Publicity by the numbers, or Wow, did that really happen?

By Julie

Nine months out from publication of Calling Me Home (February 12, 2013), I'm about to take an eight-week break from most publicity efforts while I prepare for the paperback release (January 7, 2014). Not only do I need a break to rest my brain and my body, but I'm looking forward to focusing on my family and the holidays. Oh, and did I mention focusing on writing?

Signing books after event at Palouse, Washinton,
Public Library

I think lots of readers assume that being a published author involves day after day after day of sitting around in your pajamas staring into space and moving only when your fingers are inspired to record the images flitting in front of your imagination. I mean, that's what *I* pictured years ago as I dreamt of the romantic life of an author.

Speaking at
West Texas Book Festival

I'm not going to lie. I do spend a lot of time in my pajamas. I do spend a lot of time staring into space. And I do spend a certain amount of time dreaming about what I'm writing and attempting to put it down on paper. I wouldn't be doing this job or pursuing this career if not. What would be the point of being an author if you didn't write?

Phone in discussion with
Northwest Houston Bookclub

But the eye-opening thing about being an author is exactly how much time you spend NOT doing these things while you're promoting your published books. I thought it might be enlightening not just for readers, but for ME to take a look at what the last nine months have looked like for me from a publicity standpoint. Granted, I have sold my book into a lot of foreign countries, which has multiplied exponentially the time I've spend on certain activities. But it was still mind-boggling to discover how many hours I've spent doing these things. And it makes me feel a lot better about how exhausted I am mentally and physically, and a LOT less guilty about taking this break! In fact, I'm downright gleeful about it now.
 
I think it's important to take stock every now and then, even if you are a self-employed person with your own business, just like we do in traditional careers, where we receive statistics and evaluations, and ratings.

So here goes. By the numbers, here's what I've done in support of Calling Me Home that I was able to quantify:

Dinner with sales rep and booksellers in
Dublin, Ireland

250+ fan mails answered
23 nights in hotels in support of events
22 in-person book clubs attended in Dallas/Fort Worth
14 Blog Q&A interviews
12 book club discussions attended by Skype
12 Radio interviews, including several conducted with interpreters in Italy
10 Guest posts written for other people's blogs
7 Bookstore events, including talk and signing
7 Bookstore drop-ins to sign stock, including ones in Venice, Italy; Dublin, Ireland; and Lahinch, Ireland
6 Private events, including talk and signing
5 Library events, including talk and signing
4 Newspaper Interviews
4 Dinners or lunches with publishers/booksellers
4 Book festival events in Abilene, Buchanan Dam, and Austin, Texas, and one in Turin, Italy
3 Back-of-book interviews for various editions
3 Television interviews
3 Magazine interviews
3 Book club discussions by telephone
2 Video interviews
1 Book club discussion by Twitter
1 Library association signing

Meeting with book club at
The Ranch at Las Colinas

I know some of those are low estimates because I couldn't track every single thing (and didn't think of doing it ahead of time--I just looked at my calendar, email and document files, etc.). 

Here are the things I couldn't quantify, but are part of this career:

-Driving as a rule, because that's kind of like commuting, but there was a lot of it
-Answering general emails from my publishers, agents, etc.

Book signing at
A Real Bookstore
Allen, Texas

-Scheduling events
-Calculating numbers for and ordering extra books for private, non-bookstore events, including having extra books on hand for book club members to purchase if they wanted to
-Applying for state sales tax licenses and filing quarterly taxes for sales tax
-Answering emails from or talking to aspiring writers about publishing and writing
-Reading friends' novel manuscripts, blog posts, etc., for critique
-Regular blogging at What Women Write (2 per month, so about 18)
-Reading books for blurbs and composing blurbs (about 6 books)
-Reading books about writing (about 3)
-Attending other author's events (about 10)
-Social media in support of the book (posting statuses or links to blog posts and interviews, tweeting, replying to tweets with thank you's)
-Updating website and event schedules
-CHECKING AMAZON RANKINGS… (I don't even want to think about the time suck here, but it happens)

Signing stock at
Libreria Goldoni
Venice, Italy

And finally, writing, editing, and thinking about new books—woefully underrepresented here, which is why I'm taking a break before the paperback releases!

How long has it been since you took stock of your activities and accomplishments, even if you are self-employed or aren't earning money from a creative field yet? How do you feel when you realize how much time and effort you're pouring into something like writing?

I adore this career. I think all this time and effort is paying off, and that makes me very happy!

Debut Author Heather Webb on Becoming Josephine

Today I (Kim) would like to give a shout out to a writer and freelance editor I've gotten to know through Writer Unboxed. Her debut novel, BECOMING JOSEPHINE, will be released at the end of this year and I can't wait to get my hands on it. The novel has already garnered some impressive reviews, and I imagine many of our followers will want to add it to their wish lists.

