What Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writers about Success

Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference and Outliers: The Story of Success, among other books, was recently interviewed in Costco Magazine.

Having just re-read The Tipping Point and Outliers for the third time, I was thrilled to see that Gladwell has a new book out. It's called David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants. Wow, sounds great! Especially knowing how Gladwell takes a subject and analyzes it inside and out, writing about it in a way that makes me think of new things in new ways.

But what I really appreciated about the Costco article is how Gladwell seems to epitomize what to me is the ideal attitude for a writer's success and productivity.

What does Malcolm Gladwell know?

He knows his audience.

"I write for people who are curious and who don't mind having their beliefs challenged. If you think going to a library is an exciting event, you will probably enjoy my books."

He knows how to write what he loves.

"People sense that I'm doing things out of pure enjoyment. I'm not pandering to an audience or following a formula. I'm just writing about cool stuff that interests me, and people respond to that."

Despite his astounding success, he knows there is so much more to learn.

"The more I write these books, the less convinced I am of my own inherent wisdom. I've convinced myself that I'm pretty bad at making sense of the world and need a lot of help."

He knows that money and acclaim isn't what it's all about. He never set out to write a bestseller.

"I never had any great desire to be well-known or to sell a lot of books. I've only ever wanted to do my own thing. and all of this happened just as an accident."

He knows where he came from, who he is, and it is all just fine with him.

"Canada is a deeply unpretentious place. You can't grow up in Canada and have all kinds of airs."

Regardless of where any of us are in our writing journeys, I'd say we can all learn a lot about success from Malcolm Gladwell.

New Hampshire: A great place to be if you're an author

Some places are so fantastic at supporting their local authors. Others just seem to slam doors in your face. I'm not sure why this is. Why should the culture of one area be welcoming and rewarding to its writers, regardless of where you published, while others turn up their noses and act all high and mighty?

I wish I had a list and could divide states up into Supportive, Not, and It Depends. Not wanting to offend people from any areas or make grand generalities that I can't back up except to say, Well, yeah, anyway...I'll mention a few places that I know are in the Supportive category.

Top on the list is New Hampshire. While WiDo can't schedule a signing in some of the Barnes and Noble stores no matter what hoops they jump through, the stores in New Hampshire will actually work with you and let you in the door for a signing.

New Hampshire author G. M. Browning at the launch event for his high seas adventure novel, Cerulean Isle (WiDo, 2011)

Other of the smaller states on the Eastern seaboard are good to local authors as well, like Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine.When WiDo's sales team has called in these areas about stocking a new release, their first question is always, "Is it a local author?"

Another top state is Minnesota. They are super-supportive. They are proud of their Minnesota authors and will do book signings, newspaper interviews, generally whatever you ask if they can.

Nebraska is the same. I loved working with the local bookstores and newspapers when I planned my Farm Girl tour to Nebraska.

Texas is proud of Texas and Texans. Here's a copy of one of WiDo Publishing's books, written by Houston resident Paul Yarbrough, found in a local Houston bookstore. The guy holding up the book is my son who was visiting Texas recently with his wife and just happened to run across this while book-browsing.

A Happy Find: Mississippi Cotton by Paul H. Yarbrough (WiDo, 2011)

California is pretty good, too. But it's such a huge state that you can get lost there, so the smaller areas might be the best place to start. The economy is especially bad for California right now and many of the independents have closed. Still, if you're a California author, or have ties to the area, you should be able to schedule signings in a number of bookstores, if you can find ones that are still in business.

Colorado is pretty supportive as well but also falls into It Depends. Like where in Colorado are you talking about? Denver tends to be a bit snootier about it than smaller, rural areas.

What experiences have you had locally in working with your independent or chain bookstores?

Why I'm Not a Fan of the .99 eBook

How to price an ebook? I've read many posts on this topic and considered the variety of opinions. After all the research, it finally hit me why I disagree with pricing ebooks at .99. It occurred to me one day while gazing lovingly at my cookies.

