Tag: publishing

Meet Jenny Robin Jones, author of Love America

Posted on by Sue L Canfield
This entry is part 4 of 11 in the series Meet the Author

A couple of years ago an author in New Zealand contacted me for social media assistance. I was very pleased to know that my reputation had reached so far! Enjoy reading about Jenny.Jenny Jones

  • Tell us a little bit about your book and business.

My latest book, Love America: On the Trail of Writers and Artists in New Mexico, arose from a visit of mine to Taos and Santa Fe, which turned into a literary pilgrimage. Afterwards it generated an exploration of New Mexican history and the ways New Mexico has influenced writers and artists (often from New York) who visited over extended periods or, in some cases, settled there permanently. For instance, D H Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe, Willa Cather, Frank Waters. Also, the heiress and brilliant collector, Millicent Rogers. The book offers a different approach to travel, one which I have found transformative.

As for my business, I am first and foremost a writer so that is my top priority – to keep writing and not let my time trickle away attending to all the other aspects of the writing business. I am lucky to have found an enthusiastic publisher for this title. The book had a great designer and publicity management. After my last title, which was self-published, I sought help from Sue Canfield with managing social media and that was well worthwhile. I have also had my website renovated in time for the launch of the latest title and am well pleased with the result.

  • Why did you write your book?

I felt a strong desire to make sense of my lived experience, to make it intelligible, coherent and beautiful. Inspiration for a new book has come following an unexpected connection between two hitherto unconnected things. For instance, my experience of the Rugby World Cup played in New Zealand in 2011 and my need for a sense of belonging resulted in my third book, Not For Ourselves Alone.

  • How did you publish your book?

This title was published by a traditional publisher for a niche market.

  • How did things change for you as an author in 2020 and how did you manage to weather the pandemic?

I worked on the manuscript with a mentor/publisher who, upon its completion, offered to publish it. During our 5-week covid lockdown I felt unable to write and worried that nothing would come of the plan. Her trip to New Mexico was cancelled and with it our hopes of finding a US publisher with a view to a co-edition. Linda was still keen to publish in NZ however and the book was launched in early November. Now she has returned to the idea of seeking a co-edition partner. How will the continuing pandemic affect the result? We’ll see!

  • What is your favorite book marketing tip?

To seek and follow the advice of experts in the field, especially that of social media. To spare nothing in learning to apply this knowledge of engagement and then to work out a comfortable personal balance between time spent on social media as against writing more books.

  • What are your goals for 2021?

To publish and market a children’s picture book for which I have completed the text. Next, to write a new adult book, Never Stop Travelling. And of course to achieve a better balance between working to deadlines and taking time out.

  • Where can readers find your book?

    Love America

Through my website (see link below), my Facebook Authors Page, Goodreads, Pinterest. Also the publisher’s website https://calicopublishing.co.nz/

A short interview on national radio suggests how the book is interesting to readers: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/2018772875/a-kiwi-s-love-letter-to-the-us

  • Author Bio

Jenny Robin Jones is a writer of many years standing. 

Born in Wellington, where she now lives, Jenny spent her formative years in England, returning to New Zealand as a young adult to begin her working life as a teacher.

She was for many years executive director the New Zealand Society of Authors, served as its representative on the board of Copyright Licensing Limited (CLL) and was a long-term chair of the selection panel for the CLL awards.

She also chaired Peppercorn Press, publisher of the quarterly review journal New Zealand Books.

Love America is her fourth book.

Meet Dale Griffiths Stamos, author of RenWomen

Posted on by Sue L Canfield
This entry is part 6 of 11 in the series Meet the Author

I worked with Dale a few years back helping to promote her book using social media. She has many creative endeavors and I know you’ll enjoy learning more about her in the interview below.Dale Griffiths Stamos headshot

  • Tell us a little bit about your book and business.

My book is RenWomen: What Modern Renaissance Women Have to Teach Us About Living Rich, Fulfilling Lives.  I co-authored it with my twin brother, Scott Griffiths, and it includes the stories of 16 extraordinary modern Renaissance women from multiple areas: business, the arts, social activism, science, and more.  It is a book that will inspire and motivate women (and men too!) to explore their fullest potential.