BECOMING JOSEPHINE is Heather Webb’s debut historical about Napoleon’s empress, a woman in search of eternal love and stability, and ultimately her search for self. It releases December 31, 2013 from Plume/Penguin. Stop by her blog Between the Sheets and leave a comment for a chance to win a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble or a $20 gift card to Amazon. Pre-order her novel (present a receipt) and win a Josephine hand mirror with a velvet bag.

PRE-ORDER

Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, or Amazon

ABOUT THE BOOK

Rose Tascher sails from her Martinique plantation to Paris to trade her Creole black magic culture for love and adventure. She arrives exultant to follow her dreams of attending Court with Alexandre, her elegant aristocrat and soldier husband. But Alexandre dashes her hopes and abandons her amid the tumult of the French Revolution.

Through her savoir faire, Rose secures her footing in high society, reveling in handsome men and glitzy balls—until the heads of her friends begin to roll.

After narrowly escaping death in the blood-drenched cells of Les Carmes prison, she reinvents herself as Josephine, a socialite of status and power. Yet her youth is fading, and Josephine must choose between a precarious independence and the love of an awkward suitor. Little does she know, he would become the most powerful man of his century- Napoleon Bonaparte.

BECOMING JOSEPHINE is a novel of one woman’s journey to find eternal love and stability, and ultimately to find herself.

ADVANCE PRAISE

Becoming Josephine has already been featured in a Wall Street Journal  piece on the popularity

of historical fiction featuring the wives of famous men.

“Heather Webb’s epic novel captivates from its opening in a turbulent plantation society in the Caribbean, to the dramatic rise of one of France’s most fascinating women: Josephine Bonaparte. Perfectly balancing history and story, character and setting, detail and pathos, Becoming Josephine marks a debut as bewitching as its protagonist." –Erika Robuck, author of Hemingway's Girl

“With vivid characters and rich historical detail, Heather Webb has portrayed in Josephine a true heroine of great heart, admirable strength, and inspiring courage whose quest is that of women everywhere: to find, and claim, oneself.”  --Sherry Jones, bestselling author of The Jewel of the Medina

“Josephine's warmth and complexity comes to vibrant life in this fascinating novel rich with vivid historical detail."—Teresa Grant, author of The Paris Affair

"Vivid and passionate, Becoming Josephine captures the fiery spirit of the woman who stole Napoleon’s heart and enchanted an empire. –Susan Spann, author of The Shinobi Mysteries

“A fast-paced, riveting journey, Becoming Josephine captures the volatile mood of one of the most intense periods of history—libertine France, Caribbean slave revolts, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars—from the point of a view of one of its key witnesses, Josephine Bonaparte.” –Dana Gynther, author of Crossing on the Paris

“Spellbinding . . . Heather Webb’s novel takes us behind the mask of the Josephine we thought we knew.” –Christy English, author of How to Tame a Willful Wife and To Be Queen

“Enchanting prose takes the reader on an unforgettable journey . . . Captivating young Rose springs from the lush beauty of her family's sugar plantation in Martinique to shine in the eighteenth century elegance of Parisian salon society. When France is torn by revolution, not even the blood-bathed terror of imprisonment can break her spirit.” –Marci Jefferson, author of Girl on the Gold Coin, Thomas Dunne Books, 2014

 

Guest and Giveaway: Amy Sue Nathan on The Glass Wives

By Julie

Amy Sue Nathan's debut novel, The Glass Wives released Tuesday, and I've been looking forward to sharing about this novel for months. Amy and I met through Backspace years ago, and eventually both found ourselves in Book Pregnant, a group of debut novelists who blog together and celebrate the ups and downs of giving birth to first novels together. We've become dear friends over these many months since we sold our novels, chatting frequently on Facebook messenger about kids, dogs, cooking (or lack thereof), or anything else to procrastinate writing ... or cooking. It's been fun.

I was thrilled when Amy asked me to read her manuscript and consider giving a blurb—my very first! And, as it turns out, my very first to be printed on the cover of a novel. What a privilege for me. I loved the story. Here's what I said in that blurb:

“In The Glass Wives, Amy Sue Nathan examines what it means to build an unconventional family when the original families shatter suddenly and irreparably into pieces. Nathan's adept writing, wry humor, and authentic emotion carried me effortlessly from the beginning of this tender and hopeful debut novel to its satisfying end.” — Julie Kibler, author of Calling Me Home

(OK, I had to leave that last bit ... it still gives me a little ego boost to see that "author of" thing!)

