Tag: Uncategorized

In my opinion, this was the second most eye-catching booth at the convention. (Lightstone/Liken was #1.) HaleStone distributes the HaleStorm (DB link) movies like The Singles Ward and The R.M. It also distributes for several other related movie and entertainment companies, such as Thompson, Majestic and Hale Yeah!

Thompson has a bunch of family movies, but I can’t find a weblink for you. I don’t know very much about the other companies either–again, no link. I also don’t know why this booth looks so empty in this photo or why there are no workers there. Every time I walked past it during the convention, it was crowded. Maybe this one was taken before the convention opened.

Granite Publishing had 6 booth spaces. This is from the side and back. I liked the simplicity of the thatched roofs on their pillars with book cover posters up and down the sides. Also the palm trees. That was cool.

The round tables and chairs that you can see in this photo were where the employees met with the bookstore buyers to take orders. They had their author signings around front. I hope someone sends me a photo of the front of their booth, because this one does not do it justice.

Just a thought. If any other publishers, authors, vendors, bookstores, conventioneers, or whatever happen to read this blog and you have photos you’d like me to post here, please e-mail them to me. Format them for posting on the web before sending. And if you have any commentary to go with the photo, I’ll post that too. Just let me know if you want your name, etc. posted with them.

This is one end of Cedar Fort’s booth. They had a 10 booth space. That round thing above the middle of their booth has all their imprint/company logos on it, riding the top of that blue wave. I think it may have rotated. It was kind of cool, but some of the logos were too small and they were hard to read even when you were right up close. Which is too bad.

Note to CFI: next time, make your logos bigger and bolder.

You can barely see it in this photo–and I’m hoping someone will send me another photo of this booth from inside it–but they had plastic walls around their booth that had cascading water coming down the sides. That was kind of cool.

I think they were really brave to do the water thing. I mean, if one of the tubes or pipes sprung a leak, it would have sprayed all over the conventioneers and ruined a lot of CFI product, and possibly some product in the neighboring booths. However, as far as I know, it worked for them.

(We thought about having water in our booth, but decided against it due to the disaster potential.)

CFI also had these really cute plastic blow-up chairs with polka dots all over them. They looked nice and fun, but they were so low to the ground that I wouldn’t have dared try to sit in them. It would have taken a crane to get me back up. I think a lot of people may have felt the same way, because out of the 200 times I walked past them, I never once saw anyone sitting in them.

Overall, I think CFI had an okay booth display, but it wasn’t nearly as cool as their jungle themed one last year. That one was ULTRA-COOL! They had camoflage netting all over it. They were one of my favorites last year, but I don’t have any photos of it. Sorry.

Here are two random aisles at the show.

I got some photos! I have several friends who are camera happy and they are going to be e-mailing photos to me over the next few days. I will post them and comment as I get them, so they may be a little disjointed. But then, the convention is a huge cacophony of noise and excitement and people hawking their wares, so the frenetic content of the next few days of posting will actually give you a sense of the feeling of being there. I hope.

Here is a photo of Deseret Book’s booth. Since they are the biggest, and since I talked about them a little the other day, I’m posting them first.

This is just from one angle and it’s the only one I have so far. It does not do the booth justice. But see the table and chair there on the left side of the photo? That’s where the authors sit to do their signings. The bookstores get tickets that allow them to stand in line–sometimes for an hour or more–to meet the specific author and get a signed copy of their new book. There are a limited number of tickets and you have to have one to even stand within spitting distance of this area. Sometimes the line of ticket holders stretches all the way across the front of the booth. There are a couple of other signing nooks at the other corners of the booth. I may have photos of one of these lines coming later.

Also notice the big thingee (that’s the technical term) at the top center of the photo. There is a giant reproduction of one of their new titles on each side of that. You can see that from anywhere in the convention hall. It’s amazing.

Set up day (Tuesday).

It started out as such a lovely day. Got down to the office. Packed the truck in less than 30 minutes. Did a few leisurely office type things (pay bills, filled a few orders, chatted with an ex-employee who dropped in to say hello…). Then we headed off to the South Towne Convention Center in Sandy. Life was good.

We entered the convention hall around 10:00 a.m. It was such a beehive of activity. People bringing in their product, setting up their booths. The air was electric with excitement. And noise. Hammering. Buzz saws. Other miscellaneous bangs and booms.

