The end of a grossly unprofitable and highly disappointing year. Good Riddance.
We are so far from the NYT bestseller list, that we’re not even on the same planet.
So much for lofty goals.
We couldn’t get media coverage to save our lives. Even with the GGC in tow.
We spent about 45% more on marketing than we earned in book sales.
We were threatened with foreclosure, weren’t sure how we were going to pay our bills, and had more than one emotional (and financial) set back on the personal front.
Still… on the bright side…
Overall, this year was a lot of fun! I got to spend nearly all of it with my entire little family: Ethan, the “girls,” and Shadow, the cat.
We drove from one end of the continent to the other in the Geekalicious Gypsy Caravan at least three times, traveling well over 6,000 miles on the book tour.
We met some incredible people. Saw this beautiful country. Visited family & friends. Got some super book reviews. Won two awards. Found some wonderful fans. Touched more than a few people with our books. Experienced joys and sorrows, both personal and professional.
We’ve sold nearly 4,000 books, no small feat for first time authors with an unknown independent publisher and no marketing budget. Especially considering that the average book released in the US sells 500 copies in it’s lifetime. This was just in the first year for Rowan of the Wood.
And now, we have the sequel out: Witch on the Water. Many fans have said they like it better than Rowan.I’d like to think we learned a thing or two about writing along the way, so that’s good news.
The bad news is… I’m exhausted. I hit my ceiling for tolerance and hope around November 1st, and I’ve been recovering every since.
For 2010… we have a new plan. We won’t be traveling as much (I don’t even want to mention the amount we spent in gasoline… and here I am an anti-oil/war environmentalist. It’s embarrassing), but we’ll still be doing some choice events.
We’ll be focusing on what works and trying out some new things, but I’m unlikely to be the marketing whirlwind I was last year. Unless amazing something tips that gives me a second wind. Like a movie deal (starring Kevin McKidd as Rowan!)
We’ll be sticking closer to home out of necessity and staying off the computer more. (Yeah! Like that will happen!– actually, I have been keeping away from social networking sites in comparison to the pre-October frenzy.)
Living more.
Writing more.
Reading more.
And…helping others more. Authors. Kids. Animals. Plants. Whoever needs helping.
Fewer videos. Fewer book signings. Fewer everything else.
Basically doing everything we did last year… minus the constant marketing.
I won’t be making anymore lofty goals, and I’ll focus on being grateful and happy with what we have, whether that is barely a roof over our heads or some best-seller list. Try to be here. Which, is extremely difficult for me, as I’m obsessively goal-oriented. I’ll be trying to more more toward the process, honing my craft, making art-love-beauty.
Just living.
Enjoying right now.
After all we’re rich in LOVE. Heath. Happiness. Friends & Family. A home. We’re quite fortunate, especially with as hard as this year was on many, many, many, many people.
I feel like I’ve lost the last two years of my life to constant marketing.
And it’s so not worth it.
Just plain burnt out.
Life is too short. Too fragile to spend it always reaching to the future.
Time to enjoy now.
Perhaps I’ll write a book on that.
Still… it’s been a great ride! See you on the road in 2010 — look for the GGC!
Last night we attended the Teen Reading Group meeting at the Round Rock Public Library, and it was totally awesome!
The group had chosen our first book (Rowan of the Wood) to read as this month’s selection, and they all loved it. One of the teens had already gotten (& read!) Witch on the Water to have us sign that night.
We started off with a little story-behind-the-story presentation and followed up with much discussion and laughs.
It was the greatest night Ethan and I had in a long time. We hope to do many more library visits in the future.
The nice folks at the RR Public Library have invited us back for a release party for the 3rd book, Fire of the Fey, when it’s released next year.
Special thanks to Jane Dance for setting it all up!
This small faire had it’s first year in Arkansas City, KS. From the moment we arrived, we knew it was going to be good. We’ve been doing this for 10 months now, and there are faires we’ll be returning to next year… and those we won’t be.
This faire, schedule willing, we will happily return to.
First and foremost, they treat their vendors very well. No nickel and diming for “extras” like electricity and camping.
We travel with three dogs and a cat. This means we have to have our Geekalicious Gypsy Caravan relatively close so we can tend to our canine family during the day. Normally we don’t pay extra for camping because “camping” for an RV at RenFaires is usually parking. We can park for free in Vendor Parking.
We learned that lesson at Hoggtowne this past January, where we paid $100 to park on a dirt road in a forest. Really?!