Convenience stores buy my cookies for $1 apiece to resell at $1.59 or $1.79. I make 24 dozen each week, using extra ovens for baking and other techniques to speed up the process without sacrificing quality.

Imagine that each of these cookies represents one book selling on the Kindle for .99. Compare production time of cookies to that of creating a book good enough for people to pay even .99. Scary thought, isn't it?

 Don't forget that Amazon gets 65% of each cookie--er--book, netting you 35 cents per sale. If you went through a publisher they take their cut. Is the solution to self-publish so you get the entire 35 cents? That's what many are saying, but it's still just a pittance for an awful lot of effort and expense.

I wouldn't sell my cookies for .35. If that's all I got, I wouldn't bother. Remember, I sell to the stores for $1 and they add the extra .59 or .79. I, who created the recipe and made the cookies, get the larger cut of the product. I'd be a fool to give the stores over half my profit.

When an ebook is priced for .99, Amazon gets the largest cut because royalty is only 35%. Priced at 2.99 or higher, royalty rate goes to 70%. A Kindle ebook priced for 3.99 earns $2.76 on royalties. Big difference between getting $2.76 for each book sold compared to 35 cents.

Now if I could write 24 dozen quality books a week hahahahahahahaha, I might consider pricing them for .99. But probably not even then, because that's not really .99 it's .35, which is split 50/50 with my publisher.

* So for each .99 book sale on the Kindle, Amazon gets 65 cents, my publisher gets 17 cents and I get 17 cents.

* For each 3.99 book sale on the Kindle, Amazon gets $1.19, my publisher gets $1.40 and I get $1.40.

* $2.99 is the lowest price available to get 70% royalty rate. At that price, Amazon gets 89 cents, my publisher gets $1.05 and I get $1.05.

* I'd have to sell six .99 books to get the same amount of money I get from one sale at $2.99. I'd have to sell eight .99 books to get the same money I'd get from a $3.99 sale.

A .99 promotional price has merit but as a permanent price on one's books? No. I would not do this for 17 cents, not even for 35 cents. At that price, I'm better off making cookies.

On Friday, I'll post about one publisher's experience with pricing ebooks and how price has affected sales.

Six ways to Put the Blog to Work When You're Not There

A good blog is like a major home appliance that keeps working for you while you're busy elsewhere. We know how a dishwasher does this, but how can we be sure our blog is working well for us behind the scenes?

1. Comments. Your comments are like little signposts leading people back to you. So visit other blogs and leave comments. One who takes the time to leave thoughtful, clever, original comments will get followers and comments back.

2. Declutter. Make sure things are tidy and attractive for visitors. Sidebars can get really crowded! And viewing the blog daily, we get used to the mess. Declutter once a month and determine what needs to stay and what can go. Imagine how a new person viewing your site for the first time might see it.

3. Platform. Every blogger whether a career writer or not should have a platform, regardless of how informal it might be. Why are you here? What's your focus? What kinds of people do you want to attract? Once that's settled, make sure everything in your blog reflects you and the platform you've chosen, from your profile photo and bio to your design and even the arrangement of gadgets on the sidebar. That doesn't mean you can't branch out now and then and fly your freak flag, because a blog should reflect the personality of the owner. But someone stopping by should be able to tell fairly quickly who you are and what you're all about.  

4. Posts. Once a post is written it stays in place until deleted. Long after the blogger has forgotten they even wrote it, someone can find it and decide if your blog is worth their time just by that one post.  So take care with what you write, and if you have nothing to say, don't say it. Why stick to some arbitrary schedule if you have nothing? Or if you're on a roll, go ahead and publish daily. A good post will continue working for you as long as your blog exists, so the more excellent posts you have in your file, the harder they'll be working for you and your blog! But let me repeat: That doesn't mean you can't branch out now and then and fly your freak flag, because a blog should reflect the personality of the owner. So don't get paranoid and think everything you write has to be perfect and meaningful. Let loose now and then, nothing wrong with that!