We found our area and started to set up. Then we realized we’d left a major portion of our display back at the office. Another major part of the booth that was supposed to be available for pick-up early Tuesday morning, wasn’t. These two parts had to go in first. None of the other pieces could be put together or set up until these were in place.

So back we went to the office for the one part. Then to the store to find a make-do for the other part. (I said a prayer of thanks that: 1] our office is very close by; not in Maine or Florida or even Manti; and 2] Sam Walton lived during my lifetime.)

We had planned to be done by 2:00 p.m., but didn’t have all our pieces together until 3:00 p.m. After that it went fairly smoothly. Sort of.

We were out of there by 4:15 p.m. and went straight from there to one printer to get most of our remaining promo pieces. The receptionist said, “But you picked up all of your catalogs the other day. I don’t have anything else left in the computer for you…” Fortunately, the printer was as disorganized as us. The jobs were there and done, just not in the computer.

And I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but…lest you think I’m the only rattled, last minute publisher–while I was there at the printers another publisher arrived to get their stuff. And no less that four others were having their stuff still coming off the doc and being collated and folded and stapled and all that jazz. I just love it when I hear that. (Yes, I have an evil streak. Sorry.)

And I’m not the only one with the set-up problems. Another publisher and friend was cooling their heels waiting for product to be delivered to the convention hall. Another had left their backdrop at their office. Others couldn’t get their carpet to fit. And all over the place I heard loud and very stressed voices saying things like, “Where is that xyz? I know I packed it!” and “That doesn’t fit together right. Where is this piece supposed to go?” and “Where is so-and-so? They were supposed to be here an hour ago.”

All that anxiety just makes it sweeter when your booth is done and you can step back and take a look at it and it looks good. But we weren’t to that point yet. We had still more stuff to pick up.

So after we get the stuff from one printer, we go pick up stuff at another printer. That was all done and looked beautiful. Check off another thing from the list.

Went to pick up the 60 items from that never-to-be-named store which has employees who work for the devil (grumble, grumble–do I sound like Super Dale? [local joke])…first, “We only have 24 of them.” Then we ask, “Is that counting the 22 that were on your shelf yesterday?” No. Duh. So then we were up to 46. “Well, we have some in clear, not frosted…” Desperate, we took those. Now we had 54. “Oh, and here are some black ones…” Took those too. Ended up with 58, which was close enough. So they go to collect them all, and “You’re going to kill us. Those frosted ones you wanted aren’t frosted after all. They’re clear…”

At this point, I don’t even care. And I’m in a hurry because, you know, I have a personal life too and I was late for a very important date. Rushed home–smelling like a construction worker. (I mean no offense to construction workers all over the world. I just don’t particularly want to smell like one. My husband doesn’t really like it when I smell like one either.) Anyway, hurried to get ready. Went to the event. Home around midnght (what was I thinking?!!) Two seconds after I fell asleep the alarm went off and it was CONVENTION DAY!!!

[P.S. I tried to get some photos on set-up day with the booths under construction, but they really turned out dark and you can’t see anything. Sorry. Will try to get some during the convention itself.]

[P.P.S. Will report on the actual convention itself this weekend. Too busy to do more right now.]

What a weekend! What a day! I cannot believe that I have to set up the booth tomorrow and the convention starts on Wednesday. Someone please pinch me and wake me up, so I can realize it’s only June and I still have plenty of time!

What? It really is convention week?

Oh dear.

So remember the 60 items we ordered from a particular store who promised they would be here today? We called to see when we could pick them up and (are you sitting down?), they said, and I quote, “You told us to cancel that order.”

WHAT?!!? We most definitely did not! So they are scrambling to get the order together for us by tomorrow.

Then I went by the printer’s to pick up our promo pieces. They said, and I quote, “Did you send us stuff over the weekend? Because our server went down and we don’t have any record of you sending us anything. What was it? A catalog or something?”

I am not making this up. It was actually two catalogs (sent a week ago), three product flyers (sent Friday), and some other miscellaneous aren’t-we-a-really-cool-company stuff (sent Saturday).

For those of you attending the convention, I will be the woman curled up in a fetal position in the corner of our booth, mumbling random thoughts and curses upon all the printers of the world.

Actually, that won’t be much of an indicator. Earlier today, I was bemoaning my situation to a collegue in another company and their day is going as well as mine. And then another colleague, from still another company, was having a worse day then both of us put together.

