Quinn's Cookie Exchange

To celebrate the soon to be released Chaste by my friend, author and poet Angela Felsted, I’m participating in Quinn’s Cookie Exchange, named after the main character in the book, a teenage boy who knows how to cook.

Even though Hanukkah is over for this year, I think you’ll find this recipe delicious any time. All the grease spots on my original recipe card attest to that.

Hanukkah Cookie Pinwheels

(Draidle or spinning top cookies)

Bake at 350 deg for 15 minutes

Makes about 5 dozen

Pastry:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 8-oz pack cream cheese

¼ cup dairy sour cream

2-1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

½ teas salt

Filling:

2 cups finely ground walnuts

½ cup sugar

1 teas ground cinnamon

1 egg

1 teas grated orange rind

1. Prepare pastry: Beat butter and cream cheese in large bowl with electric mixer until creamy. Beat in sour cream. Stir in flour and salt until a firm dough forms, adding more flour if necessary. Form into a ball, wrap. Chill overnight.
2. Prepare filling: Combine nuts, sugar, cinnamon, egg and orange rind in a small bowl.
3. Divide pastry in half. Roll out half on floured surface to make an 8-inch square about ¼ inch thick. Spread half of the filling evenly on pastry. Roll up, jelly-roll style. Wrap in foil, chill for a least 1 hour. Repeat with other half of pastry and filling.
4. Light grease two cookie sheets. Cut the rolls into ¼-inch thick slices. Place ½ inch apart on cookie sheets. Reshape into rounds, if necessary.
5. Bake in a moderate oven for 15 minutes or until firm and golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Brief Synopsis of Chaste

When he steps into his physics class on the first day of senior year, Quinn Walker is too exhausted from staying up all night with his three-month-old nephew to deal with moral dilemmas. As a devout Mormon who has vowed to wait until marriage for sex, the last thing he needs is a very hot and very sexy Katarina Jackson as his physics partner. Regrettably, he has no choice.

Kat feels invisible in her mansion of a home six months after losing her older brother in a fatal car crash and will do anything to get her parents’ attention. Since her pastor father has no love for Quinn’s “fake” religion and her ex-boyfriend refuses to leave her alone, she makes an impulsive bet with her friends to seduce her holier-than-thou lab partner by Christmas.

Take a look at the great trailer and go Amazon or Barnes&Noble to buy this book.

And don't forget to try the cookie recipe. 

Introducing Sonia Marsh

I met face to face with Sonia Marsh for the first time yesterday after a long virtual friendship and a lot of win-win networking.

She is the author of the newly released memoir Freeways to Flip-Flops (available at Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle, as well as Barnes and Noble) and the Gutsy Living blog. I posted my gutsy story there in June, and I’m pleased to say, I won for the gutsiest story of the month. Please go over to Gutsy Living to receive a special gift. Just scroll down and look for the red starfish.

So Sonia and I talked nonstop – mostly about how to go about the business of selling a book. We shared websites, conference information, how to get on panel discussions, what organizations we belong to. I urged her to join our Greater Los Angeles Writers Society. Although Sonia lives in Orange County, GLAWS has members who come to meetings and events all the way from Arizona.

Yesterday’s highlight was meeting with one of the proprietors of my local indie bookstore: Pages in Manhattan Beach. Pages: A Bookstore held a wonderfully successful launch event for my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, in May 2011, and now Sonia will also have a book signing and reading there as well. 

Please look for more information about Sonia here at Choices. She’ll be my guest in September answering questions about her book, and I’ll post a review just as soon as I finish it.

Her topic – living on a tropical island for a year with her husband and three boys – is very reminiscent of the 19 months my family lived on a tiny island in the South Pacific back in the mid 1970s. 

Another book launch - oh my!

I now have a paperback edition of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, in my hands. It just arrived. Getting it to this point has taken just short of three months, but well worth the time and effort. The edition looks great.

I decided to keep the same cover design because it has been my brand for the last year. I felt changing it could be confusing to my followers and even to me. Plus I love the front cover photo, taken by my young girl friend, Madison Poulter, whom I’ve known since she was eighteen months old. Can’t believe she’s off to Lewis and Clark College in the fall.