5. Label and Index. When I first started blogging, I discovered a few publishing blogs that were full of such great information that I went in and read everything. On Blogger, there's a place for labels at the bottom of each post. You can then choose which labels you want displayed in the Index on your sidebar. Ideally, each post should carry labels according to subject matter. My labels are chosen with emphasis placed on the key words that relate to my platform. Like: bad reviews, blog tour, booksellers, editing, editors, selling books, rejection..... You get the idea. My labels reflect my platform. So that just in case someone wants to thoroughly research my blog and go through my old posts to get information, I organized it for them!

6. Selling Your Book. Your blog can help sell your book, but make sure it's easy for visitors to click on the links where they can buy it in various formats. I like these Kindle and Nook buttons. Suddenly one day I realized they needed to be near the top of my blog instead of buried down below somewhere, so I changed to a two-column format that makes more sense for me.

These are a few of the ways that a blog can keep working for you while you're off enjoying your vacation, or writing your book, or eating dinner, or down with the flu. There's no need to hover and be constantly present online. Set up your site carefully and thoughtfully and then let it hum along doing its job! Because the internet never sleeps.

Marketing for Insecure Writers

Today we have Jim Bronyaur, author of thrillers The Devil's Weekend and In the Corner  talking about MARKETING. Yes, like it or not, it's that thing we have do as authors. 

But since this is the first Wednesday of the month, the theme is ANXIETY and INSECURE AUTHORS, right? We need tips to make us feel less insecure about the biggest task facing us after we publish our books-- MARKETING and PROMOTION.  

Take it away, Jim.

Marketing. Okay, I’ll wait for everyone to run or yell or boo at me. *checks watch* Okay, we’re back.

Marketing. Online marketing. Social marketing.

These are all essential tools for yourself, your book, and your platform.

The first thing you need to do is understand that your book is a product. And you, as the person selling that product, are indeed a business owner. Your business is to sell your product, your book. This right off the bat is where some people fail. You need to see the big picture of the product and the business and find a plan that works for you.

So, you have your product, your book, and now you want to market it.

Good luck!

Traditional marketing holds its own ground, but not for books and authors. I dare you to tell me without looking what the last four sidebar ads you saw on Facebook were. I bet you can’t. Because we’ve grown accustomed to ads. They are on pages, newspapers, even on the glass of the rink on a NHL hockey game!

So to market your book, you must do so in a way that’s new, different, and effective.

Personally, and as I’ve said before, the best marketing plan is to have another book in the works, ready to sell. The more you have out there is the more you can sell. The law of numbers is actually on our side as authors. Embrace it.

Good marketing means you’re real. You’re human.

This is why Twitter is popular. You have 140 characters to share a message, and no, that doesn’t link up every ten seconds. Please don’t pester everyone with your links, over and over. I personally tell myself I’ll Tweet my book maybe once a day, maybe.

So, without linking your book, how does Twitter help?

Twitter is a giant network.

You can find people to talk to. People who you can network with, share ideas with, and find new avenues of selling books with. You can join in on conversations via hashtags such as #amwriting. For those not familiar with hashtags, these are search items on Twitter. For example, if I put in #amwriting and search it on Twitter, anyone who has tweeted that hashtag will show. This allows me to engage in conversations and find potential new people to follow and new followers.

Another trick with Twitter is to use hashtags around your book, without being pushy.

I may Tweet something like this… “Current review for my #horror #thriller #ebook available on #kindle…”

All those hashtags can help me.

Another place to be is KindleBoards. Here you will find a community of authors with open arms. They share ideas, thoughts, history, and numbers.
Yes, numbers.

On KB, every month people will share their sales for the previous month. They will go into detail, discuss why the books sold may have risen or lowered. And I’m talking some heavy hitters here… people who sell twenty thousand books a month! And they are willing to share their advice and what they’ve done to get to that point.

How does that help you market?

You’re networking. You’re talking to new people, finding new places. That’s what marketing is all about.

I’ve gotten several interviews and guest posts and traffic to my blog and books from KB. Authors will hold contests and events, looking for other authors to help.

