February 2006 Blogs

The February Photo of the Month celebrates my first bookstore event. I'll be at the Well Red Coyote in Sedona, Arizona on February 11. Pictured here, I'm with store co-owner Kris Neri, an Agatha, Anthony, Macavity-nominated writer. Her husband Joe took the photo.



Monday February 27, 2006
The house goes on the market today! We'll be getting one of those realtor signs placed out front, and the fellow who'll take pictures of the house is supposed to come by today.

On the writing front, I've been conducting an interview with an outstanding new fantasy writer Maria V. Snyder, whose debut novel Poison Study was released last fall.

I've been reading two novels by Kate DiCamillo The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and Because of Winn-Dixie, the former being her newest release from Candlewick Press.

Stacey


Sunday February 26, 2006
Today, we're going to work on the yard. I guess there's no point in denying it. This blog is going to be over-run with domestic duties the next few days/weeks. For the first time in like ten years, writing is definitely not going to be the priority. Our big push is to sell the house in Arizona and find a house in North Carolina.

That said, I bought three new books yesterday and read a little bit from all three of them. :)

And I finished up a short story last week, as well as the edits on Claws 2.

Stacey



Friday February 24, 2006
House shopping is a lot of fun!



Thursday February 23, 2006
I like the word "blubber." It's just fun to say.

Try it for yourself and see if it doesn't make you smile: "Blubber."



Friday February 17, 2006
Yesterday evening, I drove in to the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale and met author Alex Kava. She is on tour for her new novel A Necessary Evil, and she spoke for about an hour at the store with store owner Barbara Peters. Afterwards, she signed books, and I had the opportunity to chat with her for about ten minutes.

Alex was in public relations for fifteen years before becoming a writer full-time, and her novels have all come out from Mira Books. Mira is an imprint of Harlequin, which is known primarily for its romance novels, so her books are something of a non-standard item. Mira, however, (I get the sense) is the most mainstream imprint at Harlequin, and Alex worked with the same editor Amy Moore-Benson on her first four or five books, until Amy left editing to become a literary agent. Amy is currently Alex's agent, and Alex's editor at Mira is now Feroze Mohammed.

Alex has appeared on USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists, and her novels have been published in nineteen countries. A Perfect Evil was her first novel, and it was a thrill to talk with her. I'm just grateful for the opportunity and for how gracious she was in taking the time to chat.



The dominant thought I had after leaving the store last night was how clearly it is the writer's responsibility to get published. I think I left college five years ago with the false impression that a writer will find people to help him/her along. While there are certainly helpful people along the way, the responsibility lies solely with the writer to write a good enough novel to warrant getting published, to find the right agent, and ultimately to find the right editor and publisher.

In having tried to sell a non-returnable POD book, I have learned a difficult lesson: it's not necessarily that your work isn't good or bad that'll keep it from getting into stores. It's just a pain in the ass for everyone involved, with the biggest burden being placed on the bookseller. It's a really poor way to start out in the business because it places everyone in a potentially awkward position.

The better way to go is to find a traditional publisher with national, returnable distribution. The problem for young authors is the hard truth that their first few novels usually aren't good enough to get a major publisher behind them. So, what do you do if you're that author who has written three or four (or more) novels that aren't good enough to get a publisher behind them?

That's a tough one.

If you're going to put your work out self-published or POD, and you don't already have a readership that will catapult it into selling at least several hundred copies, do everything you do with the utmost respect and understanding for the folks around you. Don't force anything. Realize that selling 100 copies might be a realistic goal, and do it with a constant attitude that you are learning the basics of marketing, distribution, and sales.

All that said, I have a renewed determination to query every editor that I can for both Claws and Maggie Redcrest. Claws has been out there for a while. Maggie Redcrest has not been out there (yet) at all.

I think the bottom line lesson I learned last night is: respect. Respect everyone around you in this business, from readers to fellow authors who haven't published yet, to bestselling authors, to bookstore owners, to sales associates. Respect them and their perspectives, and you'll have a much better time.