Oh well. At least I will have all my new books on display, creatively or otherwise.

Put in 11 hours today. Created 16 posters and got them to the printer. That was such a pain. Making the posters wasn’t a big deal. I know how to do that, so it only took a few hours. But Kinkos wanted the files to be the exact size that they were to be printed, so that means these were 100–200 MEG files. Each. They wouldn’t go over their ftp site. I don’t have 16 jump drives. So I had to burn them to CDs and it took almost three hours just to do that. Then I had to drive them down to Kinko’s. Hadn’t planned on a road trip.

I suppose I should be grateful that I have computers that can create the artwork as fast as they can, rather than complaining about how “slow” they are. But if I didn’t whine and complain, I’d be nearly perfect–and I have this huge fear that I might accidentally get translated before I finish my novel, so…

What else did I do? Oh, while the CDs were burning on one computer, I did some work on another computer–catching up on e-mails, cleaning off my desktop, that kind of stuff.

Talked to some authors. Some of them need lots of hand-holding. They’re nervous about the convention. I can understand that. I am too. A little. My first year, I was incredibly nervous. I didn’t know what to expect. Now I’ve done it so many times, it should be old hat. But I still have nightmares–like I get there and I’ve forgotten to bring my entire display. Or none of my authors show up. Or it’s a week later and I totally forgot to go.

I think I am just about ready for the convention. I have two more sheets to create, but they should be quick and easy, and I can send them to Kinko’s on Monday.

After the trip to Kinkos, I went to Wal-Mart to get the last of the stuff I need for the display–except for the stuff that’s on order from that other store, who promises they will be here in time. Also got some trash bags–we’re all out at the office and we have overflowing trash bins. I know you probably imagine that we “have people” who take care of things like that. We do. I’m them.

So now I’m done (or done in) for the day. I’m pooped. So I’m turning off the computers and going to bed early. Goodnight.

Hey LDSP,

Quick question, if you’ve got a minute. You mentioned the other day that the stats on your blog have gone up since you started talking about LDSBA. How do you access the stats on Blogspot? I’ve gone through my settings a bazillion times and can’t see where to find them for my site.

Thanks,
Stat-less

What does this have to do with writing, you ask? Lots.

Every writer should have a website.

Every website needs a stat counter.

If you don’t know what a stat counter is, it’s the little box down at the bottom right that at this moment says 904. That is the number of people who have visited this site since I installed the counter in May or June–can’t remember when.

Anyway, Blogspot doesn’t have stat counters. Or if they do, I don’t know where. I got this one at StatCounter.com. I use the freebie, because I’m cheap. Just go to the site and follow the instructions to create one of your own. Then you have to insert it into the template code of your blog or website. I had to mess with it a bit to get it right, but it wasn’t too hard. This particular stat counter code gives you a variety of information that I don’t know how to interpret. But the part I do understand tells me how many of you hit my site each day, how many pages you looked at while you were there, the average amount of time spent looking at my site and the general area of the world you come from. Kind of cool.

Finished my catalog and got it off to the printer. (3.25 hours) I was feeling really bad about how behind I was on this project. (Yes, I’m the kind of person who thinks they’re late if they’re not 10 minutes early, but still…I really am behind this time.) Anyway, I was feeling bad about this, and what an unprofessional reflection this was upon me, when I discovered that one of my colleagues is even further behind on their catalog! I had to choke back a cackle of glee–not over their misfortune, but…well, let’s be honest. It was over their misfortune. Misery loves company, what can I say?

Talked with a couple of authors about last minute convention details. Finished our promo pieces–well, actually, I just looked at the finished pieces. My employees had to put them all together. They look pretty cool, even if they are a last minute throw-together. Got a couple of compliments on them from non-employees (aka people who don’t have to suck up to keep their jobs). That made me feel better. I always feel like a nerd when I’m trying to create visual displays. Flat surfaces (like paper), I do okay with; but for 3-D objects, I’m about as creative as a rock.

Put together another marketing piece (5 hours). Have to proof it tomorrow morning and send it to the press. Then I only have one more page of show specials to put together. And the posters–all the new book covers. That shouldn’t be too hard. (Knock on wood.)

Now I have to go because there’s a bowl of ice cream calling my name.

