Local Authors Day

It's been busy here like floodgates opened. Let me tick through the events:

I heard back from my local library. They will allow me to hold an author's reading there but I've got to do all the set up and break down, which is not what I was expecting. I can do it but I don't think they really want people to use their facilities or they would be willing to help more. I've put this event to one side for the moment. You'll see why in a few paragraphs.

I heard from my publisher. The release day of my novel is pushed back three days from June 15 to June 18. That's not a really big deal. The physical proofs of the novel will be in my hands in about three weeks. Still no word if they will attend ReaderCon in July to sell their published books. 

I was invited to participate in Loval Authors Day in Chelmsford. This is an event I attended last year and got the organizer's name so I could attend this year. Since this event is completely hosted by the Chelmsford library, I put my author reading to one side for the moment. The date of the event is June 15, which means my book will not be released and only be available for pre-sale. So I've written to them to tell them this and asking is that's okay. I can still talk about the book and point people to where they can pre-order the book. I can also sell my collection of short stories which I pulled together over the weekend. Basically I took all my stories on Smashwords, stuck them in a Word file and uploaded it to Lulu.com so I could self-publish a few copies. I spent more of the time developing a cool cover for the publication. 

All of these happenings made me shift into high gear and start develop flyers and marketing material for myself. I also started loading up a money box for I can make change if someone pays in cash. I'm going to sign up for Square so I can take credit cards sales with my cell phone. And then I need to circle back and think about what to say about my novel in case I can attend Chelmsford and start to pull together poems and stories for the author reading which I now think will be in August.

I'll need to add an events page to my web site too. But here's the schedule as I see it:

In June: Chelmsford (assuming they don't have a problem that my book is not released yet)

In July: ReaderCon (assuming the publisher will go. If they don't, I don't have enough material to warrant a table this year)

In August: Author reading at my library. This will get me some exposure.

After that I'm hoping to show up at some bookstores. I've identified a few in the area. I'll be talking to them starting in July.

And meanwhile, I've got writing to do. Guess I'm going to start doing that at night, if I can. 

Keep writing everyone.