So both my publisher, Mike O’Mary at Dream of Things and I have been doing a lot of planning to get ready for the launch. Mike made an excel spreadsheet with activities to accomplish between now and January. Here are some of the things we’re doing right now:

• I’ve communicated with friends and family about the launch and asked them to write a review and post it on Amazon if they’ve already read the book. My reasoning is that my wonderful reviews helped me find a new publisher, so couldn’t they also help spread the word about the merits of this new edition my book? (Please write one if you've read my book and haven't yet.)
• Mike has launched the paperback edition on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online outlets such as Powell’s and Red Room
• Mike set up a Leaving the Hall Light On page on the Dream of Things website – please go visit it. It looks awesome.
• Mike is going to set up a “Search Inside” feature on Amazon, so people can browse a little before they buy
• Mike is going to send the book out to other possible reviewers such as TheCompulsiveReader.com, ArmchairInterviews.com, etc.
• We will both come up with a list of possible reading/signing events in California at book stores, libraries, colleges, community centers, coffee shops, book groups, writer groups. (If any of you are in California and can recommend a place to contact, please let me know.)
• And I joined SheWrites.com for another networking resource

That list just gets us up to today.

We still have stuff to do relative to Goodreads, compiling a media kit, making a list of book clubs to contact (by the way, we’ve added two pages of reading group discussion points to the new edition), and late in August, the launch of the eBook.

What's happening this week

Whew! It’s been a long and hard three months – actually two weeks short of three months – but well worth the effort. After Lucky Press went out of business on April 30, I was fortunate to find a new and most wonderful new publisher Dream of Things in record time.

Since then – about the early part of June – we have been working at getting the book and all the ancillary products ready to go. I think when this Friday comes along, when I’ll have a new paperback edition and updated bookmarks in hand, I’ll breathe a big sign of relief. They will be ready just in time for my book selling opportunities over the weekend and next week at the Greater Los Angeles Writers Conference where I’m participating on two panels and during my annual poetry workshop and retreat at Esalen, Big Sur California. What great timing for a stay at Esalen! It’s a perfect place to unwind.

Because I know how tired you must be at hearing all of this stuff since April 30, I’m bringing a real breath of fresh air to Choices on Wednesday. Daisy Hickman, who writes the most spiritual, mellow, and calming blog I know – SunnyRoomStudio – will be my guest. She’ll be expressing her views on the beauty of books as wonderful ways to share our diverse experiences and ideas. Please come back here on Wednesday, July 18 to read what Daisy has to say while experiencing her beautiful and calming voice for yourself.

Daisy Hickman

Also, if you live in Los Angeles, think about attending the Greater Los Angeles Writers Conference. I’ll be moderating the panel titled:  “Can You Write Poetry for both Fun and Profit?” at 2:15 pm on Friday, July 20 and participating in another panel titled: “Building a Platform – How to Promote Yourself and Your Work” at 2:00 pm on Saturday July 21.

PS: A new paperback edition of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, is already available for preorder at Barnes & Noble. 

Dream of Things

For the last 40 years or so, I have had a serigraph on my wall created by (sister) Corita Kent with the quote from G.B. Shaw: "Some people see things that are and say why? I dream of things that never were and say why not." Seems like synchronicity to me that my new publisher is Mike O’Mary of Dream of Things.

I met Mike through my friend, mentor, and go-to person for all things related to publishing, Mark Shelmerdine, CEO of Jeffers Press. I contacted Mark as soon as I heard Lucky Press, the first publisher of Leaving the Hall Light On, had decided to go out of business. However, I also took Mark’s advice and waited to contact Mike until I had time to distress and unwind while on vacation. That said, I wrote to Mike the Monday after we returned home. And Mike responded favorably from the start. I am so fortunate for that.

Since Mike decided to become my publisher – he’ll publish paperback and eBook editions by the end of July – we’ve been busy. We first created a new book description with review blurbs to post on my Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Red Room pages. Mike has already posted them, and I think they make a big difference. And even though Lucky Press made the corrections to the text that I had indicated and provided me with final native and pdf files, Mike and his wife Kathy each went through the manuscript with very precise eagle eyes.

Guess what?

They each came up with many more typos to correct. I must reiterate here that it is so important to have new and fresh eyes look at our material before we post or go to press with anything. I can't tell you how many typos I find on my blog posts after the fact. It's disgraceful.

We also decided to provide a list of book club discussion topics at the back of the book. We both came up with a list and then Mike merged them. Finally, I decided to redo the Acknowledgments page – you’ll have to read the new edition to see if you’re on it – and now we’re ready to go.

I can’t tell you how excited I am with my new publishing arrangement. Thank you Mike and Mark for making this happen. 

And now on to a marketing plan. Mike has the best ideas.