I keep getting my day count off. I can’t imagine why…

13 hours today. I don’t have it all detailed out. I did a lot of e-mailing, a few phone calls. Touched base with some employees to make sure they were all on track with their convention assignments. We needed 60 of a particular item and the store had less than 20. They’ve promised they’ll have the rest in by Monday. Do we believe them?

I lost a distribution contract I was really hoping I’d get. Darn. It was a national product that would come with an existing customer base. We left it on good terms. That’s really important. I’ve had more than one deal come through a year or two down the road after I thought the chance was gone.

That was balanced out by another contract for that really cool product I mentioned awhile back. Yea!

Spent most of the day working on promotional materials–product cards, bookmarks, catalogs and other stuff to give out at the convention.

I have authors starting to arrive from out of town tomorrow. I need to get them to their motels, make sure they have everything they need. I will not be playing tour guide, but still, I want them to be able to see some fun Utah things while they’re here.

Also tomorrow I have relatives passing through who want to stop by and visit for an hour or two. And one of my dear, dear friends called and has cleaned out her clothes closet. She’s coming down from Salt Lake with several boxes of hand-me-downs—for me. I love it when she cleans out her closets. It’s more fun than Christmas. It doesn’t matter how busy I am. I’ll drop everything for free new clothes. 🙂

Another author is coming in to stuff that messed up product. Hopefully she can do it in one day. If not, her husband will come down on Saturday to finish the job.

And somewhere in the back of my mind is this nagging feeling that I’ve forgotten something important. I hate it when that happens. I never know until it’s too late whether I really have forgotten something, or it’s just a case of nerves.

Today was Plan the Booth Day. Yesterday I did some looking around and pricing out booth display furniture, getting some ideas. All the display stuff we’ve used in previous years is totally hammered, so we need to come up with something new.

Today we set up the basic booth layout, arranged the tables and chairs, etc. Then I went to Wal-Mart for a bunch of stuff. Was only able to find some of it. (5.25 hours)

Then I went to one printer to pick up the last of the books and the insert for the one product that was messed up. Sent an employee to another printer to pick up the stuff there. (1.50 hours for me; not sure how long it took her, but I’m sure it was longer. I only had one place to go. She had about 5 places to hit.)

Came home and took a siesta. It’s just too darn hot. Now I’m back at work. Still haven’t finished all my promotional materials. Working on those as soon as I post this.

Tick-tick-tick. I feel like Capt. Hook.

Here is a new blog by an author* whose agent just sold her debut novel to Bantam. She posts two successful query letters.

And here is what her agent said about her query.

BTW, I read PubRants daily. You can get a lot of good info from this blog. I highly recommend it.

*Caution–If you go to Sherry Thomas’ website, be warned that she writes romance and there are some explicit scenes. I stopped reading as soon as I hit those. My endorsement here is of her sample query letters ONLY.

This is a test. Below is a query I actually received (with all the particulars changed). If you’ve been paying attention, you should be able to tell me what’s wrong with it.

Dear Manager,

I am an addictions counselor who leads workshops and group sessions with LDS addicts. I am frequently asked how some of the aspects of addiction and recovery correspond with the teachings of the LDS church. Therefore, I have written several essays addressing these issues.

Please let me know if your company would be interested in in helping me with its publication. I have enclosed a Table of Contents so that you may see the concepts and ideas addressed in my book.

Sincerely,
Jane Doe


This is followed by a full sized title page.

Then a Table of Contents listing Part I (with 9 chapters), Part II (with 6 chapters), Part III (with 1 chapter), and Part IV (an Appendix with 7 chapters).

Post your comments, telling me where this woman went wrong. Later on this week, I’ll post a follow-up.

What a flurry of pre-convention activity! I’ve received several phone calls from colleagues today. “What are you doing in your booth?” “Where can I get cheap carpet?” “What do you think about..?”

I love that I can call these people colleagues and friends, and not competitors, as most people would label us. Of course, there is some competitiveness in the industry–there are a few companies that have a very hard-nosed, business-minded, take no prisoners approach to things. Fortunately, I’ve never found myself on the short end of an interaction with them.

But there are a handful of fun, friendly and supportive publishers that I am pleased to call my friends. I suppose that on some level we compete for the same product, the same authors and titles. But we don’t fight. We don’t backstab. We just do our business with integrity, make our offers and let the best man (or woman) win.

