Ginger Blog Shutting Down

Here we go.  I started this book blog with those words; I might as well finish with them.  This blog began with friends nagging--uh, suggesting I should blog about my first book, Ginger Snaps: Photos & Stories about redheaded Queers.  As with almost everything about my book, I said okay, why not?  I'll learn about blogging.  Maybe it will sell books.  I have but it hasn't.

What have I learned thru blogging?  You should have a focus.  I decided mine was to share the experience of self publishing a book and what I learned along the way.  You have to post frequently.  Two weeks separated my first and second blogs.  Not good.  It's like friends: if you're not there for them, they won't be there for you.  You should make your blog interesting to read and look at.  I've tried my best on the first and failed utterly on the second.  You have to be patient and grateful for small things.  There are almost as many blogs as humans on the planet (not really but close).  How are people going to find yours?  It takes time and word of mouth/social media to build readership.  Be happy with your blog; it may have to be enough.  The odds of writing a widely read blog must be worse than those for writing a best selling novel.  Make sure your blog pleases you.  

With my short stories, I write for myself.  If other people like them, it's icing.  I'm not trying to communicate anything to you.  There's a story in my brain; I want to get the words out.  That sounds a little whacko but it's not.  It's the creative process.  You make the art you see, not the art you think others will like or buy.  Of course, it does help to have a day job or an independent income.

But blogging is different, at least it was for me.  You are communicating.  It's like giving a party: you want people to come.  Not many of you came to this one but I appreciated every hit, let me tell you.

Life moves on.  I'm working on my next book with an excellent gay artist, Michael Broderick.  My friend the painter Yelena Karanovich and I will meet in the new year to start planning a project.  David and I are set to start snapping photos and interviewing people for our next book.  Nonfiction, which I don't do--except for this blog, I guess--hmm--but he pitched an idea to me which started telling me stories immediately.

Some year I'll do a website and maybe you'll track me down.  Hey, there's always Facebook.  Anyhoo, thank you for reading what I've written.  A writer is always grateful, even if they write first for themselves.


Don't forget our Ginger stuff:
     Ginger Snaps the Book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527
     ginger & gingerphile t-shirts & hoodies at http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com

Au Revoir (Almost)

This blog is now of legal age to drink: it's 21.  Yep, post #21 this are it, and the days are dwindling down, folks.  Our last book party is TOMORROW!  Oh, gawd.  I'm ready.  We do have three succeeding events--a panel and a store gig in December and the Noe Valley Authors Festival in March--but I think you all get the idea about events by now.  What more is there to say about more?

So, the next post will be the last post for the Ginger Snaps: Photos & Stories blog.  But, no tears yet, this being only the penultimate.  Moving on is good or, at least, it's life.

David and I are moving on to our book #2, which we'll start working on in January.  We've been cheating a little, thinking and talking.  How can you not talk when you're roommates?  Okay, I withdraw that question.  You may have a question to replace it, like, what's the new book going to be about?  We have a theme and a structure and a plan but, having done Ginger Snaps, we know that plans and structure and even theme have a way of changing so no sneak peeks I'm afraid.  You might be peeking at something that will look substantially different in a year when we're done.  Hope it suffices to say that it will involve equal parts visuals and text and be hot.

I have already moved on to my individual second book.  It will be similar to Ginger Snaps, a combination of art and fiction: artist Michael Broderick's gay erotic line drawings and the short stories they tell me.  We've got a great theme/s and have talked thru a format.  I can't wait for his drawings so I can begin writing!  Check out Michael's art at www.hottlead.com.

Michael has done several books, two of his own and two as an illustrator.  On ours we are co-authors of course.  Check out G Is for GROUNDSKEEPER for the high heat level you can expect from our book together.

I'm also going to shift to a more general literary blog sometime next year but more about that in my Very Last Ginger Snaps Blog Post!

Your friend
Rick

Tis the Season to Be Ginger

David and I were talking about money today.  (No, it's not a matter of making the rent.)  We've received requests from people who can't come to an event but want an autographed copy of Ginger Snaps: Photos & Stories.  (Gosh!  Blush!)  We decided we'll pass along our smart shopper discounts from blurb.com to them--and you if you want.

You know we raised money to print the book and in the middle of our vc campaign blurb raised its prices.  You also know we looked for discount coupons all over the place and found 20%, 25%, and 30% discounts to use when ordering books so we still wound up getting the same number of copies as we'd planned before the price rise.

On average, our copies cost us 30 bucks so we're gonna sell them to you at 30 bucks, plus postage.  No tax.  No charge for our autographs either.  haha.  You wind up saving $8 and you don't have to swill ginger beer or gobble very fattening gingersnaps at one of our parties.  Check the bottom of this post for payment and shipping details.  PayPal, baby.

This set me to musing about book pricing.  When I was a book editor, we had a formula.  X + Y + Z = $$.  Not that actually, but it was a formula which took into account what we paid the author (minimal), what it cost to print the book (lots), and some profit (not much).  Publishing had a profit margin similar to grocery stores: 3%, at least in the olden days.  For contrast, when I worked part-time in retail during college, Weinstock's profit margin was 300%.  Yowza!

But David and I aren't in this for the money.  This has been an adventure, not a profit making enterprise.  However, it is the gift giving season in America so give the gift of Ginger.  Check out our stores at blurb.com and Logosportwear below--and if'n y'all want an autographed copy.