So now we either park in vendor parking (for we just take up two parking spaces with the truck and trailer) or we find nearby (preferably shaded) street parking for the weekend.
But neither was necessary here!
The organizers of the Cherokee Strip RenFaire had camping about a block away WITH ELECTRICITY! Great thing because there was no shade. With the electricity, we were able to keep our dogs cool in the 85+ degree days instead of roasting in a hot box!
Always a plus with us!
Secondly, they had a reasonable vendor fee for the crowd. It was a small faire, sure. We didn’t expect to make a fortune, but then we didn’t have to pay a fortune either. First year $50 for a 10×10 space. We broke $1000 for the weekend.
That’s an excellent weekend! Although it’s a little below our average, it’s still 20x the vendor fee! That’s enough to pay for our travel expenses and some bills.
Compare that with the last faire we did, which we will NEVER do again: The Washington Renaissance Faire.
They charged $275 a weekend for a 12×12 space, and we were packed in like the proverbial sardines. Great if they brought in the 60K people they claim to.
They don’t.
Not to mention it was a 10 minute hike to the “camping area” (read: dusty corn field without electricity), for which they charged extra. To their credit, they had a shuttle that ran all day from the faire site to the parking/camping area during the weekends. And the guy in the blue van worked tirelessly!
We made more at this tiny, first-year faire in KS than we made any single weekend at WA RF. For the entire $825 it cost us to be there for 3 weekends, we barely broke $2500. That’s barely 3x just the VENDOR FEE, not to mention the trek out to the West Coast and other business expenses. And it wasn’t just us, other vendors said the same thing.
We’d lose our house, our Geekalicious Gypsy Caravan, and our shirts if every faire was like that one!
Needless to say, we won’t be returning to WA RF next year.
But Cherokee Strip is okay in my book!
As an added bonus, they have the most wonderful community here! I saved the life of a small kitten who needed medical attention… and the entire community helped pay the vet bill! Chevalier Catherine headed up the collection, and they raised enough to nearly cover the entire bill!
Then, this really great jester named Jaqueimo agreed to give the kitten a new home. Although we called him Shakespeare, Jaqueimo is calling him Rennie.
Even on top of that!! They KNIGHTED ME for my compassion and the King presented me with the basket in front of the entire shire!!
Gaelic Storm came out on stage at the Colorado Irish Festival and began to play. Evening was just beginning to descend upon what had been a very hot and sunny day. Before they could get through their first song the rain was pouring down and the wind was fiercely blowing. Having successfully called down a mother of a storm, the Gaels left the stage, leaving the roadies to battle wind-whipped tars as they desperately raced to cover thousands of dollars worth of audio equipment.
Elsewhere throughout the festival, vendors did the same. Hordes of patrons dressed in shorts and t-shirts fled for the gates or huddled under what shelter they could find and hadn’t blown down already. The more daring and intoxicated (this is an Irish festival after all and while I hate to stereo type there where over 150 kegs stacked up outside the beer pavilion on Sunday morning) shed shoes and wet shirts to dance in the rain.
As the storm first descended, I found myself host to a pack of damp refugees. I had already dropped three of the sides to our booth and brought the rack of books inside, but it soon became apparent that more was needed. The wind shifted to drive the rain horizontally through the front opening. Realizing the futility of their position, my guests fled allowing me to drop the last tarp.
But my hopes of creating a square of shelter were frustrated by the wind’s violence. Rain was blown in through all the seams and the roof began to leak. I covered the books with a giant plastic bag and frantically began piling everything else in the driest spots I could find. The tent sides where flapping so hard they where knocking things off the shelves.
By this time water was flowing across the ground, soaking the bottom of whatever boxes rested on it. Then I lost electricity. The wind had blown apart my power cord connection. The tent was coming free of its moorings and all I could do was hang on to it and hope the whole thing didn’t blow away. I had already shed my soaked shirt and shoes, and was clad only in wet shorts and a semi dry table cloth cloak.
An eternal five minutes later the wind decreased and the rain let up. A few minutes more and it was all over. I dug a dry shirt out of the depths of my pack. I plugged the lights back in. All that was left was to assess the damage and begin clean up. Just another night in the humdrum life of an author.
I’m thrilled to announce the release date for Witch on the Water, the second book in the Rowan of the Wood series!
Everything is set for an October 12th release date! This was my first choice for the release, as it’s the birthday of my mentor/friend Dr. Ralph Pease, to whom the book is dedicated.