Here's more about Amy:
Amy Sue Nathan lives and writes near Chicago where she hosts the popular blog, Women's Fiction Writers. She has published articles in Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune and New York Times Online among many others. Amy is the proud mom of a son and a daughter in college, and a willing servant to two rambunctious rescued dogs.

About The Glass Wives (St. Martin's Press, May 2013):
When a tragic car accident ends the life of Richard Glass, it also upends the lives of Evie and Nicole, and their children. There’s no love lost between the widow and the ex. In fact, Evie sees a silver lining in all this heartache—the chance to rid herself of Nicole once and for all. But Evie wasn’t counting on her children’s bond with their baby half-brother, and she wasn’t counting on Nicole’s desperate need to hang on to the threads of family, no matter how frayed. Strapped for cash, Evie cautiously agrees to share living expenses—and her home—with Nicole and the baby. But when Evie suspects that Nicole is determined to rearrange more than her kitchen, Evie must decide who she can trust. More than that, she must ask: what makes a family?

I wanted to do a special interview with Amy, much like what I did with Sere Prince Halverson last year. As I read and contemplated The Glass Wives, certain themes and ideas emerged. I gave Amy a handful and asked her to choose what resonated with her. She talks about them here, and I love how her responses give the reader an idea of what is contained in this lovely novel!

photo by Jiri Hodan

Motherhood

Motherhood is a theme in The Glass Wives, for sure. Every major character is a mother, and how she parents her child is evident, even if it’s not the focus. Even Beth, whose college-age son is only off-the-page (although in an earlier version of the novel he comes home) it’s clear that when he was younger, Beth was an active part of the school and sports community in Lakewood, the fictional Chicago suburb where The Glass Wives is set.  It’s more obvious to look right at Evie, who might like to close the door on Nicole but won’t, because she knows it wouldn’t be what is best for her kids.  I tried to strike a balance for Evie that isn’t always present in my own life, and that was fun. Although it’s her priority, Evie doesn’t really lose herself in motherhood, and I know I’ve been guilty of that.

photo: Kicksave2930's Flickr photostream

Grief

Forget about stages. Grief sucks in any stage. What I wanted to accomplish in The Glass Wives was to be realistic, but to encapsulate the grief and healing process to show that it can get better, but maybe not in ways you’d expect. 

Photo: Christina Matheson's Flickr photostream

Compromise

Compromise has two meanings to me. A compromise can be meeting someone in the middle so both people benefit. A compromise can also be giving up, letting go, or undermining—yourself, your ideals, your morals, or your beliefs. I’d like to think that in The Glass Wives I don’t allow Evie to compromise herself in a negative way, but that she compromises and meets Nicole in the middle to make life better for herself and her kids.

Coffee

To me, coffee is something I do, not just something I drink, and I tried to incorporate that into The Glass Wives for Evie, Laney, and Beth.

Photo: Amy Sue Nathan!

It’s more of a label for getting together with girlfriends and talking, whether there is really coffee involved or not.  For the friends in the novel, they have their own special cups in Evie’s kitchen. I remembered a woman I was friends 

with years ago whose best friend lived far away.  They each had the same mug and that’s what they used for their coffee (or maybe wine?) when they chatted on the phone. I loved the comfort implied by Evie’s friends having special mugs in her cabinet. 

Forgiveness

Photo: Fammy's Flickr photostream

I hate admitting I had an “ah-ha” moment while watching Oprah years ago, but I did. I realized that what I’d heard was true. Forgiveness is for the victim, if you will, not for the perpetrator. In The Glass Wives, Evie is able to close the door on a portion of her life (when she can) to move forward for the sake of her children. She knows that if she holds onto what makes her angry and hurt she won’t be able to see the good things around her.  I like to think Evie inherited that from me, but maybe I’m being too generous.

Photo: Ehud's Flickr photostream

Holidays

I love holidays, especially Jewish holidays that include big family meals. I loved imagining the Seder at Evie’s house.  The beauty of fiction is creating something from scratch that you might wish was real but plenty of the fun of fiction is also writing what you’re glad isn’t real. As someone who lives far away from family and spends a lot of holidays at friends’ homes, it was wonderful to write for Evie a big holiday with family and friends at her own house. I don’t often have the chance to do that. 

Photo: cobalt123's Flickr photostream

Glass

Glass is strong, yet fragile; transparent, yet dirties easily. It’s also easy to clean and start over. No, this isn’t a Windex commercial; it’s how I saw the characters in the book and in retrospect, why the last name Glass fit them so well. I chose the name because it was one-syllable, Jewish (but not overly ethnic), and worked with the name Evie, which was always the name I preferred for the main character. 

I didn’t realize until well into the writing process how the last name Glass had multiple meanings.   To me that is beshert—meant to be.