Ginger Gifts O the Season:
     Ginger Snaps the book at http://blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527
     Ginger & Gingerphile t-shirts at http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com
     Autographed copies of the book, pay $30 + $5.15 postage at PayPal.  Our PayPal address is gingersnapsphotosstories@yahoo.com.  When we get the PayPal notification, we ship your book!

Ginger Hair Out for a Walk

Took my Ginger hair for a walk this morning along 24th Street for the first time since my return from New York.  Looked pretty good in the mirror before I left and must have looked good to passersby because I got lengthy looks and lovely smiles from men and women.  Either that or they recognized me from the newspaper.

We snagged our first interview in the Noe Valley Voice (November 2012 issue)--and I didn't even have to send a news release. Okay, it's not the New York Times but in our village of 20,000 it's big time.  We were two of seven local authors interviewed for a lengthy article on new books from Noe Valley authors.  Surprisingly, the neighborhood heavyweights--Cara Black and Bill Yenne--were not included.

People may not be reading print media as much elsewhere but in our neighborhood, which is full of tech-employed 20-somethings, they/we do read the Voice.  Photos of the book cover and our main author photo were included, in black and white in print but glorious color online, which you know already if you clicked on the Voice link above.

Although the article did not drive hordes into Phoenix Books, the local bookstore carrying Ginger Snaps, it has resulted in more looks of recognition and some lovely smiles.  Some of the LORs seem to be Gay as well.  That's promising.

Obtaining press for your book is part of the selling and promoting process.  At least it's writing.  I admit to being a little lackadaisical about accomplishing this.  But you should send your book out to online and print media reviewers.  Usually, all they need is a pdf but check first.  There are lots of online Queer lit bloggers.  They take some finding but their readers are your target market if your book is  Queer.  If it's not, believe me, there are bloggers out there somewhere reviewing your kind of book.  You just have to find them.

You should also send press releases to online and print media.  And use social media.  (I'm blogging, aren't I?)  And contact radio and TV if you think you have a chance.  Hopefully, everything you do will help you sell more books.  If it doesn't, well, it may at least give you 15 minutes of fame--like my hair and me.

Speaking of selling, check out our Ginger stuff:
     Ginger Snaps the Book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527
     ginger/gingerphile t-shirts at http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com

Ruminative, not Remunerative

Feeling ruminative today.  Why?  Because I just finished reading Damned by Chuck Palahniuk?  Is the book really going to be continued or is that another Chuck joke?  Will Maddy really fight the devil and win?  What kind of story would it be if she lost?  Or won?  No, I like the to-be-continued non-ending, Chuck.  Can't wait for the movie though.  I see Maddy with red hair, a revved up Harry Potter fighting demons thru seven, count em, seven screen installments.

Or maybe I'm still jetlagged.  Got back to San Francisco Tuesday four hours late from New York.  Not New York's fault.  SF was foggy so SFO authorities closed a runway.  Yesterday was spent in my own personal fog.

Still, I had to meet with the designer for the poster and card for our panel gig in two weeks.  We were already late bkz head shots and book illustrations were not received in enough time before Adrian went to Europe for three weeks.  But what is is, in life and books; learn to make lemonade--or cranberry apple juice.  (It's red, see?)

As I trudged my way to Martha's Coffee on Church, the first three people I met were gingers.  In total, I passed six gingers before walking in Martha's door.  What a relief after New York.  Not that I'm against being different.  What can you do about it when you are?

Or maybe it's because it's Thanksgiving in the U.S.  (If we were Canadian, it would be all over, even the turkey carcass soup.)  Not that I reserve just one day for thanks.  Life is too full of interesting activities and intriguing people and amazing accidents of fate not to feel thankful every day.  Okay, now I've come out.  Yes, I am an optimist.

I'm going to a family dinner at which I'll be the only ginger, only Queer, only person living in a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants.  Also the ONLY political liberal.  But we love each other just the same.  Besides, there will be turkey and I've made an excellent pasta salad for the vegetarian attending.  Maybe she/he will have red hair.

Buy our ginger stuff!

    Ginger Snaps the Book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527

    ginger and/or gingerphile red t-shirts at http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com

P.S.:  Thanksgiving Ginger fact: Captain Miles Standish was a redhead.

Ginger Dreams Great and Small

Our New York soiree was about what I expected it to be.  We had the smallest attendance of any book tour event so far but we had exactly the number of people I expected so that's a wash.  I met new people and reunited with old friends, which were twin hopes.  We were in the elegant apartment of Eugene Jen, and he was a handsome and gracious host.  He exceeded my expectations.

Publishing a book is about dreams and expectations as well as the creation and production of it.  You can't help but hope, but you need to get a handle right away on your expectations.  Is your dream of writing the great American novel realistic?  Can you really expect your book to be a best seller?

On the other hand, you don't want not to dream.  If you didn't dream, would you be an artist in the first place?  Would you ever create a book at all?

I feel David and I have had realistic dreams and reasonable expectations all along.  I thought we'd print a few copies for family and friends but then sales opportunites came rolling along and 50 seemed more reasonable.  But I didn't want to pay for 50 copies upfront so we raised money.  Our goal was $1500 and we netted $3500.  If our goal had been $5000, we would have been disappointed.  $1500 was all we needed.

