasso paintings that her bully of a husband hates. She loses everything to get a divorce and starts life over in another town. I forgot all about those Picassos until a reader asked me what happened to them. Gee, I don't know.  Her ex might have slashed them or given them to the maid to sell.  Perhaps they are still in the attic of the house on Prytania Street where Roz once lived.  Interesting question. Maybe they will turn up in another unrelated book some day.

     Once I finish the Longleigh Chronicles, I don't know what I will do.  Perhaps some single titles.  Maybe bring the Longleigh offspring into the Victorian era. I have no idea right now with the tenth book still to write. I am sure something will come to me as I cannot fathom giving up writing, successful or not.

     

    

Selling Books during an Eclipse

      I've sold my books in many, many places and all kinds of weather but never before during a eclipse. My home town sat right on the line for the October 14, 2023 eclipse.  It was also the day of our town's big arts and crafts fair and it's Gumbo Festival.  We were allowed to set up tables and tents the day before, a big help considering it would be hell to find parking the day of. Nothing like having to lug boxes of books and art, and all I need to survive the--a thermos of hot tea, a book to read, a lunch and snacks, water and cold drinks several blocks. So, we arrived at seven a.m. for an event that started at nine. Even then parking was starting fill up, but we got a good spot and started setting up.in a shady space. I cannot do this without my husband's help anymore, and he was chomping at the bit to get me settled in order to put up his eclipse viewing telescope in Blue Dog plaza. I did take more stuff than usual as I didn't have him as a backup to fetch extra books or give me a lunch break. He did leave me with two sets of eclipse glasses as well. I would see the eclipse but not him until four p.m. when we had to pack up. 

     Maybe it was the special circumstances, but people came out in droves and moved between the fair and the gumbo tents all day. The eclipse, not a total one, began around ten-thirty and ended near two-thirty. Eclipses are very slow moving events. The light dimmed, but it did not get dark. In fact, many people didn't realize an eclipse was happening.. The moon blocked the sun to keep the temperature down. I made short trips to an open area and caught it at a crescent, at half, almost full, and then down to just a single bite out of the side before the sun returned. Trustingly, I lent my eclipse glasses to folks who had none-and one pair walked off never to return. After that I required their immediate return. I don't think anyone of those folks bought a book, but yowza, sales were good.  I sold four pieces of mini-art, and two other paintings, rare for me, plus lots of books. In fact, I did have to dash back to the car too get more of two titles, my ever popular Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball and Lady Flora's Rescue, the first title in  my Regency series. Gotta reorder both.

     Afraid my last set of eclipse glasses would vanish, I asked someone headed to the Gumbo Fest to pick up some more from my husband.  She returned to say he'd run out of them, giving away four-hundred. I was sending people to get a view through his sun safe telescope, and he was sending folks to view my art and books.  Not all the six hundred people who looked through his telescope visited me but some did. One woman, as I was starting to pack up, picked out the two titles above and wanted to use Vendmo. Sorry, I only take cash and checks which I grant you is very-old-fashioned. Bless her heart, she ran three blocks to an ATM and returned with the money. What a compliment! Never happened before. I am usually told they will go to the ATM and never see the customer again.

     After the eclipse passed, the temps went up to ninety, sales fell off, and people went home to their air-conditioned homes. As my exhausted husband took down the tent, he said he'd shown six-hundred viewers the eclipse. I told him I'd had my second best day at this event ever, and I'd been doing it for years. There seemed to something magical about the eclipse.  I wish I could arrange one every year on this date. Well, there will be one next April.  We are going to view it in Texas. And no, I will not be lugging my books along--or maybe I should.

Weather to Write

   I enjoy writing when it rains, the sound of it falling and that cozy feeling that no one will come to the front door and interrupt.  Unfortunately, we haven't had rain for seven weeks, a real oddity in Louisiana where we get sixty inches a year and big thunderstorms in summer.  Add on to that the week long temperatures over one hundred degrees. Our backyard weather station registered 109 last week.   Yeah, we're used to heat here but not prolonged heat like this.  One person I know remarked that it seemed to be the Covid seclusion all over again because no one was out on the streets, no dog walkers or early morning joggers. Sure, we have AC in our cars but even buckling a seat belt results in burned fingertips, and the car doesn't cool off much before getting to your destination.