It’s Columbus Day as well (those of you who know me know how I feel about Columbus Day), and we’ll be at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival signing, selling, and celebrating our new novel.
Witch on the Water is currently in the hands of a test reading group, and so far we’ve had incredible feedback! “Love it!” “Better than Rowan” And stuff like that there!
Ia Layadi-Enstera, the awesome illustrator who designed the Rowan of the Wood cover and the Geekalicious Gypsy Caravan, is hard at work on the cover for Witch on the Water. The preliminary sketches are very exciting, and she assures me the cover will be complete by the end of the month! I can’t wait to share it with you all!
We’ll be running a “SEND WITCH TO THE TOP” campaign right around that time, asking all our readers to buy Witch on the Water the same day to give us a boost on Amazon. If you’d like to participate in this, please email me!
Last night was our final signing at Barnes & Noble for at least three months.
I have mixed feelings about this.
Overall, Barnes & Noble have been *really* good to us! We LOVE Barnes & Noble! We like to support the bookstores where we do our signings and will often purchase things while there. We love meeting CRMs and booksellers and connecting with some new readers. It’s truly awesome, overall.
Then there are those very few that act like we’re an inconvenience for showing up.
Last night was one of the truly great ones. We walked in to the Barnes & Noble in Colorado Springs’ Citadel shopping center, and it was awesome! They had a poster and display of books in the window. Our signing table was set up with a whopping 80+ books! We found our contact, although not the CRM (Community Relations Manager), she was the assistant manager, and she immediately welcomed us and offered us a drink from the cafe.
In the first 15 minutes, we signed 5 books. That’s a phenomenal signing! We ended up signing 11, and we couldn’t have been more happy with the outcome.
This is what a signing should be like.
It’s great when this happens, but it doesn’t always.
We recently had a signing that wasn’t. We walked into the store. No table. No display. No poster in the window, although they did have a poster in the foyer. Our contact wasn’t there. A random bookseller was far less than enthusiastic about having to be put out to set up a table for us, as there wasn’t one there, and we spent the next two hours being completely ignored… by the booksellers and customers alike. We cheerfully pitched the book to anyone remotely interested, as we always do, but they were few and far between… and why shouldn’t they be? We were obviously unwelcomed there. We weren’t treated as guests, but rather treated as an inconvenience.
They didn’t even offer us water.
Now, I’m certainly not an author who feels the need to be coddled or given special treatment, but I have come to expect a certain level of common courtesy.
When someone comes into your home, you make them feel welcome and offer refreshment.
Author signings are usually mutually beneficial. They get the author’s book into the bookstore, and it gives the bookstore a potentially interesting event to help get people in the store. When people are in the store, they buy things.
After doing this for close to a year now, we can almost always tell how successful a book signing will be upon entering the store. If the CRM/Mngr chose to do in-store promotions for the event and treat us like welcomed guests when we get there, it’s normally a really great signing.
If they treat us as if we’re imposing and did little-to-nothing to promote the event, it’s usually not so good.
As I said at the beginning, Barnes & Noble have been really great to us overall. Of the 40+ signings we’ve done over the past few months, about 1/4 of them have been really, really great. Those are the ones where the CRM went the extra mile: Sioux Falls, Colorado Springs, New Orleans/Metairie, Cincinnati, Columbus, and especially the Murphy/Plano branch in TX where the CRM stood at the door and handed out fliers. We signed over 30 books at that signing: a record for us.
Another 1/2 were good. They welcomed us and were friendly, and we’d definitely go back.
The last 1/4 were a waste of everyone’s time. We won’t be returning to those. Ever.
For the time being, however, we’ll be focusing on visiting libraries and schools through October, when our new book Witch on the Water is due for release. Next year, we look forward to visiting all those B&N who welcomed us with both our books.
The people were very friendly, both administration and fellow vendors.
The site was magical! When the wind blew, cottonwood snow drifted through the air and hundreds of dragonflies darted through the glades like dancing fairies.
It was set within woodland glades. The crowds were not large, but business was good. Plenty of parking and plenty of great entertainment. Definitely worth returning next year.
Our next event was the Fort Collins Irish Festival. I can only give them four stars. Business was good, and the music was great. The people there were also very friendly. We had a beautiful spot beneath the protective shade of a lovely tree, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. We were able to park the Geekalicious Gypsy Caravan just two blocks down, right next to a park! It was perfect for the girls!
The festival lost a star for lack of convenience, however.
