A Time For Everything

The short story is, for all intents and purposes, done. It even has a new title that I'm pretty pleased with. I turned in my second draft, as per the submission requirements, Sunday morning although it wasn't due until today.

I tend to work better when my work is titled so I slapped a title that sorta fit when I started writing. As I plodded along and after a pretty hefty edit, the title fit even less, so after I turned the book in, I turned my creative energies to a new title and came up with one that fit much better now that book is done.

This morning I turned my efforts to an extra for the book. Basically, the epilogue that will feature an event mentioned in the book. I'll link to it at the end of this story if anyone wants to read it.

This group is doing another anthology for Valentine's Day, so I'm hoping to participate in that as well, but in the mean time, I need to work on one of the other million books I'm in the middle of.

Okay, just kidding, one of the two other books that really needs my attention.

But this anthology gave me a boost that I could conceive a plot and write a book start to finish, short as it was. Now to apply my enthusiasm to one of these other tales and get something else done in time for my conference in October.

Speaking of my conference in October...I'm trying to apply several lessons I've learned. One from last year's experience and a couple from a recent program of my writers group.

The first lesson is to get any ordering (books or swag) done early in case there are issues.

The second lesson is author branding is important. I had a notion of that last year and anytime I did something official like the book signing, I wore business casual in the colors of my publishing company. (Yes, I have one, with a name, a dba, a logo, a website, and everything.)

Unfortunately, there were issues with the table runner (graphics) I tried to order last summer (see lesson one) and I was trying to get a lot of ducks in rows, so that fell by the wayside.

The third lesson is that, in general, people at conferences feel more comfortable walking up to a stranger if they know their name. So I solved the graphics issue for the table runner and it has been ordered. I also ordered a small standup cardboard sign, and I'll be ordering some magnetic names tags.

The fourth lesson is that SWAG doesn't sell books, but it offers name recognition. People take your stuff and use it as applicable, so choose swag that people will use. Either get your name printed directly on the item as in the case of pens or slap a sticker on them in the case of many many other items. I still have pens and some paperboard coasters left from last year, but this new story doesn't fall under the series the coaster is specific to, so that means...do more *author* branding than book or series branding.


Anyway, hope you had as lovely a weekend as I did.

Since I was a supporting author and had my own events to attend, I didn't have as many opportunities to see other people's stuff. I did attend the Featured Authors Signing to scope out some of this year's swag. It was a lot of the same. Some people had So. Much. Stuff.

This is my haul...




I saw a lot of goodie bags... (not pictured) Just cellophane with candy and maybe a pen and notepad or something. Which is all well and good, but people have such different taste in candy. Or they don't like chocolate. Or are allergic to nuts. Or don't like caramel. I don't know. It seems like a waste to me.

Books are given away as prizes in almost every workshop and reading and q&a session. I came home with a handful this year. I definitely want to read two of them. I haven't read the back cover blurbs of the others yet. They'll all be donated to the library at some point because I keep very few physical books these days.

I did notice, though, that rainbow anything was very popular, so my brain is whirring... I'm thinking small little cross stitch something or others. Heigh ho, heigh ho, off to Pinterest I go. I'll let you know what I come with later.

On the 100 Things Challenge front, I cleaned out the glass and mug cabinet and am getting rid of this:



Making progress. A trip to the donation station is in order soon.

Have a great rest of your week.

Not in the writing sense, but in the prepping for the writer conference I'm attending in October.

I've talked about swag a couple of times and I've known what I wanted: pens and cardboard bar coasters.

Almost everyone loves pens, so that's almost a given. As for the bar coasters...I didn't come across any last year at the conference, so I may be a trendsetter. I have a handful from a con I attended years ago. I do use them.

Here's what they look like:


I'll probably also invest in either postcards or bookmarks...people like autographs at this con, so it might be nice to have something sign-able. One thing I noticed was missing last year were QR codes to e-book versions of people's books. I prefer e-books and I have to think there are others who do as well, so for each book, I'm going to have a sheet with QR codes to each retailer...