     So what does this have to do with writing?  I should be hard at work on the latest Longleigh Chronicle, A Gentleman and a Scholar, but seem to have the same malaise that I suffered from during Covid.  No urge to be creative.  During Covid, I managed to complete only one painting and abandoned The Aussie Sinner half-written.  It wasn't writer's block.  I knew what I wanted to write but lost the will to do it.  Usually, I have a new title out in January, but that date came and went with no forward progress. If some of my worried fans hadn't asked me when the new book would be out, it might still be in limbo. For them, I got back to work, slowly at first and got it done.

     What did a long hot spell have in common with Covid?  Isolation.  I found I needed to be around people, my art group, book club, my fellow guides at Shadows on the Teche, etc. for sheer stimulation. Unlike some authors, I am not an introvert.  I love the meet and greet and being out in public When cut off from interaction, I fade and begin to doubt if I have any talent at all, so why bother.  I'm not sure if this is unique to me or if others suffer from this as well.

     Of course in Louisiana, we do have hurricanes that cut the power off for days. It is hard to write by candlelight even if you have a power backup on the computer--which will only last a few hours. My admiration goes to people in the distant past that wrote whole tomes using candles and quills or dip pens. I did write my first book by hand and then typed it on a Brothers Electric Typewriter. Let me tell you, using a computer is way easier once you get the hang of it.

      Then, there are other summer interruptions--vacations, two this year, one to a family reunion at Dollywood (which is lovely-you go Dolly Parton) and another to Hawaii. Maybe more on that later, but they do take chunks out of your writing time and interrupt your writing rhythm which for me is get on the computer in the early afternoon and keep butt in chair until I have written a thousand words or must go to make dinner, which ever comes first. Hard to get that back after lazing around in paradise for a while.

     Hopefully, the heat and drought will break. Social life will pick up again in September, and I will feel motivated to write.

Selling books in a Freezer

 It's been a while since I paid any attention to this blog which I am fairly sure few people read. I did have a busy spring with author events of various kinds nearly every other weekend while doing edits on number eight of the Longleigh Chronicles, The Earl's Ugly Mistress, to be out in July. Galley has been proofed so we are on schedule.

Now where did I leave off? Oh, yes, I was about to tackle selling books at a library event. I've said before no one sells much inside a library. People browse, take the freebies which I have given up providing, and maybe a book card and say they will read the library copy--and never leave a review. So, mostly I smooze with them and other authors that I see at so many of these events we've become friends. Knowing this and going mostly to see friends, I signed up for an author's row at a library where I've gone before knowing it would be very chilly inside and no food would be available.

Prepared, I wore long sleeves and packed a lunch and snacks as we had to be there from ten in the morning until three in the afternoon. I'd asked to be seated near two of my author friends to have someone to talk to during the long lulls when everyone avoids your table. Eight of us were placed in a small meeting room off a long hallway. Others were in the center of the library and some out in the hall. Since every year sprouts more new authors, mostly self-published inspirational books or books about their moms or family, I can tell you those others were lucky. 

Our small room was the temperature of a meat locker which often happens when the thermostat is set to cool a large area. My author friends who had not brought a sweater took periodic breaks outside to warm up and later went to a nearby McDonald's to bring back a lunch. I said I'd watch their tables. No worries as not one person took a look at our wares all morning due to something I'd never encountered before in all my years of doing these things.

One of the authors in our room had proudly published a textbook on teaching phonics--and asked her church group to come and support her effort. One by one a dozen elderly women wandered in and found a chair. The library staff had to bring in more seats and lined them up in a long row.. Her support group then sat down and placed a copy of the book in their laps and sat there for close to three hours, not even talking. The author took single pictures of each one right in front of the door to the room. Who wants to enter when they might mess up someone's photo? Other people peeked in and probably thought a meeting was in progress.

