Teaching Priorities

It's going to a few months of changes for me. My youngest child, my only daughter, is leaving this fall for Boston University. There aren't words to how much I'll miss her. We do so much together...

I'll also be starting my last year teaching next month after over thirty years in the public school system. I'm not having any sad thoughts about it, but I'll miss my students. Still, how many times will I be saying over the next twelve months, 'this is the last time for this.'

Another big change has started two days ago. My oldest son, now a teacher himself, bought his own house. He's in the process of moving out. Even people in their twenties manage to collect a lot of 'stuff.' He's been making numerous journeys in his car, packing and unpacking the same few boxes. There's no hurry, but it's interesting to see what he's taken and what is left behind. He has coaching responsibilities during the summer so he took most of his athletic clothing. His computer is still standing on his little corner desk. He uses it mostly for gaming(conquering the world). Only one possession is completely moved to his new domicile. All his books.  And there are lots of them. The only pieces of furniture he wanted to take with him were his bookshelves. His Kindle isn't laying around anyway either. Good boy.

Not what my son's new house looks like!

Today my daughter and I went into BAM. We can't resist. They had buy two get one free paperbacks. She wanted to buy a three book fantasy series that I already have on my book shelf. She said she needed to take it to Boston with her. I said take my copy. She said it's nearly worn out. This is the child who just received her AP scores in the mail and scored fives on all five of the tests she took in May. We bought the books.

My children know I can never say no to books. Even though we buy most of them as digital recently, we have more books than some libraries. As my children scatter to the world, I can't help but feel ... good.  They love to read. There's so much before them and they have the tools to discover their life's path and I'll know they'll do great. I hope if you have children, you buy them lots of books.

Stormy Predictions

The weather reports for this past Saturday called for our area of Penns Woods to receive 1-2 inches of snow followed by a short period of sleet and freezing rain, all to end by the middle of the morning.  For lots of different reasons including our day jobs and our recreational interests, my family always checks the weather forecast a number of times per day.  As experience weather watchers, we didn't trust a thing the TV said.  How often are those reports correct, after all?  Around six inches of snow fell upon us with no sleet or freezing rain.  We weren't shocked.

From FB

I'm not one of those people who get mad at the weathermen because they're so often wrong.  It's a tough job filled with so many variables beyond a mortal's ability to predict.  It reminds me of the publishing industry right now and writing in general.

Who can predict what genre of book will be the next hot thing? Zombies, hobbits, fairy tale characters, angels, or something other than fantasy characters? Maybe the entire paranormal thing will go away. Will dystopia lose its appeal if the economy improves? What is next after ebooks? Interactive books? Can everyone become a published author? Will the big NY publishers be able to stay in business?

No one knows. I eagerly read blogs and articles in writing magazines as industry professionals advise wielders of the pen what paths they should take, what preparations to make, to stay afloat and ahead of the stormy weather to come. 

But storms, while dangerous, can also be lovely, exciting things. The rapid changes in the world of publishing is thrilling to be a part of as long as one keeps running to keep up with it.  So like the weather forecasters, I don't expect anyone to be able to predict exactly what will happen next and how I should guide my career to be safe and successful when changes come.  I can only listen and then make my own calls and judgements based on my experience. 

Does the rapidly changing world of books leave you feeling adrift in a storm at times? Are you enjoying the thrill of being part of these sweeping changes and the progress of technology overtaking the writing world?

Promotion Dollars

I was quite excited this week when I googled my forthcoming book from Medallion Press, The Keepers of Sulbreth, and found the retail catalog they send to booksellers online. I've heard they do a great job with it from someone who works in a bookstore. On my books page in the publication, the promotion my publisher will do for the book was listed. Among the venues listed were the online and print editions of Publishers Weekly. There were a few more places where they will promote my book upon its release. How thrilling for me.
My romances are published by wonderful small publishers who deal mainly in ebooks. All the cost of promotion are my own. With no advance how do I decide how much I should spend on promotion? This was especially true with the very first ebook I had published. I didn't know if my royalties would be in the thousands or the single digits. Yet if I didn't do any thing for promotion, I was assured of low sales numbers. And where could I turn for guidance? Even fellow authors are reluctant to talk about numbers when it comes to expenditures and profits.
Another difficulty is how to measure the effectiveness of my dollars spent. Sure I can check the hits to my website that come directly from a site where I'm doing promotion, but do those hits translate into sales? So far I've refrained from buying ads in major romance magazines like The Romantic Times. But with my first fantasy novel coming out next January, I'm tempted to join fellow authors in an ad appearing in the Realms of Fantasy magazine. Should I or shouldn't I?
It's a dilemma for sure. I wonder how authors in my situation decide what works, what doesn't and how do they decide how much to spend?