Raising money meant 30 copies immediately were committed to backers so 50 didn't seem like much any more, especially since we now had an 8-stop book tour, not the one party we expected.  So we raised our print run and our ultimate sales goal.

Our first event had two-thirds the people we expected so we decided we were being unrealistic.  We revised our attendance goals for the next four and we have been happy each time instead of disappointed.  The numbers have been about what we expected.

Publishing a book is work, whether you do it on your own or thru a major publisher.  You don't just create the thing and never lift a finger until you open the royalty check.  It's work so have fun with it.  Being disappointed is not fun.  Dream big, dream small, but dream realistically and you'll want more.  If the gingersnap meets or exceeds your expectation, you'll want another.  And another and another and another.

Have sweet dreams with our ginger book and tees!
     Buy Ginger Snaps at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527
     Buy ginger &/or gingerphile t-shirts at http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com

Tall Ginger in New York

I'm in New York for four days, motivated by our book party tomorrow night.  I lived here for many years, until family obligations took me back to California.  You know, you can live without something and not know how much you miss it until you get it back and then have it taken away again.  That's the way being in New York is for me.

Haven't done too much Gingerish so far.  Oh, yeah.  I've walked around.  Gingers are in the minority here so I've turned heads.  I take the turning as a compliment.  When I do see other Gingers I want to reach out to them with my arms wide open and yell, "Compadre!"  I don't of course.  There are enough crazy people on the streets of New York already.  But it is visual how few G-people there are in New York compared to SF--and I am staying in the East 50s where there are multiple Irish pubs.  Whole blocks of bartenders who know how to pour a Guinness but not a lot of redheads walking around.

There has been one other exceptional experience.  I had breakfast with my friends Greg Newton and Donnie Jochum in Soho at Brown Cafe and the place was full of Gingers.  For starters, all three of us were/are Gingers and our peeps kept pouring into the place.  I am going to suggest they change the name to Rouge.

Greg and Donnie have opened the new Queer bookstore in Manhattan, BGSQD, 27 Orchard (between Canal and Hester) in Soho.  Right now it's a pop-up for two months but, with a little help from their friends, they want to rent space nearby.  I will let you know when I get info on their venture capital campaign.  There are so few Queer bookstores any more, they deserve our support.  Plus, they want to do more than be a bookstore.  They want to be a Queer hangout, a safe place for Queer kids, Queers with kids of their own, and the unattached.  What better way to hook up than over good books?  Cool tshirts too.  Back in SF I'll take a pic of myself so you can see.  Preview: it's orange, which btw is a Ginger color.

Good news!: BGSQD will stock Ginger Snaps: Photos & Stories.  Rush on down and buy a copy!

Here's a bit of nonGinger good news too.  I have another book partner.  Michael Broderick, an excellent Gay line artist, has agreed to collaborate: his drawings and the stories they tell me.  EXCITED!!  Of course now I have three book projects and a new blog to start in January but, dudes and dudettes I am up for it all and you know I will make sure there are some Gingers in my stories.  Check out Michael's work on www.hottlead.com.  His current book is G Is for Groundskeeper, an alphabet book like you've never seen before.

Tuesday, I'll be back in SF and will let you know how our Nueva York book party went.  I bought the prizes for the game.  Next: think of the game.

Check out our Ginger stuff:
   Preview our book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527
   Buy your ginger or gingerphile tshirt at http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com

Bookstores: To Be or Not to Be (In)?

When you self publish, you should be prepared for certain questions.  One common one is, "Are you in any bookstores?"  Your answer should be, "Yes."

I admit I originally got us into a few bookstores because I thought it would be kool.  I knew Phoenix Books, our neighborhood independent bookstore, had a section for local authors.  Why not us?  Phoenix said yes.  Full of Power & Success, I went on to two other independent bookstores in nearby neighborhoods: Dog Eared Books on Valencia and Alley Cat Books in the Mission.  Great names and fun places to spend your money.

I didn't think of chains but other people did.   "Why aren't you in Books Inc. (local chain)?"  I said to myself: Get real, Ricky.  Ginger Snaps is a self-published book we did on blurb.com.  No chain is gonna take it.  But I buy books from Books Inc. so next time I went I noticed that the Castro Books Inc. had my friend Vince Meis's self published books, Eddie's Desert Rose and Tio Jorge.  It's like Gingers: Once you notice us, we're everywhere.

How important are bookstores though?  Well, we are asked more often "Is it in bookstores?" than "Can I buy it on Amazon?" so that seems like a hopeful sign for brick and mortar.  However, don't expect to sit back and let bookstores sell your book onto the NY Times bestseller list.  My own experience is: if you self publish you better self sell.  If you can get into bookstores, great! but it's just one way to sell your book.  Doesn't it make sense to use every way?

What are they?  Online sales outlets are essential.  We're tied to blurb.com but you should definitely get your book on amazon.com and Barnes & Noble online.  Take your book on the road at readings, especially beyond your friend network.  Do an ebook edition; it aint that hard.  Authors I meet who are making a living at writing say they make more money off ebooks than print.  Sell your book on your website or blog.  Ask your author friends to sell it on theirs.  Also, people like free content.  Seth Harwood is the Master of Free Podcasts, followed by a paperback edition.  Take a look at his site.