Stacey


Wednesday February 15, 2006
Here are a couple of photos from my bookstore event this past weekend. Special thanks to Kris Neri for taking the photos and for sending them to me, and a special thanks to The Well Red Coyote (Kris and Joe) for allowing me the opportunity to do the event. And, of course, the greatest thanks of all to all the folks who came to the event, asked such good questions, and bought a copy of Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone.





Tuesday February 14, 2006
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!


Monday February 13, 2006
Click here to listen to Stacey's 2-13-06 Audio Blog.

Well, I haven’t posted the good news yet on my website about my wife. She has accepted the assistant WPA position at North Carolina State University. The contract begins in the fall at the rank of associate professor, and we will most likely make the move to a new home in Raleigh, North Carolina sometime in early July this summer.

Raleigh, of course, is my home town, and so I am excited about the opportunity that this presents for both of us. I’ve even joked that I might run for public office.

We are currently looking for homes online in the 27606 and 27607 zip codes (close to campus), but have considered looking as far out as Apex.

This is a major career advancement for Susan (NC State is the largest university in North Carolina, and their English Department is one of the most highly respected in the country), and I support her with all my heart. I am going to have to learn all about the bookstores in NC, SC, VA, and Tennessee, but it is a challenge I welcome and look forward to.

We’re going to be a part of the Wolfpack... who would’a thunk it.

Stacey




Sunday February 12, 2006
The bookstore event yesterday was a success. Fifteen folks came, five books were sold, and we talked for about an hour and a half. I learned a lot.

I’m very thankful to the store owners for giving me the opportunity. I’m very thankful to the people of Sedona for allowing me to hand out flyers in their beautiful city. And I’m especially grateful and thankful to everyone who came to the event and participated with such enthusiasm and with such intelligent questions.

You only get one first bookstore event in your career, and this is one that I will carry with me the rest of my life.

How in the world some authors do this nationwide for six weeks straight, though, I have no idea. They must be super-human.

Stacey




Friday February 10, 2006
Well, I leave this morning for Sedona, Arizona to do the final promotions for my bookstore event tomorrow. This is my first bookstore event ever, and for those who've read this blog the past couple years, you know how much work has gone into getting to this place.

I really don't want to be nervous, but of course, I am. I just hope for a good turn-out tomorrow, and I hope I hand out flyers this afternoon in a way that I can be proud of.

Wish me luck! (and if you haven't bought a copy of Amber Page, go do it right this minute, man!)

I did learn yesterday, incidentally, that if you order a copy at your local Border's bookstore (as opposed to buying online), the store generally covers the shipping cost.

Stacey



Thursday February 9, 2006
Yesterday afternoon, I drove into downtown Phoenix and met author Steve Hockensmith at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore. Steve's novel Holmes on the Range was published by the Minotaur imprint of St. Martin's Press. Minotaur specializes in mystery books with an emphasis on thrillers, police procedurals, historical nonfiction, and true crime.

After his book discussion with store owner Barbara Peters, we had the opportunity to talk for about an hour in an adjacent restaurant.



I cannot tell you how meaningful this kind of conversation is. I learned a lot about the craft, his process, and we talked about the roads Steve took to get his first novel published. Steve has a monthly column in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and he is a fan favorite over at Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, two excellent professional fiction magazines for young writers to try and get published in. What an honor this was to meet him!

I cannot emphasize enough for young writers the importance of getting out and meeting authors. It really helps to build your confidence, and you can learn a lot about the business.

Both Barbara and Steve were wonderfully gracious to include me in their conversation.

Stacey



Tuesday February 7, 2006
I found this newspaper article online today while trying to repair a dead link: Stacey's AJ News Article.



Monday February 6, 2006
This weekend, I drove up to Sedona, Arizona and spent all day Saturday and Sunday doing promotion to get the word out about my bookstore event on February 11, 2006. The promotion consisted of handing out flyers to folks all around Sedona. For example, I would park my truck in the Safeway parking lot, get out, and hand out flyers to people coming in and out of shops.