On a bathroom and warmup break, I did ask one lady why they were there. To support our author friend, she said. I had to admire their stamina. Elderly as they were, they could have caught pneumonia in there. I told her as nicely as I could that usually support meant buying a book, talking to the author for a short time, and moving on. No need to sit there all day. She didn't take my advice but between noon and one, they began to get hungry and left--only to be replaced by more supporters in the afternoon. No one sold anything except the phonics lady who had clogged the room with her friends.

A half hour before closing, the aunt of one of my friends arrived and bought one of her books and another from the friend sitting next to her. Only half joking, I said, "Why not one of mine?" The reply, "Oh, I promised the woman across from you I'd buy her T-shirt, and I only have ten dollars left for that." And she ran away. I am not usually so needy as I know how it goes. What amazed me was she came back clutching twelve dollars in cash damp with sweat from being outdoors and did buy one of my books. She explained she'd had to go to an ATM for more cash, bless her heart. 

After my one sale, I figured that was it. Time to pack up, but as I was doing that. another woman entered the room and hastily went down the line buying one book from each author in the meat locker, but not the phonics lady. Her arms were filled with books. I gave her a nice canvas bag to hold them all as I have many of these from conferences and and it is a good way to repurpose them. She was grateful but scurried off. I still don't know her motivation as she barely looked at the titles, but hey, a sale is a sale. Having made my usual quota of two sales at these library events, I finished packing, loaded up, and didn't turn on the A/C in the car, though it was a hot day, until I thawed out. 

What I really got out of this event was a good story to tell.

Caterpillars in my Hair-or the Joys of Selling Books Outdoors

      I see I skipped my blog for March, and no wonder. In the space of four weeks, I had three authors events to prepare for and attend with two more to come, and of course, Easter to celebrate in there somewhere.  Two of the events were arts and crafts fairs and one a literary festival, all outdoors. Two I had done before and knew the layout, how far tables and chairs, and boxes of books had to be lugged from parking, when I could set up and when I could leave. The third was a new arts and crafts fair held at a historic home with a huge oak grove. Spaces were marked out but not assigned and the earliest we could get in was seven-thirty for a ten o'clock start. The places was about a ten mile drive from home.  We arrived at eight-thirty to find many of the spaces gone but still got a good enough place along the walkway between the parking lot and the house. Best of all, we could park at our space making setup so much easier, especially for my husband who has to do all the hauling of the heavy stuff and put up a tent advertised at being easy to do--but isn't.  For one, I am not tall enough to raise the tent to its proper level and the other, just not good at tent pitching. Usually, I sit in the chair we've brought along and listen to him cuss as he gets the canopy up. You can, of course, skip a tent, but I learned my lesson the first time it rained and I had to hustle all my paperback books into boxes and beg the person in the adjoining tent for temporary shelter. Just an aside, also pack your books in plastic boxes that keep the weather out.

      I had my thirty-five books set up in their vertical racks and some art work on a trellis ready to go by opening. Let me tell you, ten to three is a looong day when you are alone behind those tables. My husband usually goes home after the setup and returns a half hour before closing. Sometimes, he'll show up to give me a lunch break and chance to walk around and use the bathroom without my having to ask the neighbors to watch my stuff. I always pack a lunch as I don't really have time to stand in line for food and often there is no food at all. In this case, there was also a gumbo cookoff and the vendors were given a free ticket to get a cup. It went well with my sandwich and apple and Coke Zero. Lots of other food booths sold soul food, barbecue, and boiled crawfish, but that can get messy around books. I used to give out cookies until I learned that small children will take a chocolate chip, then smear it all over any books that that attract them. No more cookies and chocolate freebies in my booth, just book cards anyone can take. The kids like the ones with the fireman and the football kicker on the cover. Oh, and always bring a rag to wipe down any besmirched books.