Happy selling!

(If you think of other ways to sell books I haven't mentioned here, please let me know.  We all can learn from one another.)

Check out our Ginger stuff!

   Ginger Snaps: the Book http://blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527
   Ginger & Gingerphile tshirts http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com

Setting Up Shop

Merchandising is not a dirty word.  It means selling stuff and, if you're going to publish a book, you might as well try to make money on it.  You can sell more books if you bundle related products with it.

I didn't think of this for our book until I went to a book signing for a Guide for the Modern Bear a field guide to Gay hairy men.  If you're a Gay man, you know from bears; they are the thing right now.  (I'm hoping we Gingers will be the next thing.)  At their event they had books and tshirts for sale.  I bought both.  The tshirt has a drawing from their book: a muscle bear in Jockey briefs.  Got me two date offers.

So I suggested to David we have tshirts.  He brought up the fact that our Ginger market was limited (only 2% of the human species).  What about the other 98%?  I came up with--tah dah!--the gingerphile tee.  So if you like gingers or are one, we got you covered--literally.

I went to Cafe Press, an online design and sales site I'd used before, and designed our tshirts.  They have a store option but I didn't set one up immediately.  When you self publish, you dance as fast as you can, i.e., there are more good ideas than you have time and energy to pursue.  I designed and ordered the tshirts, dude.  Give me a break.  However, recently Logosportswear, which is the actual source of our tshirts sent me an email mentioning setting up a store with them.  I thought: why not?  Maybe I'd been drinking.

Set up was pretty easy though and now we gots a Ginger & Gingerphile Store online.  The good thing about this is that tshirts are cheaper so people who aren't sure they want to buy a $25 full color book are more open to buying a $15 tshirt.  (Those are event prices: we pass along our discount.)  And then they say what the hell and buy the book too.  We wear the shirts at events so they have to stare at them for an hour.  That might lead to sales.  Also, the shirts are RED, which is a motivating color.  Ask any bull.

It doesn't have to be tshirts.  The Modern Bear boys have dog tags and other products.  David is going to sell prints and cards of the book photos.  Someone said we should do a calendar since we have 13 images, one for the front and one for each month.  A little late to get going on it now but a good idea for 2014 maybe.

For now, check out the Ginger stuff we do have:
   Ginger Snaps: the Book http://blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527
   Ginger & Gingerphile tshirts http://gingergingerphiletee.logosoftwear.com

Today's Quandary: Writing While Promoting

We are halfway thru.  Halfway thru our three month publication period, halfway thru our limited edition of 100 copies, halfway thru our eight stop book tour.  Janus times three.  We, David and I, have learned many useful facts, techniques, and how to do's.  But one thing I definitely have not learned yet is how to flog a book and keep writing something new.  I'm working on two stories now for publication but I don't feel very creative at all.  My pilot light is almost off.

Normally, I am--after waking and sufficient doses of caffeine--ready to write: all chipper and eager to spew words.  I like writing in the a.m., for several reasons.  My brain is fresher, my body is more at ease, the world is quieter.  

But promoting and selling Ginger Snaps keeps my mind stopping and starting, at least one body part tense, and my world anything but quiet.  I'm don't like writing in bits and pieces, although I can do it.  I wrote and edited stories to and from work on mass transit.  I prefer chunks of time, knowing I can tippy type my way thru a few hours, which means a lot of words since I write quickly.  Write quickly, edit slowly: those are my modes.  And I'm pretty good at settling quickly back into The Flow.  When all I'm doing is writing....

But planning events is time consuming and execution nerve wracking.  I get wound up before and after, even though I was an actor for 10 years and have spoken or "performed" in front of people for 10 more.  But wait, there's more.  Getting a bookstore to take self-published copies is an act of seduction.  They don't really want you so you have to woo them--literarily, not literally.  Successful seduction takes focus.  And did I really remember everything to put in that box before I shipped it off to New York?

So, how to write while promoting your book?  I DON'T KNOW!  Maybe it's just not yet or maybe (horrors) that's the way it is.  And if you write with the intention/hope of publishing, you have to expect/hope promotion will come.  Like thunder after lightning, sturm after dram.   I am sure this is why I didn't write for publication before.  I just happily sat at my desk, scribbling (metaphorically speaking) away at Happy Ending stories, without a care in the world.  No one's going to read this stuff, I sez to myself.  I didn't care if they did, but I do now.  I'm thru the looking glass, baby, with no ticket back.  

I've been to lots of other writers' readings and several of my own by now.  No one ever asks "How do you write and promote at the same time?" in the q&a.  But next time I'm at another author's reading I will.  And so should you if you're serious about being A Published Author.  Or maybe it won't be a problem for you.  If so, then lucky, lucky, lucky you.

25 Amazon book gift card to the best answer to my question: 

How do you write and promote at the same time?

Check out our book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527

Ginger Books, Going Fast!

We used the rest of our PayPal account today to buy more copies of Ginger Snaps: Photos & Stories, i.e., our book.  Like I said in an earlier post, when we raised money to publish, most Backers put their money into our PayPal account.  We figured we could print 70 books out of PayPal moola and we have.  Promise kept, all you wonderful Backers!  From now on as needed, we'll print 10 at a time out of our own money, reimbursing ourselves as they sell, on our way to selling 100 copies by New Year's.  That's our goal: a limited edition of 100.