A perfect example… coming in October, I have a month long blog tour going on with several other writers I met on KB. We are all promoting each other’s books on different dates, etc.

Now, here’s possibly the best marketing plan out there… don’t market yourself.

I’ll say it again.

Don’t market yourself.

That’s right, don’t market yourself.

What does that mean?

That means just be there.

Be in the moment, in the now of writing and publishing.

Establish a blog that provides something that people want. I struggled with this for years until I finally started one. I decided to use my financial background to help analyze things. One of my firsts posts was the explaination of why Borders closed. The post still gets dozens of hits a week. I went out and tracked down other writers and brought them to my blog to talk about selling books.

I gave people a reason to come to my blog.

And yes, on my blog are links to my books, but the blog is not about my books.
I’m also active on Twitter using the hashtags (like I said above). I talk about books, publishing, and basically give people a sense of who I am, why I write, and the fact that I know what I’m talking about.

That’s my marketing plan.

I want to talk to everyone about books. I want to learn, I want to teach, and I want to enjoy.

Face it, you all know I’m a writer. So instead of trying to shove my totally awesome kick butt horror novels on you, I’m going to share everything I know about publishing. I’m going to be personable, real. I’m going to be someone you trust, and hopefully someone you enjoy to read… so once you’re done with this guest post, and my other posts, you’ll be ready to head over to Amazon and buy my book.
And that is new marketing.

So, remember, if you want to market your book… don’t.

But no seriously, like I said, posting your book on ads doesn’t work. Not anymore. You have to be face of your book, your product. You have to be out there, talking, posting, and being a human.

This is publishing, and it’s a business.

Thank you, Jim, this post was packed full of helpful information. Just like your blog! Anyone who hasn't been there, definitely go check it out. And guess where I met Jim and invited him to be a guest on my blog? Yep, Twitter!

How He Sold one Million ebooks in Five Months

John Locke is a super-salesman/businessman who regardless what he does figures out how to make money and be a success. Everything he touches turns to gold. If he ever writes a real memoir, I'll buy it.

I'm not one of his niche readers, will never buy one of his .99 books or even read a free one. Not because they aren't good, I have no idea if they are or not, but they're just not my kind of read. However, a book that gives guidelines and tips on being more successful especially when it has to do with my own rather unplanned, unorganized, write it and they will come approach to my career definitely has my attention.

And speaking of niche readers, that is a big part of his plan. An author must find their target audience, write to them, email them, love them. I totally agree with this! If only I could find my target audience, I'd do all of these things!

How can anyone not be impressed with Locke's accomplishments as a self-published author? In his book How I Sold 1 Million ebooks in 5 Months, he outlines how he did it. Some of his plan is applicable for about everyone, others are the kind of things a born salesman/successful rich guy will do and that would be really tough for a reserved, anxiety-ridden, overly stressed already woman (like me) to follow suit and have even 1/10 the same results.

Besides, I don't believe that everything works for everyone, but what I do believe in is making plans and setting goals. What Locke's book made me realize is that although I do this kind of planning and goal-setting in nearly every area of my life I have never done it for my own writing career. So he really opened my eyes to that.

As I read his business plan for marketing books, I was inspired to set up a professional author website. I finished it this weekend and am very proud of it!  Anyone who wants to stop by and say hi, I'd appreciate it! Better get in there now before it's crowded with all those one million readers who will rush over just as soon as I publish House of Diamonds.

As I See It: Why Authors Don't Make Money

I'm going to try this scheduling thing that so many of you do. My schedule will be:  on Mondays I write an "as I see it" post where I focus on a publishing-related topic and get snarky. After that it will be out of my system and I'll go back to whatever. That's my new blog schedule.

Today I'll post about writers and money. Oooo that's a sore spot, especially during tough economic times. In fact, I posted about money on my other blog, too. No connection. Back to writers. First, we just want time to write. That's all, please oh please just give me time to write.

