#authorlife – Rosepoint Publishing

Yes! Tomorrow is August 9th–a Special Day for #BookLovers Everywhere

Why? Because it is National Book Lovers Day! There are so many ways to celebrate and enjoy #BookLoversDay.

Love Your Library

I’ll be posting a book tour review for The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs (The Physick Book 2) by Katherine Howe and I must say it’s different and I’m really enjoying.

Reading and writing reviews has virtually replaced working on sales and promo. Back when I was still working on marketing the manuscripts I published for my grandfather, I joined the Phoenix Publishing and Book Promotion Meetup in Phoenix. Laura Orsini leads the dynamic group and at one meeting introduced a guest from New York who mentioned a unique book share idea called BookCrossing. She said if I’d choose a book, get a BCID number, she’d take it back to New York and leave it somewhere appropriate where it’d be sure to be picked up. (Location is important, of course.)

I LOVED the idea that the book might travel out of New York to who knew where, each new owner registering the book along the way according to the instructions on the little card left with the book. From the website: “BookCrossing is the act of releasing your books ‘into the wild’ for a stranger to find, or via ‘controlled release’ to another BookCrossing member, and tracking where they go via journal entries from around the world.” Of the idea, the New York Times said, “if you love your books, let them go” and the San Francisco Chronicle said, “a modern-day message in a bottle.”

Well, I chose Lucky Joe (BCID: 365-13531083) and registered the book in August 2015, then waited with bated breath for someone to log in to the website and enter the identity number. She notified me she’d left it on a bench in Central Park, New York City, and sent me a pic of it. Thrilled! So I waited and waited…and waited…and finally forgot about it thinking someone picked it up alright–probably to use as TP.

It wasn’t until I thought of it now and signed into the website to see whatever happened to it that I discovered the problem. After I registered the book, it was up to me to get back in and mark it as released! Oh groan!! Reading the stats that are recorded, it goes somewhat like this:

Books registered
Released in the wild (duh)
Controlled releases
Releases caught
Controlled releases caught
Books found (etc.)

UGH! Now seeing that, I’m thinking, why not try it again? Pick a different book? Hopefully, you’ve learned something today along with myself. (Don’t make the same mistake I did.)

1 journaler for this copy…

Journal Entry 1 by smcshane from Goodyear, Arizona USA on Tuesday, August 11, 2015

This book has been registered and is ready to travel! This could be a great adventure–watch for progress.

The promo and marketing journey is extensive (and exhausting). A giant learning curve that I am still negotiating (obviously).

So I must ask: What unique ideas have you tried for marketing your books? Have you ever seen this before? Let me know in your comments, please.

Rosepoint #Reviews – June Recap

Holy Moses! Half of the year gone–poof! Waiting all this time for decent weather to grow my vegetable garden and see what survived or didn’t in the fairy garden, and now we’re into summer and spring blooms are dying. What is up with that? I’m not a fan of July heat, but with it may come more visitors and we had such fun showing our grandkids around the area, we may just do that again! (With proper heat protection this time of course.) If I suddenly go quiet, just picture the CE and I on our quaint senior deck enjoying the company of our old Navy buddies. We spent the last portion of dear hubby’s tour in Taiwan where I contracted amebic dysentery and the other wife worse. They now live in Texas where none of us have to wonder what we’re eating or whether the water was properly purified. Ahh, the good ole days!

Less you think I’m making excuses (again), I took part in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenges and #ThrowbackThursdays, as well as spotlights and book tours during the month resulting in a net of seven book reviews for June.

Dark Lava - a Lei Crime Novel by Toby Neal

As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles by Leslie Budewitz

I've Been Watching You by K A Richardson

A Steep Price…Dark Lava…As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles…Confound It

America on Purpose…Tail of the Dragon…I’ve Been Watching You

So the question is, do you start a favorites list from the beginning of the year, then of necessity keep rearranging, or tackle the task at the end of the year? No, I didn’t start an Excel spreadsheet, maybe I should have. Maybe Goodreads is a good place to start? How do you go about the mission? Any suggestions?

I keep scanning my resources for any information on Indie Author Day set for Saturday, October 13, 2018. Registration is now open. So far, the closest library that appears to be participating is in Lafayette, some 90 miles away. Even my previous little town of Goodyear AZ is participating and this area is far larger. We have several gorgeous, new libraries within ten miles, so I find it difficult to believe no one is organizing a local (NWI) event. There are currently more than seventeen states involved as well as three locations in Canada.

A worldwide event, libraries and organizations will welcome local Indie authors and writers for a day of education, networking, panels and more. And according to their website–free registration to all participants! Anyone participating in this event? Have you been to one before? I’d love to hear about it!

A big thank to all my new followers and as always so appreciate you who continue to read and comment! Thank you!