We do have one gig past New Year's already scheduled though: the Noe Valley Authors Festival in March. Back in the hood, as you know from another earlier post. Very cool. Hope we still have books.

To find out where we're reading/showing photos next, check out the events listing a droit.  Several people have nagged--uh, asked me to do this.  Tough love but love just the same.  As you can see, next stop on the Ginger Choo Choo is New York, New York.  Yeah, baby!  Back in the Big Apple!  I'm a Brooklyn transplant and David's from Upstate (Westchester).  Point of contention.  David doesn't think Westchester is Upstate but from a Brooklyn point of view, dude, it's way UP!

Blue Light Special!  Kmart shoppers, we sell books and tees at discount prices at Ginger Choo Choo stops.  No comea to the event, no getta the discount.  We will start selling them online in January (if any are left).  We'll know we're hot when copies start showing up used on Amazon and eBay for twice blurb.com's price.

And, if you only read electronically, we will also start selling the ebook edition in January.   Also applies if you're just plain cheap--er--thrifty.

Have a great weekend.  Read a book!

Preview our book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527

There Is a There There

Last night, we were in Oakland, California, the hometown of Gertrude Stein.  Not even early I-80 traffic and very dubious parking kept us from being on time, sort of.  However, due to those famous "unforeseen circumstances", we weren't quite ready when the first folks started arriving.  Luckily, Nell and Matt are two very good friends of mine so we were able to get away with it.

Here's a lesson learned about book touring: Foresee the Unforeseen.  No, you need not be clairvoyant to publish a book; you should just assume something to go awry and not get all freaked out if it does.  There do always seem to be a glitch or two.  Last night one was where to put the screen for the continuous photo display.  We had the space at Farley's East all arranged and then had to rearrange it for the screen, which then made the party impossible, so we had to re-rearrange.

Then, the food and drink.  It was in a logical place when Josh, the Farley's manager, and I did the walk thru but logical turned out to be too far from where people actually hung out during the party.  (Darn those illogical humans.)  Thankfully, my friend Kristin helped me ferry all the edibles to a much better space: the tables vacated by the screen.

This sounds very disorganized I'm sure, but David and I had three meetings about the event, and Josh and I talked several times and did a walk thru.  Sometimes, your life just gets rearranged by the Universe.

But I am painting a negative snap.  The event was anything but negative; it was a success.  We had our biggest crowd yet, people had fun, and we sold a lot of books and ginger/gingerphile tshirts.  Re-ordered tees today.  It's like writing.  You are pushing words towards your planned climax and suddenly the story takes off on the path not taken.  So, Go With the Flow.  The Universe won't do you wrong.

Starting today, we have a little event break.  Yay!  The Ginger Choo Choo is unscheduled until 11.19 in New York, New York.  We need the time, baby.  Final planning for NY, NY! and more planning for post Turkey Day events at Alley Cat Books, GLBT History Museum, and Cliche Noe Gifts.  Besides, dudes & dudettes, it's my birthday and I'm all busy celebrating.

Today's Game:   Guess my birth day & win a present.  What is it?  Hey, it's a surprise!

Preview our book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527

Ginger Snaps Support Network

Our Noe Valley book party was a success!  We had our biggest audience and sold more books and ginger/gingerphile t-shirts than ever.  Le Zinc French Bistro served a lovely sauvignon blanc and cotes du rhone and several delicious trays of hors d'oeuvres.  It was great to see friends from as far away as the North Bay and the Peninsula and just as wonderful to see friends from Noe Valley, USA, as well as elsewhere in San Francisco.  We played The Ginger History Game.  The answers were: 7, Moby Dick, Herman Melville, and Napoleon Bonaparte.  Don't you wish you knew what the questions were?

When you begin publishing, you hope strangers will find their way to your book but in truth it is your friends who find it first.  They are your first level of support.  I feel so grateful to our friends who have come to our first three book events and hope friends in the East Bay and New York will come out as well.  Our final three events will be a test though.  Will people show up who don't know us but are intrigued by the book or think the party sounds like fun or the panel interesting? We feel encouraged to try to make it happen.

For the last year, the Ginger Choo Choo has been traveling under the steam of Rick and David but now it's moving forward on the push push of our friends.  Blanche may have depended on the kindness of strangers but, luckily, David and I do not.

And now a few words about the next stop.  Win!  Free!  Books!  Win a $20 Amazon book gift card if you're the first to answer this question correctly:

                What literary connection do Paris and Oakland have?

Come see us Tuesday, Nov. 6, 5:30 to 7:30 pm at Farley's East, 33 Grand in Oakland's Uptown District, an easy walk from the BART stop at 19th Street, with plenty of street parking nearby.

Preview our book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527

French Ginger

Stop #3 for the Ginger Choo Choo is in Noe Valley, our (current) hometown.  For this one we're going French all the way at Le Zinc French Bistro, my favorite San Francisco restaurant of any cuisine.  Check it out at www.lezinc.com  If sweetbreads are on the menu, grab em!  Actually, better use your fork.  My friends Diana Barrand and Max Braud own and run this charming (really) bistro with delicious food and wine.