After we figure that one out, and at last finish our WIP, comes querying, with the goal being to submit our work, find an agent and get published. That seems to take forever, it drives us insane, but still-- we're living our dream, right? I. Am. A. Writer.

When we get the agent, it is through the roof with joy. We made it!! Got the agent!! Land the publishing contract? We shout it out and celebrate like it's 1999. Time to jump into editing with a passion, start the blog, Twitter, network on Facebook, whatever it takes for that book to find an audience, done and done.

******

Time passes. Editing takes forever. Release dates get postponed. Three years to publish one book, are you kidding me?  I should've freakin self-published!  But we keep at it, knowing it will be worth it in the end. Finally the day comes when we hold that beautiful baby book in our hands. Well, I don't need to tell you what that moment feels like. You've either experienced it or imagined it. Yes, it is fantastic.

More time passes.

******

Dare I mention money?

The sales aren't there, the royalty checks are small to nonexistent. We wonder who to blame-- the system, our publisher, our blog, THE MAN? We might even throw the occasional temper tantrum....

Where is the money? Show me the money! Look at fill in the blank writer. Why didn't it work out for me? My book's as good as fill in the blank book. Waaaaa, why can't that be me???!!!

OR--

We can realize that things of worth in this world rarely get paid what they deserve. Professional ball players make millions while schoolteachers struggle to pay rent. A mom staying home full time to raise her young children gets no pay unless there's a husband with a nice income. Day care workers earn crap.

An author, someone who writes the books that brighten our days and cheer our nights and enlighten our minds, earns-- usually nothing. By the time you figure the hours put in, add expenses like paper, toner, laptop, and don't forget the marketing, sometimes doing book tours on your own dime--- yes, it's nothing. It's less even than the school teacher. Sure, there's a few author superstars out there. You can count them on one hand per decade.

Let's face it. We won't make much money as writers. If any. It's lovely when people pay for a book you wrote, so highly satisfying, but there's a lot of people who have to get paid out of that $15.95. The bookstore, the publisher, the distributor, the cover artist to name a few.

Some of them get paid before publication (cover artist) or upon sales (bookstore & somewhat later, distributor). The publisher gets paid when the store pays the distributor and the distributor sends out the checks, after taking his cut of course. The author gets paid last, twice a year. The system is messed up. None of it would exist except for the authors, and they get their small percentage last. They are the first to do the work, i.e. write the book, and the last to get paid. Twice a year. Oh, and don't forget returns, which are deducted from the author's royalty account. So don't quit that day job.

There aren't really any bad guys in this scenario. No one makes a lot of money in publishing unless there's a mega-hit, or a string of bestsellers, or you've been around forever like since 1872. Otherwise it's a very difficult business to get rich in. If you're doing this for the money, better rethink your career path.

I want to write. I need to write. I need people to read what I write. Call me a needy author, it's true, I admit it. I crave readers for my work. I write because it's my passion, how about you? If financial success follows, wonderful. If not, so what? This is for love not money, right?

Let's be grateful for where we are on this incredible journey and move forward with joy. Never mind the wondering if "I had an agent, or that agent, I'd be doing better. Or if I self-pubbed on e books I'd get more and wouldn't have to split with my publisher. Or if only I could get in Costco, or get on Oprah. Or if I was with a different press I'd have more exposure." Really, none of it matters, because as a general rule, writers don't make money, sad but true.

So don't think about money and just get back to the writing. Anyway, that's how I see it.

It's Time to Unite our Villages and Sell More Books

Back when I was Xena, I wrote a post called It Takes a Village to Sell a Book.  It marked a turning point in my understanding of the supportive writing/blogging community. You'd think we'd all be curled up in jealousy over each other's success, right? But instead writers are the most amazing community imaginable.

To quote from my village post,  "You are creating your own village and as it grows and grows, they will encourage, share, cry and rejoice with you along the way. And ultimately they'll not only buy your book, they'll help sell it. Your village will interview you, post reviews on Goodreads, tell everyone they know, and generally do more good for your sales than the bookstore owner who's struggling to stay in business and focusing largely on whatever is the bestseller of the day.