Sometimes, I get the contract. I like it when that happens. Sometimes I don’t. When that happens, I get to re-evaluate my company, our policies and determine where changes need to be made so that I can better fill the needs of my authors and perhaps get the next contract I go after.

Back to convention preparations–

Received two pallets of new product today. That leaves only one more product shipment and then I’ll be done. Yea!

There were 12 items on my “Must Do Today” list. I got three of them done. Press proofs for our promo pieces were not ready. Hopefully they will be ready tomorrow. We need to get them put together.

Catching up on e-mails and other messages that came in over the weekend. (1 hour)

Finished the proposal and first draft of the contract for the cool project I’m still negotiating for. Even if we can’t work it out so that I am the #1 worldwide distributor for this product, I can still distribute it to the LDS market so it will be in the booth. I sent off an e-mail with all the contracts and spreadsheets attached. We are doing a conference call later this week. (3.25 hours)

Started on the catalog. (2.25 hours)

Took a break to do family things. One kid just got home from camp. One kid leaves for camp tomorrow. Do you know how hard it is to find a modest 1-piece swimsuit, that fits, in the “right” style and colors, this late in the season? Or at any time, for that matter. Ends up we’re borrowing a tankini and using a long thick t-shirt as a cover-up. So frustrating.

I still have about 4 hours of work I need to put in tonight. I have a product list spreadsheet that has to be done by tomorrow. And it would be really good if I could at least get the catalog sketched out.

Someone asked for a breakdown of my day, so here it is:

Paid bills; returned phone calls & e-mails. I’ve been trying to reach one of my authors for a week now. She isn’t returning my phone calls or e-mails. Wondering if she’s on vacation; wishing I was. (2 hours)

Went to the printer #1 and did a press check. They told me it was done yesterday (remember, I forgot to go). When I got there it wasn’t ready and she said it would be done in an hour. Like I have time to wait around for an hour. So I was grumpy and they got it together in 10 minutes. Looks pretty good. Should be ready by Monday. (1 hour)

Printer #2 called and said there was a problem with my files. Where was the booklet; they could only find the cover. Of course, I’m in the car, not at my office and can’t resend the files. They called back. They just looked at page one; didn’t realize it was a 24 page document. That was a wasted panic attack. Forced to self-medicate with a candy bar. (15 minutes)

More phone calls; more e-mails. Finally worked up the courage to tell my author the release date is delayed. He wasn’t too upset. Worked on promotional pieces for convention; sent them to the printer #1. (3 hours)

Went to printer #2 for the press check. They expect to have this piece done by Tuesday, so we can open packages, insert them and reseal the packages on Wednesday. I say “we” but I really mean the author. While I was there, checked on the progress of a book that I expected to be done last week. It’s printed and bound; just needs to be trimmed. (1 hour)

More phone calls; more e-mails. Negotiating for the cool new product; writing a proposal; adjusting the contract; trying to figure out how to make a seamless transition. (Impossible.) Wondering if it’s worth the trouble. (6.25 hours)

Total Workday: 13.5 hours.

We’re not counting the time spent to create this blog. That’s not work, it’s fun.

I will be so glad when the convention is over.

Either my count is off, or I was abducted by aliens and lost a day.

Today I created and sent 4 promo items to press. I created two more, but am waiting for two pieces of artwork and an author’s e-mail address before I can send those off. I still need to do my main catalog and order form. I have never been this far behind before. Still trying to figure out how that happened. The alien abduction theory is becoming more credible.

I was supposed to go do a press proof on a book this afternoon. I remembered it at 7:00 p.m. Ooops.

Trying to negotiate a last minute distribution deal for a really cool product. The publisher keeps sending me conflicting information. I would love to have this at the convention, but I don’t think we’re going to have all the details ironed out in time.

Visited with some colleagues, sharing ideas for new product. That was fun. One of them is passing an author over to me because they don’t publish in that genre. I don’t either, but I want to. I’ve recommended other publishers to authors when I am the wrong one for what they’re writing. While some companies are very competitive and won’t share leads, others are very open and friendly and care more about helping the author get published than preventing the competition from getting ahead.

Total hours worked: 15. One of those colleagues called me a workaholic today. Hah! Only when I have to be. Come September, I’m back to normal work days.

I’ve had a manuscript at an LDS house for quite some time. I haven’t heard anything on it since November 2005. Would it be acceptable to contact the publisher after the convention and inquire on the status of my manuscript or keep waiting? Since I’ve already broken the rule of sending this same publisher a second manuscript (wish I’d had your advice before I did that) I don’t want to make another mistake, but I’d like to know if my manuscript is still under consideration.