We are offering some of both at our event this Sunday: complimentary French wine and French hors d'oeuvres will be served. I may try out my college French or ask my twin to translate since she retains more French thru more frequent practice visiting France and other French speaking areas of the globe.  Even the game questions and prizes will have a French twist.  (No, there won't be an all expenses paid trip to Paris, not even Paris, Texas.)

The rsvp's came in at a good clip so we reached our goal and didn't have to tell Diana and Max only three people wanted to come--including us.  If you're in our neighborhood, don't worry about the non rsvp.  Just come on in.  Le Zinc is located in Noe Valley, San Francisco, at 4063 24th Street--one of our two main drags--between Noe and Castro Streets.  We'll be there this Sunday, 3:30 to 5pm.  David and I will be wearing our gingerphile and ginger tshirts, respectively, so you can recognize us.

It's nice to be able to walk to this one--although, on second thought, we'll have to drive the 10 blocks because of the party box with book copies and tshirts to sell, framed photos of the book and easels for atmospheric display, game prizes, etc.  Prizes include gift cards from all the local coffee places--we're like Little Seattle here, a do it yourself ginger kit and ginger chocolate from our excellent chocolate shop on 24th www.chocolatecoveredsf.com, among others just as wonderfully clever or at least useful.

See you Sunday!

Check out our book at http://blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527

New York, New York!

My eyes have been staring at The Weather Channel, CNN, and online as much as possible the last couple of days, watching the heart wrenching reports of Hurricane/Super Storm Sandy.  David is from New York and I lived there for many years.  It's a relief to know our family and friends are ok but impossible to fathom the destruction and disruption in Jersey and the city, across Long Island, and everywhere else in the Northeast.  What does ok mean anyway?  They're alive; their homes are intact.  But can you get from home to work?  Does the lightbulb work?  Can you drink the water?

The mind tries to make massive tragedy specific to understand it.  Flooded subways?  I thought of the RR and the D trains I used to take.  Can't get there by subway?  I thought of the days Brooklynites walked together back and forth or hitched rides with strangers (sorry, Mom) over the Brooklyn Bridge after a blizzard or subway strike.  East Village under water?  I thought of the good meals on 6th Street and good times in bars and bedrooms, of still feeling brave wandering around Alphabet City.

Of course humans are resilient--New Yorkers may be the most--but saying so minimizes the mess you have to deal with.  We shouldn't ignore tragedy, any more than we should wallow in it.  Lives are gone; lives are disrupted.  Let's think about that and honor them, grieve with them or their survivors.  Let's also take time to ask and say what lessons have been learned here.

Anyway, I'm off the podium now.  No more lecture.

David and I did do our teeny bit to soldier on.  We sat down and made plans for the Ginger Choo Choo stop in Manhattan Nov. 19.  More than the book though, I just have to see the great city and my friends.      It's been a while.  It's been too long.

New York, baby!

The Rick and Dave Show Hits the Road

Book touring is new to us but it's part of the process of publishing your book so it's a good thing to think about it from the beginning.  Books, sadly, don't sell themselves.  You, the author, have to promote them, send your child out into the world.  One time honored way is the book tour.

When we knew we had a book, we thought: Let's party!  One and done.  But opportunities came up and then there were eight of them staring at us, saying: You've committed to doing us.  Get doing!

Most of the tour, we do have to do the doing.  If you're a famous author, maybe all you have to do is get your body in the door but if you're not, well....

We were in LA yesterday, where David lived and I went to college.  (Fight on for old SC!)  My adventure started at the airport when Southwest cancelled my flight and the one leaving 90 minutes later became 2 hours, which meant I'd be late for our event.  Complaining got me a $50 travel voucher and not much else.  A 30 minute, $55 cab ride from LAX brought me to the venue, Neveux Artisan Creamery, a place I highly recommend.  Owner Leo and his ice cream are both well constructed.  http://neveuxartisancreamery.com

I saw immediately, as David already had, that the layout of the shop wasn't going to let us read stories, much less play games and award red jockstraps.  This is the danger of nontraditional.  We want our signings to be events so we're in mainly not meeting rooms: ice cream store, French restaurant, museum, luxury condo.  But the evil twin of this good idea is sometimes the space doesn't work for what you want to do.  So, be flexible or ask for schematics.

Luckily, David and I are flexible boys and we switched to chitchat in L.A.  I met some terrific people, people I'd very much like to see again.  We sold books and ginger/gingerphile tshirts.  And the ginger ice cream was excellent.  You should stop by and take a bite.  Warning though: it bites back.

Meanwhile, I still have this red jock.  Anyone want it?

Preview our book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527.

Ginger Goes Shopping

As you know David and I are doing events on our book tour, rather than straight readings.  We can't do straight anything.  haha.  Little LBGT joke there.  We have games and quizzes and contests which require giving of prizes/rewards, which requires the buying of same, which is fun.  Don't get anxious though.  The center of each event is still showing photos and reading stories.  Hey, we are up for fun but we do want to sell stuff too.

At our Castro Kickoff last week the prizes included a do it yourself ginger kit (red hair dye), a red feather boa (molted badly) and 110 spf sun block.  If  you're a ginger like I am, a high spf is de rigeur.  Ginger skin comes in two colors: white and red.  Either color can be accessorized with freckles. A handsome blond friend won both the boa and the sun block.  Said he does his hair with sun block.  Strange people these blonds.