"This is how it works people. We are building something here, populating the blog world with all of our fun and original little cities, full of fun and interesting inhabitants. We call them followers, but in reality they're our village. They help us, we help them, and we all need each other."

 As I wrote that post, I pondered the great question.

How to turn this highly supportive culture of writers into a mutually beneficial association that will help us do what we are online to do-- sell our books.

Many of you may not be published YET. But when that happy day comes you're going to ask-- How Can Authors & Publishers Sell More Books?  Believe me, it's true, even Charles Dickens had to face it. I've been agonizing over this question for three years, ever since my first book came out. At first blush, we're just thrilled to be published. "Aw shucks, if only a few people buy my book and like it, I'll be thrilled."

Until we realize how much we love this job, and how much we really want to make a living at it.  Then book sales become the overriding concern. And let's face it. Writers aren't complete without readers. We need readers to buy our books, to love them and eagerly await our next release. It's what every author longs for. It's why we toil endless hours over our craptastic manuscripts, and do a zillion revisions. It's for the readers.

Okay, enough philosophizing. You already know this stuff anyway. What you don't know is this. A website for authors is coming that's unlike anything out there right now. It will be a place to consolidate and focus this innate desire authors have to support their own. While enabling us to sell more books and make more money doing it. This new website will unite our villages.

I'm not trying to taunt you. It's for a purpose. I need 100 authors with books to sell-- either print or ebook-- ready to go with their profile pages, cover images and summaries set up in advance of the launch.

If you're interested in being part of the First One Hundred at launch, then email me (karenjonesgowen@gmail.com) and I can tell you exactly what is needed to get started. (And don't worry, I won't ask for money or make you purchase a book on how to sell more books lol.)

I signed a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits me from giving out specific details. You can see my dilemma, since it's my assignment to find the First One Hundred participating authors. I'm not allowed to tell the name of the site yet *as you might have noticed* despite the fact that I am tired of pussy footing around this and I am so ready  to shout it from the rooftops.

But I can't. However, I will continue to provide updates as I can. Have I said enough to pique your curiousity, you published authors? Enough to motivate you to write me an email? Or have I just irritated the crap out of everyone with my non-disclosure, still not saying anything, and hinting around until you're all sick of it? I hope not, because I need you to help spread the word, to find 100 authors ready to go. The village has been built, and it is freakin' awesome. It's time to populate it.

So whether you're traditionally or self- published, if wondering how to sell more books is keeping you awake at night, then this could be your sleep remedy. If you are interested in being part of the First One Hundred, shoot me an email. If you know others in the same sleepless boat, send them a link to this post.

We are authors helping authors, and this planned website, currently set to launch in 6 - 8 weeks, is going to make it a whole lot easier for us to do what we're already doing online. So let's get the word out! Share this post through facebook, twitter, link to it on your blogs, let's unite our villages. This is going to be huge. A revolution. And it starts with the First One Hundred.

Winners of LETTUCE SHARE (and upcoming website for authors)

Out of 10 in the Diamond Tribe, and 15 in the Farm Tribe,                                congratulations to the two winners!

Leah and Jemi, email me your address at karenjonesgowen@gmail.com, and I'll ship out your autographed copies. Everyone was so enthusiastic and supportive that I wish I could send all of you the books requested!

For those who seriously want Uncut Diamonds, there are a few used copies available here for $4.00 which includes shipping. And next week it will be available on Kindle for $2.99.

Farm Girl won't be sold as an ebook because of the photography not translating well, and there are no real deals listed on Amazon. However, anyone who would like a copy shipped direct from me, I can do that for $15, which includes shipping. Or $20 for outside the U.S. I don't know how that price compares to Amazon for outside the U.S., but it is somewhat of a savings if you live here plus I can autograph it. Email if interested.

Okay, enough about me and my books. As I've said before, I am not a salesman and don't want to be. 

