Marilyn's Musings

Friday and Saturday I spent the full day at the Porterville Art Gallery with my books. I was near the back by the Christmas Tree. That had no effect on who came by to see me though as there were refreshments in the back room so I had the opportunity to speak with everyone. Those who were interested in books stopped by and took a look, and some bought. One man bought four books in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series as he likes Native American mysteries. One of the stringers for the local newspaper stopped by both days and asked me lots and lots of questions. She's interviewed me at various places I've been selling my books--and I think she'd like to be a novelists one day. I know that there will be something in the paper about me because the new managing editor emailed me to ask questions about the article the young reporter had written. So selling books isn't all that making an appearance is about. I once had a publisher tell me that even if you didn't sell one book, t...

Today I read about an author who was disappointed to find out that her publisher no longer paid for book tours and that was something she had been looking forward to. So instead of forgetting her dream, she and her father put out a call to everyone they knew through various means to see if they could interest people in having her come to universities, libraries, whatever venue they had some influence with. Actually it seemed to work pretty well. I've never gone on a book tour, though I must confess I've felt a tad bit of envy when reading or hearing about someone's successful book tour. One author I've met and admire is Michael Orenduff (The Pot Thief series) who toured from his hometown to Las Vegas where he attended the Public Safety Writers Association's conference. http://www.publicsafetywriter.com Imagine what a task the arranging for that must have been! He also reported have a wonderfully successful book launch for his second book with people lining up waitin...