On the book front, I've decided on getting only the first two books in physical form. This is mostly a cost-based decision because I have to buy them and then ship them, so yeah...

As I'm writing this, all the things I need to do are bombarding me--time to make a conference preparation list me thinks!

Tomorrow is writers group and I'm super excited to see my posse after a two month hiatus. In the interested of being fifty and fun and fabulous, I will be wearing my new hockey jersey to the meeting. :0)

Have a great weekend.

I received an email a few days ago that supporting author slots have become available at the conference, so it's now official--I'm a supporting author.

The question is: What titles do I prep for print and how many do I get of each?

Realistically, as a relatively unknown author in this genre, I'm probably not going to sell a whole lot of books, but I have to have some. The advice I was given was to do a pre-order thing via the conference Facebook group and see what kind of interest there is... I might. I might not.

Remember when I talked about swag awhile back?

While it's mostly been confirmed for me by others that swag really doesn't equal sales, you have to have something for people to walk away with. Along with the book question above, I have to decide what kind of swag to spend my hard-earned royalties on.

I want pens for sure. I'm going to self-print business cards with my book covers on them, maybe twenty or thirty of each book with website/social media info on the back. I might get some sort of banner as a visual draw. And then I'm thinking some inexpensive bar coasters that look like a "welcome to city name" sign. My series takes place in the small fictional town of Ten Rigs, Texas, so it seems fitting. I already have the design in mind...I just have to find the image.

I also bought my plane ticket, so I have accommodations, travel, con registration all taken care of... I have five months to figure out the rest. And to get that next book written. Time to get busy. Well, busier. :0)

Have a great weekend. I sure will!! All about that on Monday.

Two things you find A LOT of at conferences, especially writer and/or reader based conferences, aside from drunk people, are books and swag. Swag in the publishing circles consists of, at its most basic, bookmarks, pens, and postcards with author name and web address--something a potential reader can walk away with that may or may not entice them to purchase your book if they didn't walk away with one of those as well.

I think about swag a lot. Most of my writer group friends attend conferences or book signings or whatever and purchase swag to take with them to entice people to buy their books. I'm not personally a big fan of swag.

Never have I ever dug up a pen or a chip clip or a compact mirror in order to find a book to read.

But 1) I'm not your standard "end user" and 2) I know you have to have it. People expect some sort of swag.

Swag seems like a waste of money. Thanks to my friend, Regina, I like to ask, "what's the return on my investment?". In the case of swag, sometimes there's just not one. You have to have swag, but there's no way to ever know if that pen or bookmark enticed a sale at any point.

But...bearing the swag question in mind and knowing almost from the beginning I wanted to attend next year's GRL, I studied all the swag on display. What did I find personally appealing? What did most people bring? What was unique? What wouldn't end up the trash when Jane Reader gets home?


Some of the swag I walked away with...pens, small notebooks, lip balm, a letter opener, and rubber bracelet, an emery board, eye glass cleaning cloths, postcards, and free books. Now, I love pens, so I will usually voluntarily take a pen. I did intentionally swipe lip balm this time because my lips were hollering at me and I'd left my own in my room. I also took two mini composition notebooks--purse-sized I mean, because those are always handy. Everything else was pretty much just handed to me.

Swag items that caught my attention included...personal fans, flash drives, and a jumbo postcard with an image to color and a crayon to color with. At a previous conference, I walked away with a chip clip, a compact mirror, a bottle opener, and a band-aid keeper. I didn't see sticky-note pads, but I like those too.

I don't mind free books, but I don't, personally, want physical books. It would have been nice to have been given a business card or post card with a QR code for the free e-version. (Note to self, eh??)

I have a lot to ponder between now and next spring when I'll have to start thinking about ordering whatever I decide to buy.

Anyone have any other ideas or care to share what you personally like to walk away with?