Which is why I've been working all summer with a team of web developers to put together a website for authors that will make it easier for us to sell our books-- a combination Goodreads slash Amazon and even-something-more-no-one-has-done-before site. That's all the hint I can give right now, until it gets closer to launch. The people I'm working with are paranoid computer geeks. (Who don't read blogs lol).

So I've been networking like crazy, getting completely out of my reclusive comfort zone, starting twitter and facebook accounts to connect with more authors who have books to sell. I'm not sure how effective the networking is. I'll know more when the time comes to launch and put out the call for applicants.

Any of you with published books to sell-- who are interested in more information, or who want to be considered for the initial launch-- please email me. Also, whether you have a book to sell or not, you can help support those who do by spreading the word. Just blog, tweet or fb about this, (such as it is-- I know I've not given you much yet), link to my blog and encourage authors with books to sell to follow me here or on twitter.

That way when the time comes, as many as possible can hear the announcement.

That's all I can say about it for now. More to come later.

Author Promotion

My last post about book signings with the anxiety and even desperation that often accompany these events got me thinking about author promotion. The message is getting through loud and clear-- authors have to promote themselves and their books because nobody else will care enough to do it. The publisher cares, but often has a whole lot of books to market, with most of the attention going to the next title, or to the bestselling titles, or whatever. Anyone but moi, right? And if you are lucky enough to be one of those bestsellers, you better stay with it to keep your place on top.

There's no way out of it. We have to promote.

I have an upcoming interview with 24 Hours London author Marsha Moore on her book promotion. She has some great ideas and success stories. I am obsessed by this idea of promotion. There's a lot out there on the subject--good, bad and ugly. That idea of approaching passersby to put a copy of your book in their hands? No, that's a bad idea. Jane's comment about the writer of the recipe book in Costco wearing a chef's coat and engaging people with a genuine smile--good idea.

What are some of the ideas you've heard? Some that you want to try? Some you would never feel comfortable with? That you would resist with every fiber of your being? And what are you excited to do?

Blogging relieves anxiety and Book signings don't

When I have anxiety over things, even a near panic attack, I can blog and it calms me down. Maybe because it's instant writing to an audience (although a somewhat invisible audience), which to a writer is instant gratification. Chocolate will also calm my anxiety attacks, but blogging is less fattening. And talking to my husband or one of my kids who know how to relate to my crazy fears also helps, but they're all asleep.

I could write about what is giving me anxiety and bore you all to tears. Half the time I don't know myself, it just comes in the night, a sleep snatcher, and drives me to do things--like fill the dishwasher, fold laundry and blog. Read, comment, post. Read, comment, post.

Okay, now to the second part of this post, which I'm sure is much more interesting and thought-provoking than "my anxiety and how I cure it":

A Tale of Two Book Signings.

I attended W. Everett Prusso's signing at Borders last Friday and was very impressed. He had a poster set up, he had invited many, many friends and family, and he had a group of family members who stayed with him the entire time so he wasn't sitting there alone. A good number of his invited friends stopped by and purchased copies of his book, Ghost Waves. The people at Borders were pleased by the results. He prepared ahead of time, and at the event he conducted himself with class and good taste.

Now the next story. It's short and painful. Setting--Costco, a great place to have carry your book and do signings due to all the traffic. Characters-- woman with a stack of books at her table and an attractive young man who just happens to belong to the clan of Gowen. Freakish event that really did happen-- the Gowen fellow is walking down the aisle of this Costco toward the book section with an acquaintance of the female gender. Gowen is closest to the author's table. Author, still seated at her table, grabs his hand and says, "I'm so and so, and I wrote this book." Handsome Gowen fellow nods, smiles and says, "Okay," as he quickly walks on, with no desire whatsoever to even look at her book, let alone buy a copy.

Conclusion: This is why people will avoid book signing tables. They're afraid of being accosted. Better to bring your own friends who want to buy your book, have a party, sell a few copies and walk away with your self-respect. Desperation doesn't sell books.

Prusso, yours was a successful signing. Good job.