LA is all bought, packed and shipped via David's Car Service, meaning David drove to LA.  For Noe Valley and Oakland, I'm still wandering the streets with debit card in hand, or at least in pocket.  I found a terrific new hipster candy/soda pop store in the Mission: The Fizzary.  Definitely check them out at www.fizzary.com.  Do your Halloween candy shopping there.

I was pining for Ginger Bears, which you can only get now from the mother country (Australia).  (Let me know if you can get them Stateside.)  No Ginger Bears at The Fizzary but they do carry Reed's Ginger Candy Chews.  I know from Reed's ginger beer and, anyway, who wouldn't want to chew on some hot Ginger?  I bought all they had.

Elsewhere I also bought soap, hand lotion and coffee cards for future use.  I like variety; don't you?  I look for game specific, activity specific, location specific, audience specific prizes.  Are you dizzy yet?

Won't give you too many specifics on the specifics though--we are hoping you'll come to a Ginger Snaps event--but LA prizes/rewards involve coffee, ice cream, athletic support--and ginger.  Come check out our specifics, baby, at Neveux Artisan Creamery, 7407 1/2 Melrose from 4-6pm Saturday.

Preview our book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527.

Putting the self in self publishing

I woke up today realizing how much work publishing your own book is, but I still recommend it, at least to get started.  Getting started on anything is the thing.  I'll write when I've retired.  I'll get serious about my art when I've made my first million.  Uh huh.  Do it now, dudes and dudettes.  Now is all you have.  Enjoy and employ it.

Wouldn't it be better to get a publisher, you say.  Wouldn't they take care of all that?  No and, anyway, publishers are hard to come by.  Big publishers don't think they can sell Queer books and they only want bestsellers anyhoo.  Publishing is a business.  Businesses want to make money.  They think what they've sold a thousand times will keep making them money.

Unless you know someone--and if you do, introduce me--I think you might as well go for it on your own.  What are the odds you'll find an agent and a publisher?  Very slim, my friend.  And, if your goal is to make a living writing, good luck with that too.  Statistics say only 5% of writers do.  So, what are you left with?  Desire, drive, a belief in your words maybe?

Having gone from writing the first word on paper a year ago to planning and executing our book tour now, I am glad I did it.  Glad I have a book.  Whatever happens, the book exists.  Along the way I recommend having small expectations, small markers of success.  This is also called being reasonable.  If your goal is to sell 5 books at an event and you sell 5, it's party time!  If your goal is to sell 20 and you sell 5, you are not a happy person.

And you never know: your book might be discovered.  I met someone at our first book tour stop who is trying to set up a meeting for us with a publisher.  Friends who did Guide to the Modern Bear got their book picked up for wider distribution.

Speaking of events, the Ginger Choo Choo will be in Los Angeles this weekend, 4-6pm Saturday, Oct. 27 at Neveux Artisan Creamery, 7407 1/2 Melrose.  Free ginger ice cream, me reading stories, David showing photos, and you playing games for prizes.  Hope to see you there.

Preview Ginger Snaps: Photos & Stories at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527.

The train has left the station

Kickoff!  Score!  The Castro Kickoff for our Ginger Snaps book tour was successful--exhausting but successful.  Neither David nor I had ever done an author's event.  Oh, we have been to mucho many author signings.  Well, I have.  David doesn't read.  No, he's literate and all.  He just doesn't read.  He says so proudly.  Sort of a literary Luddite instead of a technological one.

The Castro evening started off with Ginger refreshments: pinwheel sandwiches with tomato, red fruit in the fruit salad, ginger snap cookies of course.  All washed down with ginger ale, ginger beer, and red wine.

The program began with David telling everyone how the book came to be, followed by everyone playing the Pumpkin Patch Game for fun and prizes.  (FIRST OF YOU WHO CAN TELL ME WHAT A GINGER'S PUMPKIN PATCH IS WINS A $5 STARBUCKS CARD.)  Then David presented the photo Ginger Wearing, Well, Ginger and I read the story from the book.  Then Ginger Checking Out a Smooch.   Smooch was the first story I wrote for David.  Wearing Ginger was the one that convinced David we should do a book.

Then it was on to a Pop Quiz and prizes and Q&A with more prizes for anyone brave enough to ask a question.  My favorite question was what is queer in Cockney Rhyming Slang.  Answer: Ginger Beer.  Finally, PRODUCT SALES!!  We got rid of--er--sold our first books and tshirts.  Yay.

The Ginger Snaps Choo Choo is now picking up steam and heading south to L.A.  More about that next time.

Our goal is to break even

I did find and eat (way too many) gingersnaps, in case you were wondering.  Sad to say, our neighborhood Whole Foods does not have them, at least not the official Gingersnaps from Nabisco.  They do have something gingeresque from Paul Newman (may his gorgeous soul rest in peace) but I was after the real deal, which I eventually found at the dreaded Safeway on Market.

But enough about sustenance, I promised to talk money.  No, not the national economy.  The Economy of Rick and David.  How can we afford to publish Ginger Snaps, produce official ginger/gingerphile tshirts, and pay for an 8-stop book tour?  Independently wealthy, you ask?  Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
The kindness of strangers?  WE WISH.  No, we went begging, hats in hands, to our family and friends, who came thru big time for us.