It was held in the center of town, which meant we couldn’t start setting up until after five on Friday when normal business was over for the day. We had a book signing that evening from six to eight so we couldn’t even begin setting up until nine, in the dark.
Teardown was even worse. We had to break down and pack up by six a.m. Monday morning. The event ended at ten pm. Again breaking down in the dark after a twelve hour day. We didn’t get to bed until after midnight.
We had a wonderful time at the Olde World Renaissance Faire last weekend in Twig, MN. It was a beautiful and magical faire. It was like we had truly passed over into the Otherworld. I wish I could’ve captured them on video! Hundreds of dragonflies (read fairies) zipped around through a misty forest. Truly magical.
I tried something new with the video. It’s a sort of montage of sights and sounds. Let me know if you like it or if you prefer the vlogs. . . or perhaps a mixture!
I hope to have one from the Celtic Festival in Ft. Collins on Tuesday for you.
I’m typing this blog via my new MiFi wireless internet. It’s totally badass! It’s also rather expensive, especially when I learned this past weekend that I could’ve just gotten an AT&T 3G data card for $60/mo UNLIMITED internet! I’m a little miffed.
But Verizon’s MiFi is still rather badass.
This week will be spend primarily driving. We’re traveling from Dallas to Twig, Minnesota! I’ve never been that far north in Minnesota before, so I’m really looking forward to it!
We’re about to pass my alma mater Texas Woman’s University in Denton, TX. While attending school there c. 1993, I first heard “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” by my HS buds’ (Toby & Todd Pipes) band Deep Blue Something at Rick’s Bar (or something like that). I knew they had a hit the first time I heard it!
Now all these years later, Toby has a new band called Little Black Dress, and they’re new CD “Snow in June” is now available! It’s excellent, so I highly recommend you get a copy right away!
In two hours, we have our first Library program at Round Rock Public Library.
We’re so not prepared.
We had tentatively scheduled this appearance 7 weeks ago. It was talking with this librarian when I found out our books were unavailable. Then the chaos ensued.
I never confirmed the event because I got wrapped up in dealing with getting a new publisher and the books back on the shelves.
Then I get an email last Thursday about how they’re looking forward to the event today.
GULP!!
We’re thrilled to have it, but we haven’t been able to prepare for it until today. (Scarborough Faire and all that this past weekend).
No problem! We practiced some in the car on the drive home yesterday and made a plan. All I had to do was make a Power Point Presentation and wing-it through the Storytelling section.
I made the presentation this morning. It took me about two hours… about what I estimated. Since then, I’ve been SCREWING AROUND with my stupid dinosaur of a projector… for the past FOUR HOURS.
Now the presentation is less than two hours away, and I have a very nice PP Presentation I can’t use because out of the hundreds of fricken computer and audio/video cords I’ve collected over the years, NOT ONE works with this projector.
I mean…. really?
I’ll let you know how it goes in a few hours.
Wish me luck!
ONLY FIVE MORE DAYS TO ENTER to WIN a KINDLE 2! Details here.
Overall, this year was a lot of fun! I got to spend nearly all of it with my entire little family: Ethan, the “girls,” and Shadow, the cat. 
We met some incredible people. Saw this beautiful country. Visited family & friends. Got some super book reviews. Won two awards. Found some wonderful fans. Touched more than a few people with our books. Experienced joys and sorrows, both personal and professional.
Especially considering that the average book released in the US sells 500 copies in it’s lifetime. This was just in the first year for Rowan of the Wood.
I’d like to think we learned a thing or two about writing along the way, so that’s good news.
(I don’t even want to mention the amount we spent in gasoline… and here I am an anti-oil/war environmentalist. It’s embarrassing), but we’ll still be doing some choice events.
Unless amazing something tips that gives me a second wind. Like a movie deal 
(starring Kevin McKidd as Rowan!)
pre-October frenzy.)
And…helping others more. Authors. Kids. Animals. Plants. Whoever needs helping.
I won’t be making anymore lofty goals, and I’ll focus on being grateful and happy with what we have, whether that is barely a roof over our heads or some best-seller list. Try to be here. Which, is extremely difficult for me, as I’m obsessively goal-oriented. I’ll be trying to more more toward the process, honing my craft, making art-love-beauty.
After all we’re rich in LOVE. Heath. Happiness. Friends & Family. A home. We’re quite fortunate, especially with as hard as this year was on many, many, many, many people.
Still… it’s been a great ride! See you on the road in 2010 — look for the GGC!