I handed out flyers at Safeway, Basha’s, a Harkin’s movie theater, a natural food store, coffee shops, a pharmacy, a library, to a concierge at a hotel, and along downtown Sedona’s streets where there are approximately one hundred shops. All total, I handed out close to 600 flyers announcing the event. I signed all of them with my name on the back.

The flyers were made by buying two stacks of 100-count card stock bright paper, carrying the stacks into an Office Max, and cutting the 8.5x11 into four squares (Office Max charges a dollar per cut per ream; so it cost me two bucks). Doing this created 800 postcard-sized flyers. I printed the announcement on these flyers.

On the front half, there was a cover image of Amber Page, date, time, and location of the event. On the back, was a map to the bookstore.

Nearly everyone I met was gracious, polite, and/or somewhat interested. I only ran into one person who wanted to put me in my place. A lot folks were out-of-towners. Several were just flat-out wonderful and supportive and totally encouraging.

I think I realized how much I love meeting people. I’m not really doing this for the money (in fact, I’ll actually lose about 200 dollars on this venture in gas, hotel, and eating expenses), but it is so fun to meet and talk with people who you’ve never met before. I met artists and writers, and so many people have a story to tell, so many people just want to talk with other people.

I think I realize just how much I love being among a lot of people. Is that weird?

Stacey



Friday February 3, 2006
Working through the edits on Claws 2 today.

SC



Thursday February 2, 2006
Cleaned up the blog this morning, archived the old stuff, got a new Photo of the Month up.

Which makes me think of a point: if anybody would like to submit a photo to me for Photo of the Month, just use the comment box up above.

Even better, if you can get a picture taken holding a copy of Amber Page, The Kiribati Test, or The Band - I'll put it up for Photo of the Month.

Just send it my way.

Stacey




Wednesday February 1, 2006
Stacey's 2-1-06 Audio Blog*
*Warning: Gratuitous Opinions Contained Herein


I haven't yet written anything on my blog about James Frey. I got into a discussion over at the First Offenders blog last week. Everybody seems to be beating the hell out of him. Here's my take:

The entire situation is eerily reminiscent of the public furor (and nationwide book burnings) over John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. It's hard to imagine now how much hatred was stirred toward Steinbeck and his book, because history has treated him kindly.

I keep hearing people say "I'm suspicious of James Frey" and "He's a liar" and "I want to sue him for wasted time."

What I'm suspicious of is any institution organized against the suppression of literature. And I've found myself wondering exactly what smokinggun.com would like to have done to James Frey's book, if they had their way.

Would they have it banned? Just what is their point, what is their end goal?

Is it simply the humiliation of a writer? Because in my estimation the genre of Memoir writing is separate from Autobiography, and it's a new art form. Until twenty years ago, no one save famous people wrote Memoirs.

The genre's commercial viability has led to ordinary folks like James Frey, like you and me, writing Memoirs.

As with any new art form, writers should be encouraged to explore the medium. We live in a society where free speech is an inalienable right.

If organizations like smokinggun.com are allowed to wield their McCarthy-esque scepter, humiliating and defaming writers at will, without taking into account the license that writers of literature should be allowed, I think we're moving towards a more dictatorial society -- even a more paranoid society, where writers are fearful of exploring their lives for fear of humiliation.

What Oprah did, did not serve the interest of literature, free speech, or the free expression that a writer in America is allowed. It served her own interest. She chose to chastise and humiliate the author in order to save face with her fans.

A more productive discussion would have explored the history of Memoir, its limitations and its direction.

In essence, she chose the modern equivalent of throwing a book to the flames because everyone else was doing it. She didn't want to make a stand that would divide her from her fans. Or perhaps she lacked the insight to see the situation in its totality.

In 2006, Americans are hyper-sensitive about being lied to. We have a President who led a nation to war for questionable motives. Many people feel lied to.

This climate of paranoia in regards to being lied to created a situation like James Frey's. Everybody is fearful of being duped, and when they sensed that James had lied in his Memoir, they attacked with all of their frustration, anger, and hatred.

It is shameful. Not for James. But that a culture could be driven to take out its anger and its ire on a writer, an artist, a person who should be encouraged to explore his own life -- like any one of us -- with the freedom and the license to err.

Stacey