Thank you.

They’ve had it 9 months? You can grow a baby in that amount of time! No way should a submission review take that long. Yes, give them a couple of weeks to get through the convention, and then call and politely ask the status of your manuscript. You’ve been patient enough.

Unless their website says their normal submission process takes 9 months (and if it does, rethink submitting to them), anything more than 3 months on a basic query, or 6 months on a full, is a sign that something has gone wrong–either it never made it to them, or it’s lost on someone’s desk, or your rejection is lost in the mail. And I say rejection, because if they were going to accept, they would probably call you.

In the future, when you submit, make a note of what the publisher says is their usual response time. You can usually find this on their website. Then add 3 weeks. If you haven’t heard from them by that date, then by all means, you may call and inquire.

Today I made a huge wall chart where I listed everything I need to do before the convention, and then wrote in the number of hours each of the items would take. If I don’t eat or sleep for the next two weeks, I still can’t do it all.

I delegated some of it. I’d love to delegate even more of it, but the last job I delegated got messed up so bad that it took me longer to fix it then it would have taken had I done it myself.

There are days when I really don’t like my job. I have an associate who keeps telling me that she’d make more money being a greeter at Wal-Mart then she makes in publishing. Today, I’m thinking we should go be greeters together.

But you know, I refuse to end my day in a low note. So, good things that happened today:

1. Finally got the bid from the printer on the rush job. The author should have the proofs back to me tomorrow morning. Press tomorrow afternoon.

2. Got that stalled project out of typesetting. It goes to the press tomorrow too, I think.

3. Successfully avoided making that dissapointing phone call to my author. I keep hoping I’ll suddenly find myself cloned and one of me can still get the book ready while the other of me does everything else.

4. Added a new link under Writing Tips. Looks good. Go check it out.

5. Didn’t get hit by any of the gigantic hail that ravaged south west Provo today. Nothing big blew over onto my house or office. And I didn’t get hit by lighting.

6. One of my kids who is off at summer camp just texted me to say goodnight.

That makes it all better. Life is good.

What is some of the advice you give new authors as far as how to market their book and what they can do to get it out there. Also, what are the responsibilities of the publisher in marketing an author’s book? What should I be expecting them to do?

This really varies between publishers; and also between books with the same publisher. When a book comes out, it’s ranked as frontlist (books expected to sell well), mid-list (moderate sellers) or backlist (lower sellers or older books). The amount of marketing done for your book depends upon which list it’s on, which is based on pre-sells, with frontlist getting the lion’s share of the publicity.

There’s usually an initial marketing budget. Minimum that you should expect is to be listed in all catalogs, put on their website, and some sort of introductory announcement to bookstores—a brochure, postcard or e-mail blast. A business card or bookmark for you to hand out at signings and other appearances (although you might be asked to chip in on these). Review copies and press releases sent to Utah newspapers (because that’s where the majority of the LDS buying public lives), to your local newspapers, and other reviewers. Presentation at LDSBA the first year it’s out. If they offer a discount on your book, that can come out of the marketing budget too. That’s bare minimum and it might be all you get if the pre-sells aren’t good.

From there it can go to posters, racks, ads in catalogs and newspapers, book signings (you may have to pay travel expenses), radio ads and/or interviews, billboards, and any other neat thing they can think of.

After the initial marketing budget, most publishers plan to spend a set percentage of profits on marketing. The more books sold, the more money in your marketing budget.

What you’re expected to do is be a willing and enthusiastic participant in any marketing ideas the publisher has. If you can come up with some suggestions, that’s great too. Some authors hire PR people and pay for marketing out of their own pocket. Talk to other authors, see what they’re doing and adapt the ideas to your book. Get a copy of Jump Start Your Books Sales by Tom and Marilyn Ross. It has lots of great ideas. Another one is Guerilla Marketing for Writers.

Get your own website (I’ve talked about this before). You can either sell your book from your site or link to your publisher’s site. Or you can link to Deseret Book through their affiliate program.

If your publisher doesn’t give you business cards, then invest in these yourself. Make them full color with your book cover, ISBN number and Publisher’s logo or name on one side. ISBN & publisher helps bookstores find it. Put your contact info on the back: name, website address, e-mail address. Mailing address & phone number is optional. Many authors choose to be contacted through their publisher.