GIVEAWAY:

One lucky reader is going to get a paperback copy of The Glass Wives. Simply leave a comment here before Friday at midnight, telling what resonated with you while reading Amy's answers. We'll randomly draw and notify a winner Saturday. Please leave an email address or link your comment to your website so Amy can notify you in some way, as I will be out of the country and unable to update the post itself. Your copy will be shipped as soon as possible!

Thanks for stopping by What Women Write. I hope you'll find and read The Glass Wives! 

Calling Me Home: Julie

For more than a year, we've been awaiting a special day: the publication of Julie Kibler’s first novel, Calling Me Home, available now! If you are in DFW, please join us this evening for Julie's book launch and signing at 7:00 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, The Parks Mall, Arlington, Texas. Click here for more information. Other events are scheduled in Austin, Waco, Houston, Denver, Seattle, and Spokane. Find details at Julie's website or Facebook page.

Calling Me Home is our group's first published novel, and it marks a major milestone for both Julie and the blog itself. We started this blog more than four years ago as an outlet for some of our thoughts on writing, but also as a platform to help introduce us to you, our readers, as writers looking forward to publication. That time is beginning. In celebration, each of us is sharing our thoughts on home, how it calls us, and what it means to every "me" in our group. We hope you enjoy these posts, and we hope to see some of you at Julie's launch!

By Julie Kibler

It’s here. Calling Me Home releases today in the United States. I can hardly believe it. Eighteen months ago, you couldn’t have convinced me this time would fly as it has. Eighteen months! Everyone said it would—I didn’t believe them. And now I’m ecstatic to be sharing my novel with readers everywhere.

At What Women Write, we’ve been talking about what calls us home for the last two weeks. I’ve so enjoyed reading each post from my beloved blog partners. We have so much in common, yet we’re all unique.

At the same time, I knew this would be a hard post for me to write.

Home.

It’s a concept I struggle with. I moved so often growing up, I felt “homeless,” even if I was lucky enough to not be sleeping in a car or under a bridge or in a shelter, as those who are truly homeless do many nights.

I thought getting married and having my own home might heal that sense of not having one, but during my young and rocky first marriage, I continued to move every six months to two years. After my divorce, I managed to keep my kids in the same house for six years. Then my second husband and I combined households, and we’ve lived in the same place TEN years. Six years was a record. Ten is a miracle.

And yet, I still long for that thing called Home.

Where is it? What is it?

For some, as Joan and Susan wrote about in their posts, it’s the houses where they lived forever, from birth until their parents pushed them out of the nest.

For some, it’s the small towns or city neighborhoods they settled into, even if they lived at different addresses in those areas.

For some, it’s where Grandma lives—where they went every summer to visit and run and play as kids, or where they take their own kids each Christmas or Thanksgiving to eat turkey and mashed potatoes and pie and play hide and seek with cousins.

For many, home might have been a consistent place, but one that doesn’t necessarily bring joy now. Home is there, but lacks pleasant memories.

For me, home is … nowhere in particular.

I was born in Kentucky and moved back and forth between there and New Mexico, then to Colorado, where we moved from city to city until settling in Denver for my junior high and high school years, though in a few different houses and apartments after my parents divorced in the midst.

When I left for college, my mother soon severed her tenuous ties to Colorado, following me to Texas when I had my first child. She was there to rock my baby boy when I was exhausted, and yet, I longed for “Mom’s house.” In her case, an impersonal one-bedroom apartment down the road wasn’t anywhere I knew intimately or wanted to visit. She trailed us as we moved again and again, and my kids don’t remember her houses or apartments because she mostly came to us until she eventually moved in because it was easier.

One of my parents was an only child; the other had a much older brother. Our extended family wasn’t close enough to visit often.

My dad moved far away not long after my parents divorced, and though we always kept in close touch, it was too expensive to travel. I regret never seeing the house where he, my stepmother, and my two half siblings lived in Alaska. They eventually settled in Washington State and though I’ve had the pleasure of visiting three or four times, their cozy house in Washington is not home.

My family lives in a big, suburban Texas house. We can spread out comfortably in the blistering summers and windy winters. Yet after my last child graduates from high school, my husband and I envision moving to a house with more personality, in an urban, walkable community. We imagine patronizing locally owned cafes and shops—a place we might feel we belong. Whether or not it happens, I suspect it won’t feel exactly as we dream it might.

Over the years, I ‘ve observed others with envy—sometimes, heavy sadness—as I listen to them talk of home, with the accompanying nostalgia or pride or frustration, claiming with confidence roots in one or two locales.

Me? I feel like a bit of a fraud when I claim to be a Kentucky girl. Or a New Mexico girl. Or a Colorado girl. Or even a Texas grownup. When I write stories set in any of these states—which, of course I do—I compulsively run them by folks who can gently yet expertly guide me toward accuracy.