     I also strive to find a place with some shade. Here in Louisiana, you can take a tan or a sunburn even under a tent. In March which I consider arts and crafts season, the temperatures can go up to eighty by three o'clock. I'd got a space under a tall water oak and was quite content until I found a caterpillar in my hair. I was under a tarp and couldn't image how it got there. But over time, I plucked two more from my head. They were small striped ones, not the black stinging variety that I sometimes encountered at another fair, and thank heaven for that! I am not squeamish or vindictive, and so plucked them from my hair gently and put them on the ground where they met other little friends and had a party on my book boxes which were well sealed. I gave up trying to relocate them as they appeared to just return. I ended up amusing myself during the slow hours by watching them tangle and repel down the sides of the boxes only to climb up again. Cheap fun.

     As I said, it was a new event and the crowd was light. It did earn back the forty dollar fee for the space and forty more in sales. People who preferred e-books picked up my cards to check them out on Amazon which might mean future sales. I always try to get a browser to take a card with all my titles on the back and a blurb for my newest at the top. Since I provide bags recycled from other places like  the WW II Museum, Graceland, and our local pie restaurant which are greatly appreciated and cost me nothing, I always put my latest book cards in there with their purchases. You just never know if that will result in another sale. Anyhow, I did okay other than insulting a person who wanted me to come down on a price for a painting of a magnolia in a gold frame marked $50. I had to remind her this was original art and the frame cost thirty dollars, not a garage sale. She huffed off, but sorry, twenty dollars didn't even cover the cost of the canvas and paint. 

     Around two, disappointed vendors started leaving. Most had Easter crafts or were selling soaps and witty plaques. There hadn't been many buyers. I think the folks who put it on did their best, but I don't know if they will do it again next year. It was worth it for me. I'd go another time, but check the space for caterpillars first.

Saying Goodbye to a Series

      With the greatest of regrets, I am ending my long running Sinners sport romances after fifteen years with characters I've come to love.  This isn't the first time I've ended a series. Some were only intended for three books like my Mardi Gras books which are still popular. I've had requests for more of these, but ended them long ago and have no really good ideas for more.  Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball, Mardi Gras Madness, and Courir de Mardi Gras have aged well.

     In another series dilemma a while back, I'd written four books, but the last was turned down by my primary publisher because they didn't want my ghost character to have committed a gentle suicide which is why she was condemned to haunt her family home forever. Without this plot device, the book wouldn't work. After the rejection, I took it to my secondary publisher who was glad to put it into print, but both contracts had clauses that claimed rights to further books in the series. Not wanting to get into legal issues, I retired that series even though I'd planned two more titles.

     Which brings me back to the Sinners. I got my first break in publishing with the first title, Goals for a Sinner, a short, light football romance and the sixth book I'd written. Very taken with the quarterback secondary character, I wrote another book about him and his womanizing ways in Wish for A Sinner.. Since then, not a year has gone by without a new Sinners book. This was my bread and butter series which always sold no matter what else I published.   People discovered one of the titles and went on to read all of them.

     But last year, 2022, my sales tanked. Royalties dropped to one-hundred dollars for the entire year even with a new title being released. Getting reviews has become impossible with all the Amazon restrictions. I know one person who wanted to post a review but was told she had to spend fifty dollars with them before she could post. She hasn't tired since. Of course, there is always the possibility that no one is reading the books or don't like them so they won't review them to spare my feelings. Some of this might be due to the TikTok scam where people bought books and returned them in seven days thus robbing authors of royalties for their work and not hurting Amazon one bit, but I have no sure way of knowing that.

     So, I am crafting The Last of the Sinners to bring my characters to an end.  It's like losing old friends.  In my mind, they live on, winning games, finding love, having children. If anyone wants to know what they are doing after the final chapter, I could tell them.

     I will still be writing my Longleigh Chronicles, a Regency series with ten children to marry off.  Three more to go in these. With all the research required, they will keep me busy for some time. Expect The Earl's Ugly Mistress to be out next year. But I will still be missing my Sinners.

