Go, dumb-born book

With apologies to Ezra Pound and all non-English majors among you.

Most writers make an effort to promote their work, and it’s always hard to know if one is doing a good job or not. The rewards of PR are not always reaped in a timely fashion. Sometimes I “google” myself to see where I am mentioned, a somewhat shameful practice best done in private. Normally I find my web site, blogs, the Crimebake, SinC, MWA and sometimes an old obscure mention that brings a smile to my face.

Last week when I “googled”, I found my novel, The Shadow Warriors, mentioned on a “book wanted” Web site. Hmmm. Since anyone can buy my book on Amazon, I researched the “wanted” site. The listing was posted June of ’06. The wanted list belonged to a member of an organization new to me, called Book Crossing. Members leave and take books all over the world, and record the books’ journeys. O.K., so it’s a little weird, but the membership consists of committed readers, a good thing. http://www.bookcrossing.com/ the world's largest free book club.

I registered myself at Book Crossing, and emailed the woman who was looking for The Shadow Warriors, explaining that I had a lightly used copy and was, in fact, the author. Of course I asked how she happened to hear about my novel, since “Grapeshot”is not a household name, like John Grisham or Janet Evanovich. She answered that her partner is a librarian, who had attended a library conference and come home with a book of women mystery writers. My correspondent likes mysteries by women, and she said she went through the book and noted what sounded interesting and put them on her “wanted “ list at Book Crossing, where my Shadow Warriors listing had languished since 2006.

I remembered the library conference in Boston a couple years ago, and that our SinC (Sisters in Crime) chapter had been a big part of the action. We had a nice color brochure introducing our authors, mostly female, and their books. My supposition is that this little booklet made its way back to Kentucky and to a woman who loves to read mysteries by female writers who put The Shadow Warriors on her “wanted list.” And she finally found it. How cool is that?

The moral of this story is that no PR effort is wasted, and our “dumb born books” go into the arms of readers in ways that we cannot even imagine. And that is a good thing.

Of course we like to readers to buy our books, but more than anything we like for our books to be read, checked out of libraries, passed from hand to hand, read. Otherwise, one is a voice crying in the wilderness.

Go, dumb-born book!

Series Versus Standalone Part II

Location. Location. Location. If you've been writing a series, the setting is probably fixed, with a few forays per book into new places, but you know where your character hangs out--think Stephanie Plum's New Jersey with the office and her apartment and her parents place; think Evanovich in St. Teresa with the garage apartment, the Hungarian restaurant and Henry's kitchen. Spenser's Boston. Of course Jack Reacher has no place to hang his hat.

But normally in a series, the characters and the setting are familiar, at least for a portion of the book. You can describe the places your character hangs out in your sleep, and if he or she moseys somewhere else, well, you can just go there and do your own research. Maybe she eats at a nice restaurant. Hey,you could try out the menu offerings, too.

But in a stand alone novel, not only are the characters new, but so are the places. 1928 California! They're tearing down those old houses as we write. So much has been lost. Yet one wants authentic details. This is hard work, she whined. Grapeshot does a lot of whining when she's not sucking it up, and chances are, she's whining then, too. For shame!

So I have a trip to California planned, hoping that some of 1928 remains. That's when the Los Angeles City Hall was completed. They are still a few little places and some houses left. We thank the heavens for historical societies and photographs and the web. Images of old Mexicali are scarcer than hen's teeth. One will have to dig.

So, onward into the past. I hope you have saved all the old family photo albums. Did you know you can sell slide collections on EBAY? It's a piece of history, and so much the better if you have Disneyland, Yellowstone and Coney Island. Who would have thunk.

Wondering,

Grapeshot