  • Why did you write your book?

My twin brother had co-authored a book about modern Renaissance men and we both realized that it was important women got recognized as being Renaissance people as well!

  • How did you publish your book? Traditional publisher, hybrid publisher, self-published?

We self-published the book.

  • How did things change for you as an author in 2020 and how did you manage to weather through the year during the pandemic?

The book was published in 2016 and I spent most of 2017 and some of 2018 marketing the book in the form of book events, signings, and invited presentations and panels. (So I’m grateful I was able to do all that live before this crazy 2020!)  In 2017, I also returned to my other creative endeavors (in my own Renaissance-style) and continued to work on my short film projects. (In all I have written and produced or co-produced six short narrative films, three of which I directed.) These films went to multiple film festivals in 2017-2019, many of which I attended.  So the biggest adjustment in 2020 was that after February, the film festivals I was accepted into all went virtual!  Which will continue into at least part of 2021.  But one advantage to being a writer is that I continue to write new work, quarantined or not!

  • What is your favorite book marketing tip?

If you are self-published OR traditionally published, take marketing into your own hands! Get out there and do signings and book events, and everything else you can think of to get word out about your book. (I actually also did videos about the women in the book, along with a whole podcast series.)

  • What are your goals for 2021?

The new work I have been focusing on in 2020 are feature-length screenplays and a full-length play.  So my goal for 2021 is to get that work out there. (Which can include readings and raising funds for production or finding interested producers.)

  • Where can readers find your book?

https://www.amazon.com/RenWomen-Modern-Renaissance-Living-Fulfilling

http://www.renwomen.com/

https://www.facebook.com/RenWomen

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/renwomen

  • Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Just that in today’s world, having a flexible, multi-dimensional approach to life is not just aspirational, but essential!

Bio

Dale Griffiths Stamos is the co-author of the nonfiction book: RenWomen: What Modern Renaissance Women Have to Teach Us About Living Rich, Fulfilling Lives.  Dale is also an award-winning screenwriter and playwright. She has written and produced or co-produced six short films which have been official selections at multiple film festivals, garnering two audience and two jury awards, as well as three Awards of Excellence from Best Shorts Competition and the Bill Paxton Award from the Ojai Film Festival.  She has penned two feature-length screenplays:  One White Crow and Blue Jay Singing in the Dead of Night which have been named as finalists or semi-finalists in a number of screenwriting competitions including the New York City International Screenplay Awards, StoryPros International Screenplay Contest, Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival, Creative World Awards and Script Summit. Dale’s short and full-length plays have been produced around the country. She is the recipient of the Heideman Award from Actors Theatre of Louisville, and is a top-ten winner, twice, in the Writers Digest Stage Play Competition.

Meet Laurie Buchanan, Author of the Sean McPherson series

Posted on by Sue L Canfield
This entry is part 9 of 11 in the series Meet the Author

This is the first in my 2021 series of author interviews. Laurie and I have been connected on social media for some time. She’s a great example of what an author can do on social media!Laurie Buchanan

Tell us a little bit about your books.

My project manager at my publishing house describes the Sean McPherson series like this:
Imagine—Chief Inspector Gamache meets The Last Mrs. Parrish.
Kirkus Reviews said: “Buchanan’s narrative is well-paced, flying right along. . . . the author has delivered an exciting beginning to an intriguing series.”

Why did you write your books?

My first two books (Note to Self: A Seven-Step Path to Gratitude and Growth, and The Business of Being: Soul Purpose In and Out of the Workplace) are nonfiction and a direct result of two decades in private practice as a holistic health practitioner and transformational life coach.
My next book—Indelible: A Sean McPherson Novel, Book One—is a work of fiction in the suspense/thriller genre. It’s the first book in a series that takes place in the Pacific Northwest. It hits the shelves on April 6, 2021. Book two in the series, Iconoclast, is slated for publication in spring 2022.
The Sean McPherson series came about because I heard another speaker at a writing conference tell the audience that once you publish a book in a certain genre, you’re locked in. That’s simply not true!