We applied some vc expertise learned thru Kickstarter and gave ourselves a goal of raising $1500 in 30 days.  We set backer bucks levels, thought of terrific rewards for backers, and cautiously optimistically sent off our first email.  I learned pretty quickly that Kickstarter definitely is worth the money so don't leave home--financially speaking--without it.  In this day and age, people want to pay by credit card.  Kickstarter makes that easy, plus they have nicely organized, easy to use templates.  Just plug it in, baby.  Here endeth the commercial.  Credit cards.  Luckily, we had PayPal.  Twice as much money came to us via PayPal as from checks & cash.

Bottom line, we raised $3500--$2000 more than our goal!  Yow!  It came from parents, cousins, aunts & uncles, nieces, sisters, and friends friends friends.  46 peoples.  Average backer buck donation: $76.  Of course that was skewed when David's parents sent us a check and we landed on the big money space.  Thanks, Mom and Dad/Richard and Sheila!!  Thanks, everybody!!  Because of you we'll be able to reimburse ourselves for all (hope, hope) of what we spent to publish and buy books, tshirts, party refreshments, game prizes, and miscellaneous items too many (and boring) to list.

We're about to buy our first refreshments and prizes for our first book tour event: the Castro Kickoff  tomorrow night.  If you're nearby definitely come celebrate with us.  We'll have Ginger food & drink, play Ginger games with Ginger prizes, sell Ginger/Gingerphile tshirts, read a couple of Ginger stories and show ALL the Ginger photos--and, oh yeah, sign Ginger books.

Details: Oct.18 at the Johnston Tax Group offices (thanks, Jeff!), 2327 Market St., SF (between Noe and Castro).  7:30 reception, 8pm program.

NEXT TIME: We tell all about the Castro Kickoff and list when the Ginger choo choo is coming to your town--or at least within 1500 miles of it.

Tossing our cookies

The author photo.  If you preview our book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3577527, you'll see two of the results.  Well, there were 100 results but two shots David and I both found acceptable.  He tells me that's a typical batting average.  I'm glad photography is not a contact sport.

It was a dark and stormy night when we met for our close up, Mr. DeMille.  Not really.  It was a bright and sunshiny afternoon at Castro & Market.  David posed us on a red cafe table (but of course) at Jane Warner Plaza.  That's where the naked men hang out.  No naked humanoids that day though.

The table was full of ginger items, including me.  Gingersnaps in three shapes, ginger root, ginger tea, ginger ale.  Ginger, ginger, ginger.  We were seated behind this plethora, smiling. Little did I know I would have to keep smiling for TWO HOURS.  Friends who model or take photos of models say that's nothing.  We got off lucky.  Four hours is more like it--and you should bring a book or iPod or both.  Not having been a model, I just brought me.

Me got pretty bored pretty fast.  At first Rich, David's friend shooting us, tried typical hand on the chin glamour shots.  I always wonder about those kinds of author photos.  Is the author's head so full of BIG thoughts that one (or both) hands have to help hold it up?  Anyway, it wasn't a good look for either of us, especially me.

I was having a hard time not eating the cookies so suggested we toss them for the photo.  David liked that idea so he and I began throwing cookies up in the air and staring at them, amazed.  We were supposed to look amazed because in the shot the cookies would be suspended in mid-air.  Very conceptual.  If you look at the book (please look at the book), you'll see that it does work.  Cookies mid-air, two sets of amazed eyes.  Our mouths open in amazement.  I admit I tried to catch one or two.  Even more amazing was how many times we had to throw those damn cookies into the ozone before we mastered speed, height, and eye to cookie coordination.  But finally Rich and David approved a shot and I buried my head on the table in celebration, eating cookies.

David joined in and Rich took shots of us.  Voila, le back jacket photo.  My hair never looked better.

Writing this has made me hungry.  Off to Whole Foods for gingersnaps!

Next time: Our goal is to break even.

Here we go!

This is a blog about a little book that could: Ginger Snaps: Photos & Stories.  Photos by David Sweet, stories by Richard May.  Me.

A year ago David and I started on a narrow road which widened and widened and widened...until now we're on the freeway and driving as fast as we can.  It all began when we met at a movie and then ate Japanese food.  I'm a ginger; he takes photos of gingers.  Commonality.  Next, over coffee he showed me some of his ginger photos.  I made the mistake of telling him that his photos told me stories, which they did.  97.9% of my short stories start with a visual telling its to me.

David asked me to write a story.  I did.  He said: LET'S DO A BOOK!  Since my life was complicated enough, I suggested I write three and see how he felt about it then.  It's called putting off.  Unfortunately, he liked them.  That's when the car really hit the streets and we started rolling along.  25 mph maybe.

We picked 20 or so of David's ginger photos--he has many, many--that he was most proud of and starting yakking to me.  I wrote 17 or so stories, which we narrowed to 13 (my lucky number, btw) to fit into the blurb.com format.  Then David put the stories and photos online, designed a cover, and I began playing editor, having been one in New York at Doubleday.  Who knew I'd ever use those two years for my own benefit.

I filled in details like title page, acknowledgments page, copyright page, front flap copy, back flap copy--all that interesting stuff.  I played copyeditor, discovering that blurb.com has intriguing hyphenation rules.  I also discovered my stories were too long so had to edit myself, sort of like performing your own appendectomy: is that paragraph really necessary?

Next installment: The Author Photo