Because I can’t claim complete, native authority on any location.

As a result of this perceived deficiency, I’ve gained proficiencies others may not have. I can fake my way as a local nearly anywhere after a day or so. I can ride subways and trains and city buses like a pro with a map and a pass in hand, or rent a car and drive winding country roads. I can mold my accent to match the people around me so I don’t stick out much. I can scout out places beyond the tourist traps, and I can talk to almost anyone. And … I can claim to be “from” the same place as many people who don’t live near each other.

Yet I still want home. Not so different from Isabelle, in the first chapter of Calling Me Home, when she says, “I want my daughter. I want Dorrie.”

Andy, Brit, Julie, and Tom, December 2006

But these days, I look for home in more than an address or community or culture. I look for home in the people I love.

It’s the thing I can do.

I treasure photographs like this—the only one of me with all three siblings, the one day we were all four in the same place in our whole lives, at my sister’s wedding. So I look a little like a linebacker—these are my brothers and my sister. I love that we have this photo to cherish.

I treasure moments like this—my husband and children, their friends and our pets crammed into one corner of our sectional when we had so much snow, we were practically housebound for a week and snuggled together to stay warm. 

Or even the ones where we might have had a little too much togetherness.

The Blizzard of 2010

Luckenbach, Texas

I treasure the occasion when I returned to Colorado and my small group of friends from my high school years shared a meal.

I also treasure the tug of places, whether I remember them or not, knowing at some point I called them home, or that the family members who came before me did.

 I study my grandmother’s patio in Cincinnati. Those are the glass blocks my grandpa installed, the garden hose holder he hung. I picture myself as a toddler, using that broom to push twigs and leaves, sure I was accomplishing something very important.

This is the limestone retaining wall and garage my dad and grandpa and their handyman built with their own hands below the house where my dad was born.
 

I gravitate toward gravestones. Though these souls are long gone, I sense a connection, feeling almost as though I'm photographing my ancestors when I snap shots of these ancient stones. 

Before my great grandmother’s grave in a lush Kentucky cemetery, my dad brushes away debris and sheds unexpected tears for his grandma, his grandpa, and uncle.

I scan Civil War era portraits of forbears for familiar characteristics. Do I look like them? Do my children? My son does look like his great-great-great-great grandfather, I think.

Most of all, I cling to family histories, asking my parents hungry questions, caching the details that tell me who I am and where I came from, before it’s too late to ask. 

For all these things, these places, these faces—

This shifting conglomeration of time and history and relationships.

This is what I call home.

What about you? What is home? What calls you?

Join me today as I celebrate the release of Calling Me Home as a guest on several blogs:

• Women's Fiction Writers, where my dear friend Amy Nathan is hosting me for an interview and a giveaway of a handmade (by me!) paper bead bracelet like the ones we made at our retreat, constructed from my cover art.
• An in-depth Q&A with Jaime Boler, aka "Book Magnet"
• A fun Q&A at Chick Lit is Not Dead

Calling Me Home: Joan

Click for more details

For more than a year, we have been awaiting a special day that is almost here: the publication of Julie Kibler’s first novel, Calling MeHome, available for pre-order now and in bookstores February 12 (TUESDAY!). If you are in DFW, please join us for Julie's book launch and signing Tuesday, February 12, at 7:00 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, The Parks Mall, Arlington. Click here for more information and to RSVP (which is helpful to Julie and the store in planning for the event, but not required).

Calling Me Home is our group's first published novel, and it marks a major milestone for both Julie and the blog itself. We started this blog more than four years ago as an outlet for some of our thoughts on writing, but also as a platform to help introduce us to you, our readers, as writers looking forward to publication. That time is beginning. In celebration, each of us is sharing our thoughts on home, how it calls us, and what it means to every "me" in our group. We hope you enjoy these posts, and we hope to see some of you February 12!

by Joan

It’s ironic that just when I’m writing this post, I’m a very long, long way from home. I’m in a Beijing hotel, the first of several trips for my new job, and listening to the soundtrack for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Chinese word for luck is fu. How fortunate and how lucky I feel to be here. 

Unfortunately, my first impressions of the city which apparently uses half the world’s coal supply, were colored by a charcoal sky—literally. You might have read about the horrendous air quality but actually being there, wrapped in scarves and a useless mask, it’s really quite frightening. Where are the blossoming bonsais, the silk fans, the lush trees Chow Yun-Fat and Zhang Ziyi scaled so gracefully? As I write, from outside my window a black cat whines from the nearby rooftop. His lungs must be as black as the coal he breathes day after day.