Christmas, writing, and other disasters

      As I said last year, publishers close down in December, one of mine for a month, the other for two weeks. I have a new book coming out at the end of January, Edie's Sinner,, so not much to do between now and then. I am grateful that the new Sinners book will not be out until January 30th as it will be safe from the TicToc scam that robbed me of nearly all of my royalties for 2022. Really, I should spend months creating a new book for some TicTocer to read while sipping a Starbucks coffee that costs more than my e-books, only to have them send it back in the seven day period for a refund that cancels my modest royalty. Evidently, they hated my Sinners series so much they read and returned them all, and I got not a cent. In the spirit of Christmas, I am trying to forgive them for being so naive they thought they were  harming Amazon.instead of thousands of authors who only get a $1.68 a book from each book read. I doubt Amazon and big name authors noticed while those with a small following were crushed. On to other disasters.

     With planning for a family visit, getting all the decorations up, and gifts purchased, I had scant time to write, which happens every year, but I did get an unexpected incentive from an unwelcome incident, a tornado strike a block from my house. As I removed cookies from the oven, the TV weatherman said, "A tornado is headed for downtown New Iberia"--and then the lights went out. Downtown is two miles away and full of historic houses, the museum and library, the courthouses, and many small local businesses. I said a little prayer for them and got out my storm radio, candles, flashlights, etc. that we keep on hand for hurricanes. I did not hear the train a comin' at the end of street where three houses were severely damaged after the tornado finished blowing out the windows of the hospital across the bayou and moved on to destroy a dentist's office and a Dollar Store across the street. I did not know what had happened until my husband, who was out running errands, called and said he could not get home because the main street was blocked off by emergency vehicles and police. I'd heard the sirens but they seemed to be moving away from our area. Eventually, the police turned the massive traffic jam around. He got home a half hour later from a one mile trip to the grocery for milk by going miles out of the way.

     The power returned at four p.m. after being out about five hours in time for a hot dinner.  However, though the phones worked, both land line and cell, television and computer service did not--for two days. I could fire up my desktop and write all day, but not much else. At least, friends and family who saw the destruction on the news were able to get in touch to ease their worries. Some messages came from as far away as Pennsylvania, my native state. It was comforting that so many thought about us. So, I did write, missed the finale of Ghosts, but watched Broken Wood and Brother Cadfael DVDs, and counted my blessings that our house still stood strong and undamaged, only some sugar cane debris from a nearby field dotting our yard. Very sorry for our neighbors who will be months or years rebuilding.

     Leaving the neighborhood was difficult as the exit street remained closed with a police car blocking the road at either end. I managed to get out by skirting the road and cutting across the convenience story parking lot to reach my water exercise class the long way around, but on coming home wet and ready for a hot shower, was stopped by the cops and asked for ID to enter the neighborhood. I rarely take my license to the pool, was sure I had it on my phone, only found my Covid ID card, no good as it had no address on it, was pawing in the glove compartment for my car registration all the while saying, "I live right there just behind you." Finally, the officer got tired of waiting, and told me to just go home. I guess I didn't look like looter or lookie-loo. Next day, same routine going in and out as the power company set the utility poles upright again with massive machines, but I kept my license out on the dashboard. Absolutely grateful they were looking out for the neighborhood and aiding in getting those poles back up, but what a hassle.

     And so I come to the end of my disasters to wish all of us free of hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, earthquakes, and  forest fires in the New Year and gain readers that appreciate a good book enough to pay for it.

Up Close, Personal, and More Profitable

    As I have watched my online royalties slip from $100 a quarter to $10 with no sales showing for my most popular series due to the Tiktok scammers who read a book, then return it, cheating the author of any royalty (I mean would they put in four or more months of work and then be okay with not being paid),I am trying to be grateful for the return of book fairs and other events that let me sell my books in person. Selling my titles that I get wholesale at a modest increase, I can make two or three dollars a book versus the one dollar in royalties I earn online. My softcovers are often cheaper than at online publishers, so nice for both seller and buyer. The words I love to hear most as I sit in my tent hawking my wares is "I bought one from you last year and loved it. Which should I read next?"  You never get that kind of feedback from online sales.

