October 20-23rd Blogs

Sunday October 23, 2005
Click Here to Listen to My First Audio Blog

Wikipedia is the single-most all-around helpful website I think I've ever found. You may notice that in my Oct. 22 blog below I mentioned I wanted to figure out how to convert a .wav file to an MP3 file. On a hunch, I entered the encoder name LAME MP3, and I found out everything I needed to know about MP3 files to get me started. I followed one of the external links at the bottom of the page and soon downloaded the appropriate file.

The deal with MP3 files is that they take up about 1/6th the memory space that a typical .wav file uses to record the same audio feed. They're much more compact files, and the sound quality is actually better.

So, now I'm cooking with gas.

I've got the mic, Audacity to record and edit what I say into the mic, and I am able to save my files as MP3.

Now, I need to find a hosting site that will store my audio files, so that I can then post links to them here (or anywhere on the internet, I suppose) for you, Dear Reader, to hear.

I'd really like to be able to announce the winner of the T-shirt contest via an audio file. That'd be a cool moment.

SC


Saturday October 22, 2005
Pictured below, you will see my new microphone set-up.



Special thanks to Matt Peterson for recommending this incredible mic. I just received it last night in the mail, as a birthday gift from my mom:) and within an hour, I had figured out how to download Audacity, record a .wav file, and send an audio message via e-mail.

My dream-goal is to podcast my own radio show over the internet, and I'm beginning to look into hosting sites. I found www.audioblog.com last night, but I'm going to take some time before moving on to this next step.

I want to learn how to record well, edit, and use MP3 files. If anybody knows how to convert .wav files to MP3, please let me know via the "comments" box up above. When I try to do it from Audacity, it says I need an LAME MP3 Encoder. I don't know what that is, and I'm pretty sure I don't have it on my computer.

Also, if you'd like to hear a .wav audio greeting from yours truly, just drop me a line via the "comments" box as well. I'll try and say something funny...

Stacey


Thursday October 20, 2005
I've begun finalizing the First Lulu Trade Paperback edition of Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone. I now know the ISBN: 141165448X.

Unless something crops up in the next two weeks that is unforeseen at this moment, the book is done and is on its way to entering the Global Distribution system that will make it available at book retailers around the world.

The second book in the series, The Colorado Sequence, is done in manuscript format. I have begun "booking" it, by which I mean preparing the book format and initial steps for layout and design. What I've learned from this process over the past year and a half is that it takes about nine months of tinkering and work to get a novel from manuscript format to final booked format with cover art, bar codes, and ISBNs, etc.

The Colorado Sequence (148,000 words) is nearly two and a half times as long as Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone (58,000 words), so I'm planning on it taking longer to prepare the book.

The third book in the Amber Page series Dr. Plant is currently at 163,000 words (almost exactly the length of Stephen King's The Shining) and I hope to bring it to THE END by January 2006, somewhere in the neighborhood of 225,000 words, a hefty chunk of fiction and a conclusion to the three-book series.

There is also a prelude to the Amber Page series, my comic-book-style PI novel Culpepper, which though selected as a finalist for the 2004 St. Martin's Press/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Contest, has not found a publisher. A fifth book in this series's world Maggie's Inferno was completed this past April. It concerns a fourteen-year-old pyrokinetic heroine named Maggie Redcrest pitted against the evil, villainous Dr. Plant from Dr. Plant, and it was work-shopped a few weeks ago.

Two completely unrelated books Claws and Claws 2 are in search of a home. They are straight-ahead suspense-thrillers with a sexy, wildlife biologist protagonist, Dr. Angie Rippard, saving the environment for wildlife species and pitted against evil real estate developers.

Tuesday October 18, 2005

Yesterday, I visited five more Barnes & Nobles in the Phoenix, Arizona area, three of which I'd visited before but had been unable to meet the Community Relations Managers. So, I added two new stores basically: one in Suprise, AZ and one in Goodyear, AZ, both outlying suburbs on the west side of the valley (about an hour's drive from where I live).