Yes, I am far away. But even when I’m home in Dallas, I’m not truly home. My roots are in Maryland, where I spent 45 years. We didn’t sell the house I was swaddled in until nearly 35 years later when we moved my mother to assisted living, ten years after we buried my father. 

Home is where I sipped cartoned milk and napped in kindergarten. Where I walked and waxed with my poetic friend Chrissie and became enraptured with a cemetery hidden in the green hills. Where I kissed my first crush behind the elementary school brick wall. Where I played canasta and choreographed dances with my Elton-John-loving friend Diane, pom-pommed with my soul-sister Karen, drank beer (shhh, don’t tell my son) with a wild Wheaton crowd. For a few years, home was a dorm I shared with athletes and druggies at University of Maryland. Where I lucked into a CPA firm that launched my rewarding career, workshopped at the Bethesda Writer’s Center, married the jackpot of husbands, birthed the kindest and coolest philosophical son, developed forty-five years of deep, loving friendships.

We left Maryland in 2005, heading the wrong way on a nine-week traverse across Europe, Japan, Alaska and finally making it around the globe to Dallas. Even though I lust to wander, whether it be across the pond or west to visit our son, Maryland does call me home. To my mother and three sisters, my dear friends, the rolling green hills. Where the sky is thankfully clear and fresh.

But for the next while my home is in Dallas, where I lucked into my awesome group of writer friends and await the release of our first success story. 

How to help a soon-to-be published author

By Julie

It's 40 days until Calling Me Home releases, in case you're not counting the weeks, days, and minutes like I am.

It's an exciting time, and a slightly terrifying time, if you want to know the truth. I have a lot to do yet. I need to make detailed plans for my February 12 launch event and party--including deciding what sections/how much of Calling Me Home to read aloud and what to say and who to thank. Not to mention what to wear. Blog posts, essays, and interviews are already starting to stack up on my ongoing task list. I need to finalize travel plans for out-of-town events in February and March. I'm preparing to go off to the Pulpwood Queens Annual Girlfriend Weekend in Jefferson, Texas, again--if I can get my act together in time. (Fortunately, I have a flexible arrangement and can decide last minute, more or less.)

And that's just scratching the surface.

Many friends and family members have asked me this:

What can I do to help?

I often offer a blank stare in response. In spite of all the things I need to do, I'm not versed enough in this job yet to delegate very well.

However, as I think about it, there are some very easy answers to this question. It would take a long time to rattle these off to everyone in person, so I thought I'd made a list to refer to here instead. Some might be slightly tongue-in-cheek. Consider yourself warned. Without further ado ...

Ten ways to help a soon-to-be published debut author, in no particular order of importance, unless otherwise noted, in a somewhat rambling, semi-narrative format:

1. Preorder the book.
Okay, this one is really important. Preorder numbers give a big indication to booksellers and the publisher of how the book is going to do. Preorders can even affect the size of the print run. (Various buy links are here, on my website.)

2. Buy a copy of the book at book signing events you attend, if at all possible.
Most venues will not allow you to bring a previously purchased book in to be signed by the author anyway. They don't make any money if they don't sell any books. I will be completely happy to sign any copies of my book you purchase in almost any location, but will unfailingly honor a bookstore's policy while they are hosting me.

3. If you can afford to, do both.
Both types of purchases are extremely important to the immediate success of a newly released book. Both contribute to the possibilities that a book might end up on various bestseller lists upon debut or at any time during its shelf life.

4. If you need to choose one or the other, use good sense and follow your heart.
I will NEVER JUDGE YOU for prioritizing your expenses the way you need to. I have struggled financially at times in my life. I get it.

5. If you can't afford to do either, check it out at the library. If your library is preordering it, put your name on the hold list.
I will ALWAYS LOVE YOU for checking out the book at a library if you can't afford it. I love libraries. (Did you know I have a master's degree in library science?) Libraries are book buyers, too, and if my book is in demand, they are going to buy it.

6. Forgive me if I get a glazed look in my eyes while we are talking about anything not related to my book for the next couple of months.
Would you believe I even dream about it? Do you have any idea how hard it is to think about or concentrate on anything else right now?

7. Remind me if I have promised to do something for you or with you or as your guest involving the book and I haven't mentioned it lately.
It's highly possible I forgot. But even if I forgot, if I said I wanted to do it when we first talked about it, I really do! Please nag me. That even goes for my husband and kids. I am afraid I will simply drop the ball on some of the things we've talked about, and I would hate that for both of us. Please be my brain for a little while.