     Not that everyone who browses buys. Some are just looking for freebies or jot down a title to order as a cheaper e-book. I save them the trouble by giving out a book card with all the ordering information and a synopsis on the back plus a listing of my other titles. I even keep a short stack of the three of my books that are available on audio for those who say they only listen to books and don't read. As for free stuff, my books cost me ten to twelve dollars and I sell them for fifteen. I can't afford giveaways. Long ago, I stopped giving swag. At one time, I had posters of hunky guys and foam footballs that I gave out. I doubt they ever resulted in a sale, but they did cost money, a dollar for foam footballs and seven for a poster. Now, I only give them out with sales as I found a small amount of both when I was doing inventory of my books in storage.

     I offered a foam football to anyone buying my sports romances, The Sinners series. One woman with two sons pondered Heart of a Sinner for some time, reading the back blurb, paging through it, while her sons begged for a football.  I told her I'd give her two with a sale.  Instead she snapped at her sons, "Why don't you pay for the book then," and stalked off. I image she went home and used the Tictok scam to get it for free. On the other hand, others were tickled to get a sexy guy poster with a sale.

     Some non-sales are still interesting. One asked me if I had any books in French. Nope. I can make myself understood in Spanish and German, but am far from fluent. I suggested she try the book store in town. Turned out she was the teacher for the French immersion students in town and had come here from Paris. We had a pleasant conversation about travels in Europe which I have done during a lull in business.

     At one point, a lovely swallowtail butterfly came to visit my tent and drew a lot of attention. While that butterfly didn't sell any books, one person bought a mini-painting of a monarch and another purchased a floral painting that she said reminded her of her mother's garden. Yes, I do paint but am a much better writer. Still, a sale is a sale.

     A lot of writers are introverts who hate meeting the public. Not me. I am energized by meeting fans and future fans and even total strangers in person. I enjoy public speaking and have several topics I can speak about. A book club whether large or small, I will attend if I don't have to drive too far. My mother used to say I had the gift of gab, now shut up. And so I shall.

A Place to Write

      I admit I admire authors who can sit down in a Starbuck's, slurp coffee, and work on their latest novel. Also those who blithely settle a laptop on their food tray in a crowded airplane and create away. While I may be forming new chapters behind my closed eyes while flying, I find it difficult to write outside my chosen space---once my daughter's bedroom, now called the computer room though it still has a bed in it.        There sits my old desktop computer with the keys that still make sound when hit reminiscent of the days when I typed on an Olivetti portable typewriter, but not nearly as loud. I have a well-worn office chair comfortable enough for napping and adjusted to my height. The desk the screen sits on has enough space for my ever-present cup of hot tea, a printer, and a stack of notes to myself at my left hand because I am left-handed. Its file drawer is overstuffed with the real paper folders I keep on each book for quick reference including a list of characters and copies of my contracts. I also have the contracts on the hard drive, but you can't be too careful with legal stuff. Yeah, I am kind of old-fashioned. I don't trust the cloud. Where is it? What is it? 

     I also like peace and quiet when I write. I don't listen to music because it distracts me. I have to hum along or even sing if I like the song which is not conducive to getting words down on a page. I might leave a TV on in another room for white noise, and if any big event takes place I will be alerted by the blast of sound saying Breaking News or Tornado Warning! Sadly, this is why I saw the events of January Sixth and am aware of every school shooting. After watching those, going back to writing seems trivial, but ultimately, I need to escape into my books and craft a story that will give readers some relief from the real world. A fan recently told me that when they are down, they pick up one of my titles and always feel better at the end. A happy ending is guaranteed with every title. I was also touched when I checked my blog stats that someone in Ukraine was reading my post. I try to make them useful and amusing, but bless their heart that in an unjustly war-torn country they can give me even a few minutes of their time.

     Recently, we had some renovations done on our forty-year-old house. Every shot of the nail gun make me jump even though I'd closed the door and tried to immerse myself in writing. Can't be done. So, there is always Facebook in cases like this. I also lose lots of time to travel which I love to do. When I am on vacation I vacate my writing and simply enjoy that jet boat ride down the Snake River or the depths of Mammoth Cave. The guilt comes later when I get home and am way behind my self-imposed writing schedule.