I have three promising leads for bookstore signings, and I also learned about something I'd never heard of before: the Barnes & Noble Small Press Program. The Small Press Program, as I understand it, is a way for writers like myself who lack a major book distributor to get his/her books on Barnes & Noble shelves. It requires submitting a copy of the book with application materials, and it sounds like a great idea.

One of the biggest hurdles I've faced is distribution. If there's not a copy on the shelf, and the store managers can't order a "non-returnable" book, they opt not to order.

The way book distribution works for major publishers can be summed up in one word: volume. A major publisher like HarperCollins, Warner, or Penguin/Putnam may do a print run of -- just for an example -- say 500,000 paperback copies. They distribute these books through a wholesaler and distributor to bookstores and book racks around the country, and they're able to sell books very inexpensively to customers because their profit of margin per book can be lower if they're selling a whole lot of books. Bookstores buy these books under a contract from the distributors that allow them to return the books, if they do not sell within a given time.

Shelf space costs money. Volume buying is not good for up-and-comers, small presses, or self-publishers who are dealing in three or four-digit book sales, not six and seven-digit sales, and can't offer returnable sales to stores.

The Small Press Program at Barnes & Noble sounds like a way for writers like me to maybe have a chance to actually get a copy on the shelves by getting it approved through the Small Press Department headquarters in New York.

It looks like my first bookstore signing is likely going to be in January or February, though nothing is firm yet. Of course, as soon as I know any specific dates, I'll be advertising it here to get the word out as much as I humanly possibly can.

There are still two Barnes & Nobles in Tucson, Arizona I'd like to visit. There's also one in Prescott, one in Yuma, and one in Flagstaff. If I call-in on those five, that would mean I've visited every Barnes & Noble in the state of Arizona. California would be the next logical step...

If you know anything about Barnes & Noble's Small Press Program, about submitting books for acceptance, or have submitted books for acceptance to the Small Press Department, please drop me a line. As always, I love to hear from you, Dear Reader.

Stacey

Monday October 17, 2005

Time named its all-time best 100 novels.

I am disappointed that they didn't choose The Band.

Maybe next year...

October 2nd-16th Blogs

Sunday October 16, 2005
An article written by me for the October Gold Canyon Ledger has become available. The Ledger is a print magazine with a 20,000 circulation in Gold Canyon, Arizona. The article is for a Block Watch I'm helping to organize and includes a photo of me by the sign for our neighborhood.

If you'd like a free copy of the Ledger, just let me know via the "Comments" box up above, and I'll get one in the mail to you.

Stacey


Saturday October 15, 2005
The weather is great in central Arizona. Today the high was in the mid-80s. Susan and I drove up to the arboretum where we were married last November. We sat in the cool shade of the arboretum's eucalyptus trees and talked about our plans for the coming year. It was nice.

I received my latest copy of Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone in the mail today with the most recent cover. It looks really good.

I only had to tweak one or two things.

I added another blurb to the cover, this one from Simon Wood, author of Accidents Waiting to Happen. Simon wrote that "Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone is a Da Vinci Code for the junior high generation."

Pretty cool.


Friday October 14, 2005
2:11 P.M.
The trip to the dentist's office went fine. I didn't even need any novacaine, which is cool because I hate the feeling of novacaine for three-fours after getting a filling. The procedure was pretty simple.


10:07 A.M.
I'm going in to the dentist's office this morning for a filling. Oh, joy!



Monday October 10, 2005
I've got a brand-new interview published online at January Magazine. Click here to check it out.





Sunday October 9, 2005
I’ve been looking into podcasting Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone. “Podcasting,” for those who don’t know the term, is an audio-broadcast that listeners can download and listen to on their computers, as well as burn onto CD or onto i-Pods. There’s a company that podcasts audio-books, called “podio-books,” and I’ve chatted via e-mail with the owner. See www.podiobooks.com.

This is essentially a computerized version of a book-on-tape, wherein the author reads his/her novel, recording it via a microphone and software on his/her computer, and then broadcasts it via the internet as a downloadable file that viewers/listeners can click on and listen to.

This first step for me will involve getting my hands on a good microphone. The mic that’s been recommended to me is the Samson C01U USB Studio Condenser Mic.

