📖 lisa writes stuff issue 🖋️ #43 A little book magic
Pushing the anthology onto the unsuspecting public, author readings, and bookish job interviews
Dear Internet,
I continue to market Love on the Lakefront and it’s now in four bookstores in the area as well as four or five libraries. I have a confirmed date for an author reading (with other authors) at a local library in October as well as another reading the same month at another library. One thing this area is not without is libraries and bookstores!
I’ve been donating copies of the book to the libraries rather than have them pay full price. My author copies were ¼ the price of retail, so I don’t feel the hit with the donation. One of the libraries I’m reading at already bought a copy and it is checked out, but they would gladly accept another copy!
The first batch of author copies I bought are now gone and I’m ever so glad I bought another batch to sell at readings. I’m buying author copies of commercial breaks to also sell at the readings (and I have my bookmarks made, too!). Now allegedly I just need candy dish filled with candy for some reason I’m not clear on.
All the books are signed. I practiced my signature on a pizza box as I couldn’t find paper. My catch-phrase is, “Down with cherries! Lisa Rabey xx.” I fucking spelled my last name wrong in one of the books so that book is now my reading copy. Someone pointed out when I’m rich and famous that book will be worth more. Sure, Jan, sure.
Now to figure out what part of the story I’m reading! Love in the Time of Cherry Season is 30 pages long and about 8K words. I’ve been reading Pride and Prejudice (with commentary and swears) over on IG/YT/TT/FB (https://linktr.ee/excessivelydiverting) and four or five pages (the chapters are very short) takes about five to seven minutes to read out loud, depending on if I’m dropping commentary or not. I haven’t read the story since publication in July because I was so tired of the story itself as I had read it so many times. Since it’s been a few months, this will give me a fresh perspective to the story. I have a few months to work on it.
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The writers’ retreat I attended a few weeks ago was great! It was held at the host of Shut Up & Write! property 30 minutes north of where I live. I have always wanted to head to a retreat, but it almost always came down to price, location, and time. A Sunday afternoon in my county for free? Sign me up!
We started the retreat with a 10-minute writing prompt which we read aloud, then a few hours of writing until lunch. After an hour lunch we had another 10-minute writing prompt which again we read aloud. We finished the day with more writing. While there was an end time, many stayed later but I went home. I’m very in tune with my boundaries of peopling and I was hesitant to go but I reminded myself that I needed to stop hiding at home.
I picked up a story I was working on back in earlier in July and got a good chunk in. I did more writing last night because I was so brain tired from the day (it was a long day) that all I could think about was writing, reading, or bed. I opted for writing. Today was a SUAW writer’s meeting but the coffee shop is closing in 19 minutes which I found out when I got here. I don’t have any plans outside of the house today, so I’ll do more writing when I get home.
OH! I’ve always said that I could make a sustainable living as a bookseller, I would. My last bookselling job was while I was in grad school. I made shit for money, but I loved my crew and my time at the store. Best job ever!
Looks like this may be a chance happening…
Before we came to Michigan, I emailed all the bookstores in the county to see if they were looking for help. Every store already had their staff for the summer but invited me to email early fall.
When I started marketing the anthology, I sent emails to those same bookstores plus many more talking up the greatness of the anthology. I struck up an email conversation with the owner of a bookstore in Traverse. Turns out my trainer works there on occasion, and he recommended I drop my resume to them as they were more than likely hiring for the winter with all of the summer help leaving. I thought, what the hell, and emailed the owner with my resume, and pitch.
I have an interview with them in a few weeks.
I also just had an interview with another library (mine only budgeted me until end of August but I’ll still fill in when I’m needed) the other day. I’ve gotten more interviews just by asking rather than waiting than when I was on my job hunt.
Let us hope whatever deity is up in the world grants me at least one of those jobs.
What Ms. Scarlet wrote about recently:
Ms. Scarlet has been busy and has not written a blog post in some time.
Submission update
78 submissions, including 63 rejections, 8 acceptances, 1 withdrawal, and 6 outstanding.
Publication
Anthology: anodyne magazine vol. 1 (“you self-medicate with cookies”)
Anthology: Love on the Lakefront: Romantic Tales from the Great Lakes (“Love in the Time of Cherry Season”)
lisa x