     Then there is the struggle of sharing my favorite space with my husband who has a very nice laptop but prefers the comfy chair and the desktop, too. No problem before he retired. I used it all day, and he got it all night because I wind down around three-thirty, watch Jeopardy, and make dinner. After that, I stay off the computer. I find it makes for a better night's sleep to pack it away, watch TV, read someone else's books, or do crossword puzzles. Fortunately, my husband is an astronomer who loves to use the computer far into the night if he isn't outside observing a transit of Venus or a flyover of the space station. Still, even though he occasionally bumps me off for a zoom meeting with his planetarium friends, we still manage to get along, though I will get aggressive if I feel the need to write while he is facebooking.

     Did I mention I did not start writing until my children were grown and gone to college?  Try sharing your writing space with a teen, but now they would mostly be obsessed by their phones so not a problem. As for writing with small children around. Just forget about it.

Before you return a Book, Think

 The latest thing in the cult of free is to take advantage of Amazon's seven day return policy on books. Ha, ha! You paid $5.99 for an e-book, devoured it in two days and returned it for a refund. Do you think Amazon cares? They are a huge, rich organization and would hardly notice or care. Who does? The author, who would have earned $1.68 in royalties on a work that took months of research and writing, then editing and doing all the little details needed to get that book out from cover selection to the blurb on the back, does. That is a year's worth of effort blown off by a person who could surely afford the $5.99 or they would be using the library to get books. Even a library app pays the author ten cents for each usage, not much, but something.

Of course, these are the same people who take advantage of the page reads, paying less than a penny a page. They read all but a few pages, get the deep discount, and a royalty for that book goes from 84 cents to 48 cents. I've asked for my books to be taken out of this program, because, well, it cheats authors many of whom have to earn at least $25 in royalties just to get a quarterly check. If not, the tiny earnings are held until the end of the year, not worth the paper four checks would be printed on and mailed. These are the majority of authors. I am sure Nora Roberts doesn't feel the pinch or any of the other big names in writing. When you sell millions of copies and probably get a big advance before the books comes out, who cares about a little cheating on behalf of the reader.

Generally, I make the $25 cut, but when I see that one of my books was been returned, no idea why but I am just guessing-getting it for free, I do notice the hole punched in my royalty statement--and yes, returns are reported. It is possible to end up in the hole. On my best year, I was able to afford a new French door refrigerator by saving up all my royalties. Another year I paid my half of a trip to Alaska. I sometimes refer for this account as my travel money. Both re lovely things, but I certainly am not making a living at writing. 

I write because I enjoy it and hope my readers do, too. If borrowed from a library or scammed from Amazon, even a review would be appreciated in lieu of payment, assuming the reader did not hate the book, but we never know the why of it. Consider, do you give a panhandler begging outside Walmart and holding up a barely legible sign a dollar out of pity. I guarantee some of these folks take home more in a day than I do writing. So, have some compassion for writers, too. Pay for the damn book and put $1.68 in our pocket.

The Cost of Everything

      The cost of everything is going up. Same goes for books with paper being more expensive. I find I now have to ask $23 for a book I previously sold for $19. Most of my $15 books now go for $19 or $20 as I have to reorder new copies to place in bookstores and sell at events. Higher costs are not helping my sales as people are always reluctant to try a new author for a higher amount. I do offer some of the oldest for $12, ordered in quantity back when I thought I'd need 100 copies of every book to sell. Ha! But these these still sell at book fairs. When I must reorder, they too will go up price or I will earn nothing selling them. 

     Another blow to the indie and small press authors such as myself is the drying up of events to offer their books to the public. I mentioned before the entire cessation of events during Covid, but few are coming back yet. Libraries were holding mass authors' rows to accommodate all who wanted book signings. During Coivd, more people than ever got around to writing that first book. The demand for outlets is still there, but few exist. So far, none of the libraries in our area who did this have restored the events. Books don't sell well in libraries where people expect to get them for free in-house or online from Hoopla and Overdrive. I know I sell books in this way from the modest royalty I get from each read. Mostly, I go to these in events just to get my name out there and hope they do use one of these services or buy from Amazon later.