Go traditional or self-publish - good advice on LinkedIn

I started a discussion on LinkedIn in the Authors, Writers, Publishers, Editors, and Writing Professionals group asking: “If your publisher went out of business, did you look for another publisher or take the self-publishing route?” I got a lot of encouragement for trying to get another traditional publisher and a lot of good solid information about how to self-publish. I even had an offer from a self-publishing resource. 

Here are a few helpful comments that came back:

Dottye: If you had one publisher interested in your book, your chances may be good another will - if you are considering self-publishing, Mark Levine wrote a great book on the top self-publishing companies to consider and those to avoid. Check out www.millcitypress.net for a 100% royalty free company.

Lori: If you self-publish, whether you go electronic or not, you still need to be prepared to take care of the distribution and marketing yourself. Typically, folks with niche markets that dovetail with their business do very well in self-publishing. Self-published books often have a longer shelf life, whereas a book by a traditional press may need to shoot out of the sales gate for a publisher to keep it in its stable of titles. As far as genres, these days, novels and short stories can do very well as self-published titles, if you are prepared to pay attention to promotion and publicity. Some authors enjoy those aspects of the business and others don't. So, now would be a good time for you to assess your goals and strengths, to see what you are prepared to undertake and how you want to spend your time.

Donald: Yea, sure, 100% royalty free and you keep "all" of your money. Let’s see, Mill City Press has publishing packages for sale. They start at $1697 and run up to $5997 and that's before marketing and royalties are even taken into consideration. If you are self published, by definition you keep "all" of your royalties from a sale anyway. If you need help, look at CreateSpace by Amazon. Use it as a benchmark when looking at different companies. Lulu has a good rep and is reasonable for publication services. If you need help, consider comparing them to the others out there. Last, look at what the traditional publisher takes from the sale. What does he do for it that you can't do for yourself?

Rachel: That happened to me, too. I found an agent who would take it, and she's beginning to shop it to other publishers. It sure slowed things down, but I think the fact that you already had a publisher will help as you look for a new one.

Charlotte: I had two publishers go out of business. I got the rights to my books back and re-sold the very same day. I know we have a lot of self-published authors here in the group but I would strongly recommend trying to get a traditional or e-pub interested in your book before you self-publish. 

And more from Donald: Look at Lightning Source Printing (a subsidiary of Ingram Distributors) and look carefully at what they will do for you for a whole $12 (yes that is twelve dollars) a year. In fact, I'll save you the trouble of looking it up. They do all the logistics and accounting for just $12 a year. They take care of the business and you get a check, based on your books' sales, in your bank account each month just like you did before. You still have to do your own promotion, which you were doing anyway. Yes, Lightning Source will do everything that the publisher you lost did or what a new publisher will do - for a whole $12 a year - and what did your publisher make off of you last year? Figure it out. Yes you paid him a huge portion of "your" royalties. If you can look realistically at these numbers and want another publisher I'd be surprised. 

If you really want a new publisher, you won't have the least problem finding one, if your books are selling. It's free money you will be giving him. Any publisher will jump at it. 

To double your profits, or better (assuming sales remained the same as last year), all you have to do is pick a business name and in less than a half a day you can get a tax ID and a business bank account and you are now a publisher and are ready to do business. It takes about ten minutes to set up your account with Lightning Source, and less than a hundred dollar file set-up fee per book. The books will automatically be listed on Amazon.

If you are looking to sell to Barnes and Noble too, (hard copies) look up Aaron Shepard on the internet. He has a blog that will show you how to set up files at two printers, "CreateSpace" for Amazon sales and Lightning Source for Barnes and Noble sales and you will pick up a 15% premium on your Amazon sales. (Barnes and Nobel discount is 55% off list price Amazon through create space is 40%) All of this with no logistics work for you. 

 

Blatant bragging

This book is getting lots of kudos

As of today my memoir has twenty-two reviews up on Amazon. Twenty are five-star, and even though they wrote terrific reviews, two people gave the book only four-stars. Really what’s up with that?

But rather than complaining I’m just going to shout out Hip, Hip Hooray. I am just so thrilled with the response and with people’s reaction to the story and the writing in my book. Never in my wildest dreams did I think people would react so well to my words.

A friend told me last night that she was just going to read my book to support me, and she found once she opened it she couldn’t put it down. She kept raving about it. Now I couldn’t ask for more than that. Plus, when I asked her to post a review, she posted almost immediately. That’s a true friend. I thank her so much.

So, if you’re reading this and you’ve read my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, please post a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and/or wherever you have access. I will appreciate it to no end. And I’ll copy and post it here on the Endorsements page of this blog and brag about it blatantly.