These need to look really nice, so hire a graphic designer who knows what they’re doing. VistaPrint.com is a good place to have them printed. They’re fairly inexpensive, they do a good job, and once you’ve purchased from them they send you regular promotions with great discounts. Then don’t be stingy with those cards. Give them to everyone.

Over the weekend, we moved a bunch of stuff around in the warehouse to make room for new products. We got three shipments last week and expect two more this week and next. That was very hot, grueling work because when it’s 100 degrees outside, it’s about twice that in the warehouse!

I almost forgot to send in the list of name badges for the convention. Got those in at the last minute.

There was a problem with one of our new products. They all have to be unwrapped, an insert placed inside the box, and then re-shrink wrapped. Have to print the insert in time to have them ready for the convention. Printer won’t get back to me with a bid on a rush job.

Another book that was supposed to be done for the convention probably won’t be. It’s stalled out in typesetting. Someone didn’t know what they were doing and messed stuff up. Don’t know if I can fix it in time—and the author is flying in from out of state to do a signing.

Somehow I have to find the words to tell an author that I’m bumping his release date for another book. There is just no easy way to do that. But based on interest level of buyers, between now and the end of this year, I realistically could expect to sell 500 to 1,000 copies of his book; and about 6,000 copies of the other one. I only have time to get one of them ready in time for the convention. He is not going to be a happy camper. The fact that I can release his book by October 1 isn’t much consolation because he was all excited to have it at the convention. I just hope he doesn’t send someone to break my kneecaps.

If you are one of the lucky few who get a namebadge, plan to get there a little early or stay after your signing and stroll around and look at all the stuff. It’s really an amazing thing.

Here are some general etiquette rules for the convention:

1. Don’t go from booth to booth asking for free samples or catalogs. Those are to impress and entice the buyers. And they are expensive. Some vendors can’t afford to give freebies to everyone, but they’re too nice to say no. Other vendors believe that if they give everyone a freebie, it’s all good marketing because you’ll read the book and tell people about it. So if a vendor offers you a freebie, say, “I’m not a buyer; I’m an author.” If they still insist, then go ahead and take it if you want it. And if you do accept a freebie, express your thanks appropriately, by READING IT! Loaning it out. Giving it a good review on every blog and forum you have access to.

2. If you’re looking for a new publisher or distributor, this is probably not the best time to approach them. The focus is to sell product to the bookstores and that is the vendor’s priority. Please respect that.

3. If the vendor you really want to talk to happens to be sitting in their booth, staring into space because there’s been a lull in traffic, then you may gently and politely approach them and introduce yourself. But if they aren’t energetically and enthusiastically engaging you in conversation, take a hint. And the minute another person enters the booth, excuse yourself and leave. You won’t make a good impression if you cause the vendor to lose a sale.

4. If you have a previously established relationship with a vendor, by all means stop by their booth to say hi. I mean, we’re people too and we like to see old friends and make new ones. But again, respect their time and space. If the booth is crowded, come back later. Oh, and when you do get a chance to visit with them (briefly), make the appropriate ooohing and aaahing noises that indicate their new stuff is wonderful.

Dear LDS Editor, [I am LDS Publisher, not Editor. For this blog, I really don’t care if you get my name right or not—unless you’re telling someone about me and then I’d hope you’d get it right so they could find me. But for a query letter, make sure it’s correct. Not calling you to task, just bringing it to your attention.]

Several weeks ago you asked me to resubmit my query for further scrutiny. I tried to send this about 3 weeks ago, but it evidently became lost in cyberspace, so I’m trying again. [If I don’t respond, always, ALWAYS, assume it fell into a black hole in cyberspace.]

Any comments about my query would be greatly appreciated.

THE QUERY:

Dear Agent/Editor, [reminder to use real name of agent or editor you are querying]

I am seeking representation for my 68,500 word young adult novel, “The Bridge Beckons.” [Use italics for your title, not quotations. I realize this may have been a limitation of your e-mail software, but thought I’d mention it anyway.]

