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I did it! It's done and I'm pretty pleased with it. Now, if I just don't fall on my face while staring at the audience, start mumbling incoherently like an idiot, or forget how to work my tongue, it's going to be a pretty good closing speech.
My main theme will be about a desperate woman. Since I seem to be always desperately trying to get somewhere or finish something, I deem myself an expert on the subject.
Writing the speech was tough. It took days of thinking about what I want to convey and a whole morning to finally piece all my thoughts together. I've never written one that's so long before (half an hour!!!) and of course, the sight of the pages and pages of handwritten notes is awesomely mind-boggling. I mean, I have to read all those words out loud to a captivated audience! Yikes.
Tomorrow is my guest-blogging day for Romance Readers At Heart so do please drop by and leave comment. Click on the link here, 'kay? While you're reading that, I'll be giving a workshop at the conference about The Problem Child: The Second Book.
I don't know whether I've posted this here, but I found out from my publisher that Walmart and Target hadn't picked up Virtually His. It seems they have a new policy, beginning April 2007, to just sell books written by the upper tier bestselling authors, like Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, and Elizabeth Lowell. Mid-list authors such as me and some of my friends are out of luck ;-(.
Worrisome. I told myself I can't let this get me down, but it's still a nagging disappointment. Not only do I want my first book to do well the first few weeks because Walmart sales account for a huge part of an author's numbers, but I also want readers to be able to easily get my books. Some people don't live close by an independent bookstore or a Barnes and Noble but has a Walmart down the street.
Sigh.
Another thing for new and mid-list authors to lose their sleep over. I'm trying my best to promote this book, but really, what else is there to do but to just keep writing and praying that good word-of-mouth will help generate interest?
Thanks for listening to my mini-pout. I promise to get over this hump.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
So I Wrote The Uber Speech
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3 comments:
Walmart, where I get most of my books because there's nothing else around, isn't carrying Virtually His on its shelves in my area (sigh from me too). However, they do have it online.
Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, and Elizabeth Lowell. Mid-list authors such as me and some of my friends are out of luck ;-(.
It's been like that for years over here in England. Our Supermarkets don't even carry Nora all that often, more like Tom Clancy, Mr King, James Patterson, and the like.
I think they've only just started selling Blaze books at the Walmart owned, Asda Stores, over here.
Hi Karen,
Yes, it's tough to get books overseas! One of my favorite pasttimes while traveling was collect Nora Roberts books in different languages, bring them home, and let her sign them. Well, that's easier said than done! Most stores overseas don't carry books like they do in the States.
The Walmart decision is depressing to me. Maybe not to others, but over here where I live, everyone I know shops at Walmart and picks up my book while they shop. They don't go to bookstores and I don't expect them to make that extra trip for me.
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