8.  If you've received an advance copy, read it, and enjoyed the book, or if you read it upon release, it would help me very much if you would leave a review in any of the places folks go to learn about books.
Goodreads is already open for reviews of Calling Me Home. Please don't feel shy about sharing your honest opinion, even if it's not one hundred percent positive. If you are shy about leaving a review, a simple rating there is helpful, too. As soon as the book is released, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBookstore, and other online booksellers will be open to the public for reviews. The more reviews there are, the more visible the book becomes to folks browsing for books online, as the sites are programmed to display books more and more to browsing customers as they become more and more popular. A review on your blog, your social networking sites, or any other place is also a huge help.

9. Closely related to that, and this one's a biggie:
Any mention of my book anywhere is the way to spread the word. 
It's said that word-of-mouth, grassroots marketing is the VERY BEST WAY to make a book a hit--if the book is good and appeals to people. Think about it. Why did you read the last book you read? I'm going to guess if you didn't pick it up browsing at a bookstore or library, someone told you about it, or you saw someone reading it and asked about it, or you heard about it in some other way. It didn't just land in your lap, right? Don't keep the books you love a secret. There's plenty of copies to go around. :)

If you liked Calling Me Home, will you please tell people about it?

"But, Julie," you ask, "Where should I talk about it? How?"

I'm so glad you asked.

Do you have a Facebook account? Do you tweet? Are you a member of a book club? Do you get together with other moms for play group? Do you sit on the sidelines with other parents at soccer or basketball games? Do you go out to dinner with friends? Do you have coffee with your coworkers? Do you talk to your librarian when you stop by the counter to pick up holds or check out books? These are just a few of the places where people talk about books and where you might mention reading Calling Me Home. The possibilities are endless.

10. Finally, this one is pretty daring. I dare you to READ IN PUBLIC.
As I mentioned in the last suggestion, many books people read, they read because they saw someone else reading it. On an airplane, in a park, on a coffee break ... anywhere. People start to recognize the colors and design of a cover--especially when they start seeing it everywhere. It becomes an icon for the story, which is why a memorable cover--the RIGHT cover--can be so very important.

Okay. I'm going to round this up to eleven.

11. Photos
Lately, photos have been popping up here and there on my Facebook page, on blogs, etc. The one near the bottom of this post is one of the first I saw. My husband took it. It's me! I kind of look like I'm wearing mom jeans (though I promise I was not and you would know this if you could see all the way down to my ankles and up to my waist). It's kind of fuzzy. It was taken with a cell phone.

But it was one of the most fun and funny and surreal things that has ever happened to me.

Imagine walking into a bookstore with your family, then stopping dead in your tracks to see something like this. First we stopped. Then we giggled. Then, when I was finished passing out, my husband sent me over to the sign for a photo session.

Since then, other folks who live nearby have posted photos on their Facebook walls standing next to the same sign. My daughter's friends have even texted her photos of themselves standing next to it. They are much more adorable than I am.

Not only does this stroke my ego and make me feel rather giddy and get butterflies in my stomach, but friends, I'm here to tell you--PEOPLE LOVE PICTURES. I posted a simple photo of my house lit up for the holidays and covered with rare Texas snow last week, and I got more views and "likes" than any other status I've posted on Facebook except for the photos I posted of my book covers. (See? Photos!)

What I'm saying is this:
Photos draw more attention than just about anything.

Please don't be shy or embarrassed to snap a shot of yourself reading the book or standing next to a sign like this, or when it comes out, a shot of the book in a bookstore or on your nightstand or bookshelf, or a shot of yourself holding up a review or newspaper feature, or really anything related to the book. Then post it on Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr or wherever you post your photos. Tag me if you can. I'll eat it up, I promise. And even better, someone new might learn about the book.

Julie, 12/27/12, standing by the sign at her local Barnes & Noble, seriously about to pass out after nearly running into the thing

That about wraps it up for now. THANK YOU for bearing with me on this list. If you read all the way to the bottom, there is even a reward for you.

If you do, or have already done, ANY of these 11 things that can be done prior to release (order Calling Me Home, say something about it somewhere, post a photo of something related to it, etc.) leave a comment here on the blog telling me what you did, and I'll enter you in a drawing for a $25 gift card or credit at the bookseller of your choice. (For example, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, iBookstore, or any independent bookstore that offers gift cards or email gift certificates. Final eligibility for this prize and approval of the bookseller is at my discretion. You must be a resident of the United States and able to receive mail or an emailed gift certificate from your preferred store.) Also, for an additional entry, please share this post on Facebook or Twitter or with a friend, and let me know in your comment. 


I'll announce the winner here on January 12, 2013, one month away from the official U.S. release date of Calling Me Home. Thank you so much for taking this journey with me!

