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

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

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.

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.