Seventeen year old Mark Wilkerson screwed up. He knows it. His dad is disappointed in him; his whole family knows he blew his solo [on what?] in their Christmas musical at the retirement home. So later, when another car clips the family car [another car/family car: too many cars; change one] in the dense fog on the Carquinez Bridge, Mark knows if his dad hadn’t been so upset with him [his dad is that ticked about a messed up solo at a retirement home???] he might have been ableto avoid the tangle with a gasoline truck in the next lane. Mark and his kid sister [does she have a name] are the only survivors of the fiery crash and Mark’s guilt is tearing him apart, and The Bridge Beckons. [too cheesy]

Mark and his sister move in with their grandmother in the town where the Carquinez Bridge dominates the skyline and constantly reminds him of his tragedy. He suffers from nightmares, paralyzing memories and fear resulting from the accident. A girl he meets, Genie Lombardi, [she needs a more significant introduction; something descriptive] promises to help him [do what?] , but her ex-boyfriend, Jeff Marino, wants her back and will do anything to get her, including killing Mark – or even Genie, if he must. Knowing of Mark’s phobia [what phobia? you need to describe it earlier] , Jeff kidnaps Genie to get to Mark, and Mark must overcome his fear of the bridge to rescue the girl he loves. But at the last moment everything goes wrong, and now Mark has two tragedies on the bridge to cope with. [to generic—need a little more idea of what the two tragedies are.] Ultimately, it’s thesecond tragedy that forces him to face his fear of the bridge that beckons.

The Bridge Beckons is a romantic/suspense novel where high schoolfriends and enemies clash in a 1960s tale of teenage deceit andintrigue, some of whom will survive and some will not. Set in the smallNorthern California town where I grew up, the Carquinez bridge, isknown for dense fog, multi-car pile-ups, and even suicides [need punctuation here] all of which inspired many of the elements of this story. I would be happy to send you a synopsis [include it with the query], sample chapters [send chapter 1 with the query], or the completed manuscript of The Bridge Beckons at your request. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your consideration.

THE CRITIQUE:
This query is very much improved over the first one. Great work! There’s not a lot to change in the rewrite. I’ve made up stuff where I think more detail is needed.

Paragraph four is very good, although I’m not sure a 1960s novel is going to sell well. You might consider updating it to today.

Also, I can pretty much guarantee that the title won’t fly. Your target audience is 14 to 15 year old boys and girls. The girls might buy it, but the boys won’t. At this point, it’s not a big deal. Publishers change titles all the time. Just giving you a heads-up.

THE REWRITE:

Dear Ms. LDS Publisher,

I am seeking representation for my 68,500 word young adult novel, The Bridge Beckons.

Seventeen year old Mark Wilkerson screwed up. He knows it. His dad is disappointed in him; his whole family knows he blew his piano solo in their Christmas musical at the retirement home. Normally, that would not be a big deal, but his dad’s boss was in the audience and used the botched solo as an excuse to humiliate Mark’s entire family in public.

So later, when a drunk driver clips the family car in the dense fog on the Carquinez Bridge, Mark knows that if his dad hadn’t been so upset with him, he might have been able to avoid the tangle with a gasoline truck in the next lane. Mark and his kid sister, Trixie, are the only survivors of the fiery crash and Mark’s guilt is tearing him apart.

Mark and Trixie move in with their grandmother in Silver City, where the Carquinez Bridge dominates the skyline and constantly reminds Mark of his tragedy. Nightmares and paralyzing memories of the accident turn Mark’s fear into a full-blown phobia, making it impossible for him to cross the bridge.

Mark resigns himself to misery thinking he will never be normal again, until he meets kind and gentle Genie Lombardi, who promises to help him overcome his phobia. However, Genie’s ex-boyfriend, Jeff Marino, has other plans. He wants her back and will do anything to get her, including killing Mark – or even Genie, if he must.

Aware of Mark’s phobia, Jeff kidnaps Genie and Mark must overcome his fear of the bridge to rescue the girl he loves. But at the last moment everything goes wrong, and now Mark has two tragedies on the bridge to cope with. Ultimately, it’s the second tragedy that forces him to face his fear of the bridge that beckons.

The Bridge Beckons is a romantic/suspense novel where high school friends and enemies clash in a modern tale of teenage deceit and intrigue, some of whom will survive and some will not. Set in the small Northern California town where I grew up, the Carquinez bridge is known for dense fog, multi-car pile-ups, and suicides–all of which inspired many of the elements of this story.

I have included a synopsis and chapter 1. I would be happy to send you the completed manuscript of The Bridge Beckons at your request. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your consideration.