I don’t know if anything will come of this, but it would be great to have an audio version of the book, for all the folks who prefer to listen to their books (I personally love books on tape, particularly on road trips). Plus, it’s just neat technology to learn to use.

If you know anything about podcasting or can recommend a better microphone, please let me know. As always, I love to hear from you, Dear Reader. Drop me a line...

Stacey




Saturday October 8, 2005
Yesterday, I visited Phoenix area bookstores with the intent of introducing myself and asking if I could get a bookstore signing for my upcoming book Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone. In total, I visited nine Barnes and Nobles between 10 A.M. and 8 P.M., and I treated it as a learning experience. I have three promising leads for "local author night" signings to come next spring, and I now know every Community Relations Manager in the Scottsdale/Phoenix/Peoria/Mesa area. I still have three stores that I need to call-in on because their CRMs weren't in when I dropped by.

Here's the deal for all would-be writers. Many Barnes & Nobles have what is called a "Community Relations Manager." This is the person you need to ask for, if you want to set up a bookstore signing. What I found yesterday was that about one-third of the stores do not have a CRM, and if a store doesn't have a CRM, then they rarely do signings (if at all). So, if you're interested in getting a signing at your local B&N, you need to ask first if they have a Community Relations Manager. If they do, then you need to ask if you can do a signing. Plan to book your signing at least two months away (most stores were booked solid for the rest of the year) and probably more like four months.

I would like to make it down to Tucson in the next two weeks to visit the stores there, and then hopefully within a month, over to San Diego. Long range goals include Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and Denver...

Even if you can't get a signing, you still learn valuable information. You get to know the CRMs. You get to know the stores. The more stores you physically visit to introduce yourself as a writer who has published a book, the more likely you are to sell a book. Get to know your sales associates in every store that you can; these guys are a writer's absolute best friend in the trenches of mentioning and selling your books to the book-buying public.

I'm going to visit as many stores as I basically can around the country with this self-published book, realizing that I'm going to eventually have a traditionally published non-POD book distributed to these stores through normal routes.

As always, I love to hear from you, Dear Reader. Drop me a line...

Stacey

P.S. Something else, I just thought of that might be helpful to see...

At each store, I mentioned that I had a Press Kit. Two managers asked to keep one. Here's a photo of the Press Kit and an explanation below it of what it includes...



Basically, my Press Kit included a folder with a front cover 8.5x11 image of my book's cover. I bought these folders at Staples and made the color copies at Kinko's. Inside the folder, there is a Press Release, a color copy of the book cover, a fridge magnet, and a sheet of advance blurbs and reviews. Of course, my contact information is on the Press Release, which is something several managers asked me about (they wanted my contact info and I was able to point right to it).



At a couple of stores, the sales associates were interested in my book, and I had a box (the cardboard box to the right in the top photo) packed with Amber Page fridge magnets, which I had printed up from www.cafepress.com

I gave the magnets out to anyone and everyone who seemed interested. Here's a close-up of the magnets...







Tuesday October 4, 2005
I've always had a place in my heart for big cats. On a recent trip to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, I got the opportunity to see a couple up close...



This guy here is an African Caracal, also known as the African Lynx. The handler brought him right over to me, which got my heart rate going a little bit...



But nothing could have prepared me for this handler letting me stand just a couple feet away from the African lions, as he fed them through the steel door. When lions are hungry and offered ground beef, you really don't want to get in their way...






Sunday October 2, 2005
I archived September's blogs this morning and got a new Photo of the Month up.

Two nights ago, I did something I've never done before. I visited three Phoenix area bookstores with the intent of getting contact info for setting up bookstore signings. Two Barnes and Nobles and one Borders bookstore.

I just walked in, went to each store's customer service desk, picked up each store's October Events flyer and asked about who I should contact in order to set up a signing. The Barnes and Nobles both gave me the business card for their store's Community Relations Manager, and they seemed very friendly towards writers like me. Borders Bookstores has a valley-wide person who sets up events for all the stores in the Phoenix/Mesa/Scottsdale area.

I've never done this before, so if you have any advice and/or suggestions about getting bookstore signings, please let me know....

I love to hear from you, Dear Reader.

Stacey