How did you publish your book? Traditional publisher, hybrid publisher, self-published?

My first two books are published by a hybrid publisher, She Writes Press. The Sean McPherson novels are published by SparkPress, an imprint of She Writes Press.

How did things change for you as an author in 2020 and how did you manage to weather through the year during the pandemic?

Before 2020, I traveled regularly to speak and teach at writing conferences. When the pandemic struck, travel came to a screeching halt, and Zoom (a web conferencing platform) has become part of my regular routine.

What is your favorite book marketing tip?

Because I love photography, my social media platform of choice is Instagram. It’s linked to my Facebook author page. Combined, they make a dynamic duo for sharing news about my books.

What are your goals for 2021?

My primary goal for 2021 is to get Iconoclast (book two in the Sean McPherson series) into my copy editor’s hands and then to my publisher. Once that’s done, I’ll dive headfirst into book three in the series.

Where can readers find your book?Indelible

My books are available wherever books are sold. Here is ONE convenient link that will take you to purchase links for Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, IndieBound, BookShop, Rediscovered Books, Books-A-Million, Google Play, Apple Books, and BookBub: https://www.lauriebuchanan.com/indelible

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

You are cordially invited to my website, lauriebuchanan.com. If you’d like to stay in the loop regarding book launches, please subscribe to my quarterly newsletter.
I can also be found on:

Bio

Author of the Sean McPherson Novels (#seanmcphersonnovels). Imagine—Chief Inspector Gamache meets The Last Mrs. Parrish. Red licorice aficionado. Traveler. Photographer because sometimes, the best word choice is a picture.

Authors and Book Publishing Industry Experts: Two New Interview Series in 2021

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

2021 Interview SeriesAuthors and book publishing industry experts, as well as everyone else, would no doubt agree that 2020 has been a challenging year. Yet, as one of my colleagues noted, since everyone has suffered in some way during the pandemic. It’s put things in perspective for us, helping us focus more on helping others.

In 2021 I want to focus on helping you, my readers and clients. One way I’m doing that is by introducing two new concurrent interview series in 2021. In 2020 I interviewed business podcasters so you could see if their podcast might be a good fit for you to be a guest on. You can read those interviews here. In 2021 the two interview series will be one with nonfiction authors and another with book publishing industry experts.

The Two New Interview Series

One series will start with authors I have worked with at some point over the past 15 years. In addition to providing exposure for those authors and their books, those authors will share how they weathered through 2020 during the pandemic and their favorite book marketing tip.

The other series is with experts in the book publishing industry will include editors, ghostwriters, publishing consultants, book coaches, and authors assistants. You will learn more about them and their business and find out if they are a good fit for you if you’re in need of their type of expertise. They will also share their favorite tip for using social media.

It is my hope that by highlighting the work of these authors and experts they might gain new readers and clients. And you will benefit by learning tips they share on book marketing, social media, and weathering through a pandemic.

Here are some of the people whose interviews you’ll be reading: Chrissy Das, Cristen Iris, Faith Wilcox, Jeanne Rodriguez, Anne Janzer, Laurie Buchanan.

If you know of anyone in the book publishing industry who would be a good fit for this series or a nonfiction author who launched a new book during 2020 amid the pandemic, please have them contact me.

Watch for our first 2021 interview here on the blog on January 5, 2021.

Local Author Interview and Book Signing

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

Brian K. Wright, local authorWe first connected with Brian K. Wright through a mutual acquaintance, Hal Elrod. Since 2011 we’ve worked with Brian in a variety of ways: initially doing some web work for him and later transcribing some of his radio show conversations which resulted in an ebook called Success Profiles. We now live about an hour away from Brian in the Phoenix Arizona area.

In April he released “Success Profiles: Conversations With High Achievers Including Jack Canfield, Tom Ziglar, Loraal Langemeier and More” published by Morgan James. His first book signing at a local Barnes & Noble takes place June 30, 2018. We plan to be there to support our Brian.

I asked Brian if he’d answer some questions and tell us the story about how he got his book published and into the local B&N.

… more … “Local Author Interview and Book Signing”