UPDATE: It turns out you shouldn't plan to announce something on a Saturday, even if it's a month away from your release day, because I just plain forgot! I apologize for doing this a day late. The winner is Julia Munroe Martin, and I will contact her via email. Congrats, Julia, and thank you SO much to everyone for the responses and for sharing the post! Not a ton of comments, but we had a LOT of hits on the post, and I hope it was helpful to both readers and other authors with upcoming book releases! :)

Calling Me Home has a cover!

By Julie

Certain days in an author's life are a little more special than others. Obviously, there is the day you get "the call" from your dream agent. Then there is the day you make your first sale (and every sale thereafter!). The day you see your manuscript typeset in first pass pages is pretty thrilling, too.

Design by my now-favorite book cover designer,
Olga Grlic

But it's possible one of the most exciting days after you have your book contract in hand is the day you see your cover. I experienced this once before when I received the file of my German cover art, and that was pretty mind-boggling! I loved it so much I plastered it all over the place. It still reigns on my Facebook author page for now. The book releases there August 20 and my German publishers have been SO enthusiastic, I feel it's appropriate to let it keep the place of honor a while longer!

I was on vacation the last few weeks. We spent several days in Illinois for my husband's grandmother's 100th birthday celebration. She is an amazing woman, as sharp and funny as any younger woman I know. I also had the pleasure of meeting author Amy Sue Nathan (The Glass Wives, debuting spring or summer 2013) en route from Chicago to Peoria.

In the midst of driving here and there, switching hotel rooms every night or so, I received an email from Hilary Teeman, my St. Martin's Press editor, requesting an address where they could overnight something--something NOT work. I knew immediately what it would be! Lydia Netzer, another St. Martin's author and friend who shares the same fantastic editor, had this experience months earlier when she received her cover for SHINE SHINE SHINE (which debuted last week and you MUST read!!!). It would be several days before I could get an overnight delivery without the risk we'd have already moved on. I gave Hilary our upcoming address in the gorgeous Outer Banks of North Carolina. I knew I'd go a little crazy in the four or five days before I'd receive the delivery.

We checked in on Sunday. The office promised to call when they received my package. Monday, around 4 p.m. (a day or so sooner than expected!), I got a call. Everyone had just settled in for a late sandwich or nap after our first fun day at the beach. We were sunburned, sandy, unshowered, and exhausted. And yet, my husband, the official driver on the rental car contract, graciously dragged himself up from his comfy spot in front of the television and chauffeured me the ten miles to the office. We arrived with about 15 minutes to spare before they closed.

I carried the book-shaped package to the car, handling it as though I carried an incendiary device. I knew its contents had the potential to create any number of emotions in me. Would I cry when I saw it? From joy? From disappointment? From devastation? Would I clap my hands and scream because I loved it so much? Or would I be angry and disgusted because the designer and my editor had so utterly ruined the vision my story had conjured in my mind for so many years?

I will tell you this: It was one of the most loaded moments along my journey to publication.

But I also knew this: My editor is in love with my story. I knew, from previous conversations, she had turned down several other covers she wasn't happy with. Somehow I just knew she would recognize the right one when it came along, and I trusted her.

So I opened the package. First, I peeked in, just for the littlest glance. Then I read the note she'd included with some of her thoughts on why this one worked so well and how in love the staff at St. Martin's was with it. How they literally gasped when they saw it the first time. Then I pulled the cover, which Hilary had carefully wrapped and taped around another hardcover book so I could get the full effect, from the envelope.

Strangely, my reaction was not unlike my reaction 15, 18, and 23 years ago, each time I saw one of my beautiful children for the first time. I am not a screamer. I am not a clapper. I am not one to cry at expected times. When I held and studied each of my children the very first time, I felt strangely awed. Reverent. Quiet. I simply stared at their faces, then studied each limb, each tiny fingernail, so surprised to see how different they looked than I'd ever imaged, yet somehow so perfect. On an intellectual level, I knew I already loved them more than I ever dreamed I was capable of doing, but on a human level, I wasn't quite able to grasp that just yet. With each child, it was hours before the emotions really began to flow, before I was finally able to wrap my brain around their arrivals, their surprising perfection, their little bits of me and their characteristics I never, ever, imagined. And then, I was carrying them around, showing them off, placing them here and there for photos--which light, which background, which setting could possibly show the world what I was seeing through my eyes?

And last Monday, before long, I was carrying my "book" around my vacation home, placing it on the hammock in the ocean breeze for a shot here, propping it in the port hole window with a view of the Outer Banks there, stacking it with a book about the Outer Banks so I'd never forget where I saw it the first time.

And I loved it.



EDIT: I guess I should also add that Calling Me Home is available for pre-order now! It's at Amazon and BN.com! Pre-orders are really important in the lead-up to publication, so I appreciate each and every one of you who takes the time to do so! You are guaranteed the lowest price up to the shipping date once you place your order. More info about the story is available at my website.