     The greatest blow came recently from our own state library association who usually sponsors an authors' row at their annual conference in the exhibits. A table and chair is provided, and because of the demand for space, each author gets two hours to peddle their wares. Again, not much is sold there, but you do have a chance to give out information on your books to librarians. Still a member of our association, I often visit with librarian friends and even some of the sales persons.  The conference is back after two years, and I was looking forward to it, even willing buy the high-priced gas to get there, only to discover that indie and small press authors must now pay $200 for a booth around the rim of the exhibits. I suspect new people are in charge of the conference, but really, are they delusional that 99% of us can afford that much in order to sell two or three books after traveling a long distance?  Maybe if four authors can cram into a booth, it could be done, but personally, I will rarely spend more than $50 for a space anywhere. Just can't afford it and the results are usually poor.  Might as well pay Amazon more for sponsored advertising.

     I will be at the Hot NOLA Summer Author Event in Harahan, LA on July 30th at the VFW Hall. No need to fight New Orleans traffic to be there. Sixty authors are attending, and to keep expenses down, I will share a table with an author friend. It runs from noon to five. Food will be available. Gift baskets will be raffled and along with mystery boxes sold. Sounds like fun and affordable. I do hope my three hour drive to get there will be worth the effort. The writers of NOLA are putting a lot of effort into this event. I hope it goes well for all of us. Hope to see some of you there.

     

If I Could Help, I Would, but...

       As I noted last month, opportunities to sell my books by hand are gradually returning. I've done several arts and crafts fairs, a literary festival, and an art walk that also required me to schlepp some of my paintings along to show--but I really wanted to sell books.  I always meet interesting people, just wish more would buy a book and not ask me for advice on getting published. I write mostly romance, historicals, and some main stream with romantic leanings. My output seems impressive, three racks of books holding thirty-two titles.  But as I have to explain, I am not prolific. I've been writing for eighteen years. That comes to about two books a year.. Being e-published means they never go out of print, that's all, unless the small press closes.

     I have no idea why would-be children's authors approach me.  That's a whole different world from mine, but as a former librarian, I can say they need great illustrations and an original story that will appeal to children.  My press doesn't do this kind of work nor do most e-presses. Getting on with a major publisher is a long hard road full of rejections. Then, I refer them to others who have self-published this kind of material, which is what they usually end up doing. Along the way, they discover it ain't cheap to get a full color picture book printed..

     Memoirs and/or ghost writing memoirs is another thing I have no experience in doing. Lots of people want to write about their wonderful mothers, and I can applaud that even though mine wasn't.  Unless their mother is the love child of Elvis, big presses aren't going to be interested.  Although once I was approached about getting a family story out and after telling them how hard that would be, they finally revealed their uncle was a major mobster. Well then, pitch that to an agent and off you go. Saddest of all an elderly woman wanted me to write her story of being in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.  I encouraged her to record her story and put it into good hands like the Holocaust Museum.  I had no skills in that area, but do hope she did as I suggested.

      Then there was the eighty-two-year old woman who hobbled up to my booth and asked me to write an expose true crime story about her neighbors who were upsetting her life by running a drug operation that might be undercover next door. I had to tell her I thought that would be both dangerous and possibly illegal, something the police should handle, but she said they won't listen to her.  As I pointed out, I only write fiction, and sorry to say, suggested she ask a judge who was at the festival for advice. Passing the buck.

     A friend asked that I give some advice to a relative who had a book she wanted to publish, and could she contact me.  Oh, sure. Turned out to be erotica, which does have a market, but again, not my style. I informed her that my publisher did have an erotica department that might be interested, and learned she'd already self-published with Amazon and had a better PR campaign going than I did.  Nice talking to her, however.

     I've had to tell numerous people I don't read or edit manuscripts and certainly wouldn't do the last for free which is very time consuming.  I suggest they hire a real editor and do what they say.  Do they?  Nope.  Most just go ahead and self-publish some very bad books. Frankly, people don't take advice well, but still they ask a person who is no help at all.